For my research project, I will be attempting to study the multifarious character of a blog entitled Life Aquatic Blog. The ostensible goal for my research will be to gain insight into the world of the blog through submersion and participation. My initial curiosity revolves around how a virtual community with no proper administrative organization is able to coalesce around a certain defined aesthetic of music, even without the organizing principles of a stated genre, medium, or centralized geographic location.
I will also subsequently be investigating the reflexivity present in the blog, as exemplified by the status of people involved who are both readers and music makers. Furthermore I will attempt to discover how the blog conceives of it's self-identity with regard to music, what online and offline institutions it involves itself with, whether the location of the bulk of the contributors to the blog -- Australia -- has any relationship to the blog.
My methodology will take the form of a virtual ethnography. While the details of this plan are still in the formative stage, I anticipate participating through both making my own music submissions, participating in the active community of frequent blog followers, and direct interviews with members who are involved with the site. Admittedly, the project is a non-traditional approach to the practice of a music ethnography complicated by the vast uncertainties brought on by the transitory nature of the web. Here's to hoping I meet success!
I'm excited to hear your ethnography of a music blog, as it would seem that blogs have now become one of the primary channels through which music is passed to consumers. I took a brief glance at the blog and it would seem to be somewhat similar to blogs in the states (etmusiquepourtous for example), and I'm curious as to whether you would want to compare it to perhaps some type of more satirical or self aware music blog eg Hipster Runoff to help you put blog culture in perspective.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on tackling a web based project, it's great that you're focusing on the frontier of musical communication. One of the greatest parts about the Internet is that location is delocalized so contributers can be from any country. You said that this blog is predominantly Australian, but I would be very interested to see what other people the blog has reached. Also, the interaction between the internet and reality would be nice too see. Do these people meet outside the web? Do they set up live shows that are networked through the internet?
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting your net cred up.
This sounds like a terrific project. Like Jacob, I think it would be interesting to investigate the role that ‘locality’ plays in this particular online scene – Are the participants all Australian? Does this particular scene connect to other scenes in the U.S. or elsewhere? It might also be interesting to address the role of off-line connections between participants as well. Do participants meet face-to-face? Do they communicate one-on-one with each other via email or ichat? How are social ties maintained via this blog and what is the role of music in these connections? Are there particular key members in the group who hold more authority than others, be they blog administrators or regular participants? It is not clear what you mean by investigating the ‘reflexivity present in the blog’ or ‘how the blog conceives of its self-identity’ – remember not to attribute agency to the blog, rather it is the people who craft this blog. I look forward to seeing how this project develops. I’d recommend taking a look at the following articles that deal with music and “online communities” (while they might be a little technologically out of date, you’ll find them very useful otherwise).
ReplyDeleteKibby, “Home on the Page: A Virtual Place of Music Community” (2000)
Lysloff and Gay, eds. Music and Technoculture (2003) (Lysloff’s chapter is one of earliest assessments of music and online communities – definitely worth reading.)
This kind of project offers a great opportunity to think about virtual community, of course, but you might also want to do some comparative thinking about media formats and their affordances: what's distinctive about a blog as opposed to a zine, a mixtape, an underground radio show, etc.? (You could also think comparatively about other digital distribution channels with a social-media angle, like Last.fm.)
ReplyDeleteI'd second Francesca's recommendation of the Lysloff chapter, which deals with a number of the issues you bring up in your topic outline. Here are some other readings that might be useful:
Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press.
Ito, Mizuko, Sonja Baumer, et al. 2010. Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Jennings, David. 2007. Net, Blogs and Rock 'n' Roll: How Digital Discovery Works and What it Means for Consumers, Creators and Culture. London: Nicholas Brealey Pub.