Today I read Lingel and Naam's paper on the so-called phenomenon of taking and sharing videos of live music events. The authors list the purpose of the paper is to explore the following:
• What are the motivations for recording videos at concerts and sharing them online?
• What are the practices used to take and share videos from live music events on YouTube?
• What roles do these videos and the people who produce them play in online communities?
- Lingel, J., & Naaman, M. (2011). You should have been there, man: Live music, DIY content and online communities. New Media & Society, 14(2).
Okay, so the word phenomenon may be applied to any observed or observable fact, occurrence or circumstance (dictionary.reference.com) but it used to also imply that the fact, occurrence or circumstance which was being observed or studied had some extraordinary or awesome quality to it.
While I follow the thread developed in the paper and found a few noteworthy factoids (in passing) , I respectfully ask, who really cares? What difference does it make if some people attend a live concert, use their phone to video it and later share it on YouTube? Has a substantial contribution been made to the world either by posting the video(s) or by the paper that studies the reasons and implications behind the posting? Maybe I'm just narrow-minded or too old fashioned but what real purpose does this type of discussion/exploration serve? Can't we simply call it a hobby? That's what any pass-time not involving social media is called. Imagine a mother taking pictures of her kids performing different activities, lovingly spending hours placing the photos in an album, annotating them with dates and comments and decorative stickers then sharing them with everyone who comes to visit. Is this a phenomenon? Should someone study it and write a paper on the implications of this behavior? Or is it simply a proud mom who enjoys scrapbooking?
It is the relative newness of social media and sharing that prompts research from every possible angle? This is not a rhetorical question. I would love someone to point out what I am missing here.
Phenomenon is just a commonly used term in research to describe the event or practice that is being studied. It makes no judgement as to whether or not it is phenomenal, even though the two words have the same root. :)
ReplyDeleteOn to the bigger question of why study this topic: There are researchers studying just about everything. This article is from a media studies journal -- these researchers are interested in how media are being used. I would venture to say that the phenomenon in question is particularly relevant to their field because it represents a new practice, and one which might impact the industry as well (think systemically about it; that industry has been heavily affected by the digital world and the power consumers/audiences have in it).
When I was a teenager, you went to a concert and that was it. It was an ephemeral experience, only existing in the moment. People tried to sneak in audio recorders and make bootlegs. It's so much easier to do that now, plus you have video and a means of sharing it. People who record and share a lot can actually attain minor celebrity status in these fan worlds. The activity begs for attention -- from other fans and perhaps from the musicians / the industry (not always positive attention; depends on whether the musicians/industry embrace the practice). This activity does have an impact on the larger world.
Beyond that, there are researchers who are simply interested in human behavior -- why we do what we do, what it adds to our lives. They come from fields like sociology and anthropology. Their work, however, can be quite foundational to our work in more applied fields like education.
My personal interests in this article were not from the music perspective, but rather the community development and knowledge sharing one. It informs an element of my work, even if I have no actual interest in the practice these people are engaged in.
Make sense?
Oh, and those scrapbookers have been studied. I just did a search in google scholar. I actually want to read these articles -- sound interesting to me!
Goodsell, T. L., & Seiter, L. (2011). Scrapbooking: Family capital and the construction of family discourse. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 40(3), 318-341.
Hof, K. (2006). Something you can actually pick up Scrapbooking as a form and forum of cultural citizenship. european journal of cultural studies, 9(3), 363-384.
And I thought it was just a late-night reflecting session. Thanks for the fresh perspective. There's more research going on than one would think.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your reflection - and I think you were asking something that many people wonder. Incidentally, the first of those scrapbooking articles is really interesting! And I've never have looked them up if not for your post.
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