Week 12: The End

Well that’s just about it for Design Studio 2011. If you’re still unsure about final submission details, see last week’s post. If you have any questions about your blog or essay, this week’s class is the final chance to ask them.

We will be building on the various issues and topics we have explored in Design Studio next year in Concept Development. There will be opportunities to engage in group work, and you’ll also be expected to participate in some peer-feedback and peer-assessment work. As it will be second year, you can expect the work to be a little bit more demanding.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on music industry developments over the summer. While the local industry tends to go into hibernation over the summer months, things in the northern hemisphere (i.e. winter months) kick into gear.

Finally, don’t forget to bid farewell to the estimable Dr Barry Hill… where would we be without those insightful and challenging Twitter questions?

Week 11: New and Alternative Methods of Promotion and Distribution Pt. 2

As the two readings for this week discuss extensively, music has become increasingly caught up in the worlds of branding and advertising. With this have come various discussions about the meanings, implications and values that result from the interaction between music scenes and corporations. Some of the music / corporate alliances mentioned in the Carah reading include Coke Live, Tooheys Extra Dry Uncharted, and Jagermeister Jager Uprising. There are various positives and negatives associated with getting involved in such programs, and it’s a good idea to work out where you stand on the idea of aligning your music with a particular brand.

In the Klein reading, the association between popular music and the cola companies is given extensive consideration. Various discourses circulate around the use of music in advertising, many of them centred around notions of authenticity and ‘selling out’. Again, it’s a good idea to work out where you stand on music being used to sell particular products – if a company knocks on your door, do you take the cash like Madonna or reject it like the Super Furry Animals?

Homework for next week

Write a short blog post on what you think of the use of music by corporations / brands / advertisers. Would you let your own music be used in an advertisement? Would you or your band participate in a branded live music program? Explain the reasons for your decisions.

Essays and blogs are due in Monday of week 13: October 17. Please email your essay to your tutor (email addresses are on the course guide). Make sure you give the full URL for your blog in the email AND at the top of your essay.

To ensure you get the highest possible mark, look through the weekly posts and make sure you have completed all the required homework tasks, and add any features from the ‘Blog Checklist’ that might be missing from your blog. Ideally, you should have been posting homework tasks and other information on a weekly / fortnightly basis.

Week 10: New and Alternative Methods of Promotion and Distribution

As we have been discussing at various points throughout the semester, the decline in the popularity of physical formats and the rise of online digital distribution has forced the industry to radically assess its various business models. From suing individual file-sharers to seeking increased streams of revenue, various arms of the industry have battled with the decline in income that is often cited as the result of the free exchange of digital music files. But are we being fed exaggerated and overly-dramatic claims from the record labels? Are there other potential reasons for the apparent shift away from music purchasing?

In-class research tasks (which may give you some ideas for your essays):

I want to sell my music online – find me five possible retailers / distributors.

I want to store my music in the cloud and stream it – find me five options.

I want some inspiration for how I can package and sell my music in unique and interesting ways – who should I look at as examples?

Homework for next week

Write a blog post on what you think will be the dominant way we will purchase and consume music five years from now. Explain why you think this will be the case and what some of the significant issues are. For example, do you see the end of physical formats coming soon? Do you see vinyl making a comeback? Is cloud streaming the way forward, and if so, does that mean we will no longer ‘own’ music?

Week 9: Music Scenes, Online Space and Place

The internet has radically re-shaped the way music scenes form and develop. Much discussion within popular music studies has been devoted to the processes and interactions that have been established through new forms of global communication, and how these have seemingly eroded the previously existing borders between scenes in different parts of the world.

Certain influential music styles have associations and links with particular places – can you think of any?

Do you think place and locality are no longer relevant in the contemporary, globalized music industry we now operate in?

How are space and place manifested within particular music styles?

Essays

With only 4 weeks until your essay and blog are due for submission, now is probably a good time to start planning and drafting your essay. We are looking for well-researched, interesting and intellectual discussions, with a good level of critical and analytical engagement with some of the broader issues that circulate around the music industry and socio-cultural practices. Look back at some of the weekly readings for ideas on how to approach formal, academic writing.

See the Week 5 and Week 6 posts for some essay writing and research tips.

To add to that, please keep in mind that one of the three key sets of criteria that are assessed in essays is reading and research. You need to demonstrate evidence of critical engagement with the course material; evidence of independent reading of appropriate academic material; evidence of thorough research (books, the internet, journal articles, media sources, etc.).

This DOES NOT mean three internet references that were found the night before the essay is due. The essays that typically get the highest marks are the ones by students who have bothered to go to the library and check the field of literature. You need to make use of authoritative, primary research.

As well as books and book chapters, journal articles can often be a useful resource. You may wish to draw on some of the set weekly readings, or find some others. Some journals are open-access, others are subscription-based and can only be accessed via login to the RMIT Library website. In class we will go through some of the most useful journals and how to search their content.

In-class task: using the available search facilities, find a couple of journal articles that you think may be of use for your essay.

Some miscellaneous comments on writing

1. Map out the structure of each section, and include notes on how you intend your argument to proceed

2. Define terms where necessary

3. Avoid attributing generalised opinions

4. Avoid personal value judgements

5. Try to present different sides of the argument

6. Be a stern critic of your own writing

Referencing

Your essay needs to demonstrate evidence of wider research and reading. This is done through the referencing of other works, and you need to use the appropriate system of referencing. Why bother? To acknowledge sources used; to show depth of reading/research; to enable other researchers to trace your sources and build on your work; to prevent accusations of plagiarism.

Most academic writers use the Harvard system of citation (or a modified version of this). Take a look at these style guidelines from two academic journals for how to reference, how to insert quotations and how to format your bibliography: Perfect Beat and Popular Music. You will notice some differences between them. All you need to ensure is that your referencing is consistent and doesn’t jump between different styles. You must reference your work appropriately, or your assignment may be failed. Please consider this a warning, and if you don’t comply, don’t complain. DO NOT use footnotes or endnotes for reference information.

Everyone should already be familiar with RMIT’s plagiarism statement and academic integrity guidelines. I won’t bore you by repeating them, but just be aware that it is easy to tell when a student has plagiarised something in their written work. Any ideas, words, theories or concepts you take from elsewhere must be referenced.

Homework for next week

Start compiling a bibliography on your blog of references you will use in your essay. If you update this regularly as you write your essay over the next few weeks, there will be less work to do when you finalize everything the night before the due date.

Week 8: Remix Culture, Sampling, Participatory Culture

While remixing itself as a cultural practice is nothing new, and indeed could be argued forms the basis of all artistic creativity (everyone is influenced by someone, right?), the participatory culture generated by Web 2.0 has made the art of remixing an increasingly important part of our cultural existence. While remixing comes in many different shapes and styles depending on the art form, it is generally taken to involve some kind of re-shaping and re-forming of pre-existing material.

Remixing brings a couple of interesting questions to the table, one involving law and the other artistic integrity.

Remixtheory.net – assorted writings about remixing.

The cultural value of remixing in the music world has frequently been challenged, with suggestions that some efforts lack the authenticity of rock music and its ‘original’ compositions. This seems to overlook the fact that bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin were some of the most creative ‘remixers’ of US blues music. What do you think of remixing as a music form? Does it lack the creativity of a songwriter-authored composition?

As well as music, the various video-based media networks have seen an upswing in the amount of pastiches and spoofs of well-known movies, clips and music videos. Just look at the recent activity surrounding the video for Radiohead’s Lotus Flower. Did they deliberately make a ‘spoof-friendly’ video to create an ‘online sensation’? Literal music videos also represent an ‘interesting’ development in remix and participatory cultures.

In some instances in dance music, remixes have transformed underperforming ‘original’ versions into commercially successful chart hits, often radically overhauling the sonic content of the song. Given that the remixer is credited as such, as opposed to receiving a songwriting royalty, who is getting the best deal here? It’s probably fair to say that more people have heard of Armand Van Helden’s remix of Tori Amos’ Professional Widow than the original. Can we think of other similar examples?

Copyright related controversy about SoundCloud, which has developed its popularity on the backbone of hosting DJ mixes. Further discussion by Wayne&Wax, citing remixes of James Blake as a case study.

Copyright and notions of intellectual property are important factors to consider with remixing.

Some questions to consider in class – what does the digital age mean for creativity and copyright? Where does ‘the law’ stand in relation to creativity and the internet? What are the some of the motivations behind ‘the remix’? Whether you are conscious of these concepts or not, you come into contact with these issues on a daily basis whenever you use/engage with/upload to the web.

This week’s readings explore issues around remixing, sampling and copyright. As mentioned in one of the readings, late 1980s/early 90s music iconoclasts The KLF represent an interesting example of artists who have attempted to breakdown, or at the very least expose, the more restrictive mechanisms that have traditionally underpinned the music industry. They also set fire to £1,000,000 in a field. Obscene or a work of art? You decide.

Authorship

With this remix culture and the blurring of boundaries between creator and user, we can question traditional notions of authorship. It no longer seems appropriate to describe songs, videos, texts, etc. as having a single author and as existing in one definitive form. While he was writing far before the development of all this, and was challenging traditional literary criticism, perhaps we can apply French theorist Roland Barthes’ notion of the ‘death of the author’ to the current online media environment. Is a ‘text’ ever complete? If we can all remix material these days, does that make everyone a creator? Discuss some of these issues in class, and this may be something you want to explore further in your essays. Indeed, incorporating a degree of theoretical analysis is something that everyone should be doing in the essay. You may also wish to familiarise yourself with Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction.

“Music has always been a craft of borrowing. In traditional, or folk, music, melodies and lyrics were handed down from generation to generation. At every stage, musicians would change the tune or substitute words at will, adapting songs to their own situations.”

The above quote is from the liner notes of the Illegal Art compilation CD (offered as a free download as part of illegal-art.org, a website created for an exhibition ‘Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age’, highlighting several key controversial copyright cases of recent decades. Also relevant, with a very similar URL, illegalart.net - home to a variety of sample-based music, including Girl Talk).

Cultural arguments about remixing suggest that existing art and media are raw materials for an artist to create from. What is important, from such a perspective, is not whether you have sampled, but what you are doing with it. Have you added value to an existing work, or are you merely riding on the easy recognition of a very familiar sample? What do remixing, and newer technologies which facilitate remixing, mean culturally?

Given the vast variety of sources we draw our creative media from these days, our blogs can be viewed as a remix of sorts. In this regard, make sure you don’t break any copyright rules when posting things on your blog… but then if you did, would anyone notice or care?

The law argues if you do not have the right to copy a portion of music, no use of this music is authorised without permission of (and often payment to) the original copyright holder. In practical terms, legal action tends to be threatened or enforced only when money is involved (i.e. songs or song portions used in some commercial context, earning payments). This means a chart topping act is much more likely to be sued than a small band without any releases or a significant bank account. Garage productions aside however, if gainfully employed by a media organisation, if producing a soundtrack for a film being submitted to a film festival, or if publishing material online within a hosted environment (e.g. YouTube), then the doors are open for legal threats – and you need to be aware of your legal responsibilities.

Homework for next week

Research and read around Roland Barthes’ notion of the ‘death of the author’ and Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Write a post that summarises what you understand and interpret these to be about, and how you think they apply to our current media, music and technology contexts.

Week 7: Web 2.0, Fans and Free Labour

As we have seen in some of the readings from previous weeks, while the internet may have caused numerous problems for the music industry, it has also generated new levels of engagement for fans. Terms we have come across include ‘fan labour’ and ‘gift exchange’. The readings for this week explore these concepts and related ideas in various different contexts.

Some areas for discussion in small groups:

- What are some of the different ways artists and industry have engaged fans in ‘free labour’ activities?

- What are some of the advantages for artists and industry?

- What are the potential conflicts/problems/disadvantages of ‘free labour’?

- Can you think of any ways to promote your own music through engaging fans in such ‘labour’?

In-class activities for this week include the peer-reviewing which we didn’t get time to do in the last class, as well as some discussion of essay introductions (which you should have completed as homework for week 6).

Homework for next week

In preparation for our discussion next week, you need to identify two key artists/industry figures who you think have been central to the development of remix culture and/or sampling (you can interpret remixing and sampling in any way you wish…). Write a post that explains who they are, what they have done, and why they are important. Make sure you include links in your post to related websites/blogs/resources. Think about some of the developments in technology that have occurred in recent years, and how this technology has intersected with the online environment to generate new conceptions of remixing and sampling.

Week 6: Audio and Video

As mentioned in Week 4, we want you to incorporate a short video on your blog. Options for uploading your video include YouTube and Vimeo. Sign-up and explore these during the semester break, and try uploading a video.

Overview of YouTube.

Overview of Vimeo.

Differences between YouTube and Vimeo.

For anyone still unsure how to embed videos in their blog, have a look at these WordPress guidelines for both YouTube and Vimeo.

If you want to post your own music on your blog, you could consider uploading it to SoundCloud. Then follow these simple WordPress guidelines for embedding tracks from SoundCloud.

How did everyone get on with last week’s homework task to find some useful books for the essay? Hopefully you all made it to the library…

As we are just about halfway through the course, this week we are going to check out all the class blogs and see how many of you are up-to-date and on top of everything. To do this, we are going to do some peer-reviewing. So, select the blog of someone else in the class, check to see if it covers the points listed below (some are taken from previous weeks), and then report back to the class with a short summary.

- Is there an ‘About’ description on the sidebar? (using the ‘Text’ widget)

- Is there an altered tagline (it should not say the default ‘Just another WordPress blog’)

- Have images been inserted into blog posts?

- Does the blog have a custom header graphic?

- Are there at least 5 links to other blogs/websites in the sidebar Blogroll? Are these links relevant and useful?

- Has the initial default ‘Hello World’ post been deleted?

- What is the blog about? Are its aims and intentions clear?

- Does the blog contain some RSS feeds? Are these relevant to the blog’s content?

- Does the blog contain RSS Links and/or the Subscribe button?

- Has the Search facility been incorporated?

- Does the blog contain a Twitter feed? Is it relevant?

- Does the blog contain the two brief posts that were requested in week 3? (one that introduces the blogger to the reader, and one about ideas for the essay and blog)

- Is there a post on 3 Australian music industry blogs, as requested in week 4?

- Is there a post on books that will be used for the essay, as requested in week 5?

- Is there a post on a particular social networking website, as requested in week 5?

- What attempts have been made to personalise the blog? How effective are these personalised elements?

- Do the blog posts make use of link text? Are the links ’relevant’? Do they support any of the points made in posts? Is there explanation of why and how the link is relevant or of interest?

- Does the blog look like something you would like to read and follow? If so, what is it about the blog that you find appealing? If not, what are the problems, and do you have any suggestions for improvement?

- What useful points are being made in posts, or what ideas are being explored? Are they of use to anyone in the course, or in the music industry, or in general?

- Do the posts merely describe something? Or do they add any useful analysis, or any critique relevant to the course? Writing doesn’t have to be academically formal within a blog post, but effective writing still requires some attempt to provide insight / meaning / value to the reader. What value do the posts provide?

- If any interesting examples of artists, media, companies, etc. are mentioned, is there adequate explanation of what opportunities and/or challenges are represented by these examples, or represented by the way they have been developed, produced or distributed?

- Does it look like consideration has been given to the implications (or opportunities / challenges / risks) of the topic being written about – for a musician’s research / collaboration / production / feedback / distribution? What are any implications for the music industry as a whole?

Essays

Following on from last week’s academic writing and research tips, here are a few more things you might want to keep in mind when planning your essay.

Read through the course guide section on Essay Assessment Criteria, and note the 3 areas you are assessed on: reading and research; argument and analysis; and writing and structure.

We will look at reading and research in more detail after the break, but remember that web-based references alone are not sufficient. The essays that typically get the highest marks are the ones by students who have bothered to go to the library and check the field of literature. You need to make use of authoritative, primary research.

To answer a common question: how many outside references? The answer is – as many as you need to provide an adequate response. If you use internet sources, please ensure they are reputable and have a degree of critical integrity.

For argument and analysis, note that critical theory, critical analysis and critical thinking are the key points to remember. We aren’t looking for simple description. We are looking for some in-depth consideration of your chosen topic area.

In regard to writing and structure, one of the big problems with essays is the use of colloquial language, rather than a more formal academic style. While we don’t mind if people write using the same vocabulary they might use when they speak (and we don’t want people using a bunch of words they have no idea about), at the same time make sure that your assertions are formalised.

When using quotes from references (which you should do to support your own arguments), make sure you actually contextualise the quote you use… don’t just “drop in” fancy sounding quotes and move on… make use of the quote, demonstrate that it contributes to your argument… or don’t use at all…

READ YOUR ESSAY ALOUD. Read it to someone else if you can. It really helps to make for a more coherent piece of writing.

Structuring your essay is important, and is something that is often overlooked. Ensure you include an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

Introductions are extremely important as they identify the subject area and the question(s) you want to explore, provide a rationale, set the extent and limits of your research, and therefore set the terms on which your essay may be judged. It is often a good idea to write a draft introduction early on, to get your ideas clear and to remind yourself what you are doing and why, but then put it on one side and write the final version last. Your introduction should briefly summarise the structure and organisation of what follows.

Conclusion

Do, by all means, include here a summary of what’s gone before, but make it short. Try to angle it towards underlining the value of the exercise (which you may not have had opportunity to deal with yet). The best conclusions are those which do more than merely look back and recapitulate. Try to draw together some thoughts towards answering questions you raiser earlier, and, if appropriate (and it usually is), indicate how you see your essay opening up an area for further research.

Homework for Week 7

By now you should have a firm idea of what you are going to discuss in your essay. So in preparation for some more peer-review work that we will do after the break, write a blog post that acts as an introduction to your essay. This doesn’t need to be the exact final version that you will use in your essay, but rather a paragraph that succinctly and formally describes what your essay will focus on, in line with the ‘Introduction’ guidelines above.

Week 5: Social Media, Social Networking, Music Blogs

First of all, a short video to watch.

As we are one-third of the way through Design Studio, your blogs by now should be loaded with information, posts, images and links. If you have missed any classes, look through posts from previous weeks below and make sure you have incorporated all the highlighted features on your blog. Next week we will be conducting a small ‘peer review’ exercise in class, where you will have to assess the quality of a fellow student’s blog.

This week we are discussing social media and social networking. Note the differences between the two and how they are distinct.

Homework for last week involved identifying 3 key blogs in the Australian music industry (including only one by an artist/band), and exploring and explaining why they are significant, successful or unique. You should have written a blog post with ‘Aus Music Blog’ in the subject title. So, what did you find? Some questions to consider:

What are some of the writing techniques used? (within blog posts, comments and the wider site; what ’voice’ is used? what is the ‘style’? how do they include links? how do they maintain or develop interest and sustain desire to return and read more? how often do they write? etc.)

How do they use and prioritize available screen space? What do you notice first?

How do these blogs include / involve / engage their readers and peers? (using any novel techniques?)

What other bloggers and artists seem to be included within their inner network / community / fan base / set of peers? How does this shape your perception of this blog?

Which of these blogs would you be most excited to see reviewing your music? Aside from directly writing to them, in what other ways might you engage with them and become visible on their network?

Critical Thinking About Social Media

Beyond describing and documenting a range of tools and techniques, this week we want to explore - what are the implications of our new technologies, communication techniques and emergent social habits? What are the implications of social media? For you? Your music-related career? The music industry as a whole? For wider society?

Here are a couple of interesting videos featuring Sherry Turkle. The first discusses the relationship between technology and identity, and the more recent video has her discussing limitations to hyperconnectivity (or try this if the video is ‘unavailable’)… albeit on the Colbert Report.

A key aspect of our work this semester involves engaging with ideas around social networking services / websites and social media) and understanding how we can make our online work reach the widest possible audience. This, of course, is a central factor in the contemporary music industry.

The purpose of this exercise is to look at how we can critically analyse social networking websites, and briefly consider the broader issues that lie behind our changing modes of communication and consumption, and how our use of online media impacts upon our social and cultural identity. Some theory-based ideas we will discuss over the next few weeks include notions of authorship and remix culture, culture jamming, the democratization of culture and participatory culture, intellectual property, piracy and the public domain. These feed into wider discussions about privacy, ownership, online identity and modes of consumption.

In-class task #1: in groups of two or three, research five social networking websites. Report back to the class on what is involved in the website, what its aims and intentions are, and what shifts in communication it represents. What are the most popular sites? You may wish to consult this explanation of the architecture behind social networking and this database of social networks.

Something to consider is the impact our involvement in social network services has on our identity – both collective / community and individual. Much has been written on the changes to attitudes and behaviours that have been generated by our use of Facebook and other social networking sites, and the resultant breaking down of geographical boundaries. These networks have been acknowledged as helping to facilitate recent social and political upheavals, with some governments going so far as to block access. This suggests that social networking sites have the power to mobilise the masses and threaten the status quo. Just look at the recent London riots for evidence.

In-class task #2: in the same groups, identify some of the negatives / disadvantages associated with social networking websites and their impact on human behaviour. Also, find some examples of countries where these sites have been blocked and try to establish why this happened – what was the context and situation which led to the blocking?

Given that social networking websites are a relatively recent phenomenon, their long-term effect on social skills and human interaction remains to be seen. Is social networking on the internet here to stay, or will it be cast aside as an early twenty-first century phenomenon? The rapidity with which MySpace rose to prominence and then fell from grace suggests that brand loyalty isn’t a concern for users. News Corp’s purchase of the network for $580 million in 2005 now seems a particularly bad decision. But then who could have envisioned the phenomenal rise of Facebook and Twitter? And what does Justin Timberlake plan to do with MySpace?

The challenge is to think about what happens to our complex identities when we are online. What do these words mean for us in an online context: authenticity? privacy? anonymity? authentication? fake identities? stolen identities? trust? online reputations? social capital?

If you’re keen and want to know more, or perhaps you are looking at this topic for your essay, then check out this very useful bibliography.

Ultimately, you need to consider how best you can harness social media and social networking for your particular needs. This needs to be balanced with moral and ethical considerations, to ensure you are not making any enemies in the process. As great as all our new forms of communication may seem, do they really provide us with a better world? Will we one day hanker after “things like they used to be before Facebook”? Are we now in a society where everyone can know everything about anyone and anything? What advantages and disadvantages does this bring?

Individual research task: write a short blog post on one of the social networking websites you use the most. Discuss why you use that particular mode of communication (and not others), and how you think it impacts upon your identity as perceived by other users. If you are a musician, how do you use / how would you use social networking websites to publicize your music? What unique methods can we employ to stand out in a crowded online media environment?

Academic writing and research skills

Over the next few weeks we are going to consider some issues on essay research and writing. To start with, remember that your essay should be a formal piece of writing, written in an appropriate academic style. This means it cannot include abbreviations, colloquialisms and journalistic language. All academic writing involves a degree of research, which is used to underpin and support the author’s ideas and thoughts. This means your essay has to demonstrate a degree of independent research, and is therefore not something that can be written the night before it is due (Monday week 13).

The set weekly readings are there to give you an idea of the themes and issues you can explore in your essay, as well as to give you an idea of how to write in the appropriate style. Obviously we aren’t expecting journal article-like pieces, but your essay needs to demonstrate a considered and thoughtful approach. RMIT’s Study & Learning Centre’s Learning Lab has some useful information, and specifically the section on writing skills.

For research, Google Scholar can be a good place to start. If you know of a particular book, Google Books is a cheap way of accessing material, although it strips out certain pages from each text. You could take the old-school approach and visit the RMIT Library. As well as books, you can use the library website to search for journal articles, either by subject area by clicking on the “Articles” tab or by journal name by clicking on the “e-Journals” tab.

Homework for next week

Take a trip to the library in building 8 and find the music section, or more specifically given that most of you are exploring popular music-related issues, the popular music section. Find a book that you think will be of use for your essay and a book that you think looks interesting and useful for expanding your knowledge of music (both may be useful for your essay). So that’s TWO books. Check them out of the library, and go home (or somewhere quiet) and read them (you don’t have to read every page). Write a short blog post that summarises the content of both books.

Week 4: Sound, Image and Music Video

This week we are going to explore some issues around the music industry, image and music video. But first, some in-class work carried over from last week as we ran out of time…

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to look at the readings from the past few weeks. So drawing on the material in those, here are some in-class research tasks for this week, which will hopefully assist you in refining your ideas for your essays:

1. What are some of the main differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0?

2. Think of two changes/shifts that have occurred in the music industry with the development of Web 2.0.

3. Name two companies/organizations/individuals you see as having played an important role in the music industry’s engagement with Web 2.0.

4. Name two ‘gatekeepers’ from the music industry that dominated prior to the development of the internet, and two ‘gatekeepers’ that dominate the contemporary online environment.

Blog work for this week:

So that people can easily follow and keep up to date with your blog, add the RSS Links widget to your blog.

You may also wish to add the Blog Subscription Widget. Change the generic WordPress text to make your blog more unique.

The chances of anyone wanting to search your blog for something are slim, but still, it could be useful to add the Search Widget to your sidebar. You may want to name it something more amusing than the one on here – bonus marks for humour!

For some visual appeal, images are a good addition to any blog. So see if you can insert a couple of images into a blog post for next week. As you will see, there are a few different ways of incorporating an image into a blog post.

Add a Twitter feed to your sidebar. This can be your own Twitter account, one from someone else in the class, or one of a musician/artist of your choosing… or maybe all three if you’re keen. You will see in the sidebar on here that I have a Twitter feed for the account of the awesome Dr Barry Hill.

Music, Video & Image

While we aren’t doing anything so adventurous in Design Studio as making music videos, our discussions of the internet, blogging and the music industry require some consideration of music as it relates to image. The web has radically re-shaped the way we engage with music and image, whether that is in regard to simple still promotional shots, the visual imagery and design of websites, or the viewing of music videos. The continued rise of YouTube and the recent cancellation of Channel 10′s Video Hits are just two examples that signify how consumption patterns have changed.

On your blog you will need to incorporate a short video. This doesn’t need to be technically amazing, but does need to relate to your essay topic, and should run for approximately two minutes. For example, you may wish to post some footage taken on your phone from a gig you have attended. Or you may wish to take some video of you or your band rehearsing. Or you may simply want to sit down at home and talk directly to the camera. Just as long as it relates to your essay discussion in some way.

It is useful to think about how the success of particular songs, albums or artists is linked to image. In the contemporary media landscape we are surrounded by the aural and the visual, and it is often difficult to dissociate one from the other. So with this in mind, it is important to consider how the visual aspects surrounding your own music impact upon the perceptions others have of this music.

While there are many different ways in which image can be portrayed visually, perhaps one of the most important developments for music and image has been music video.

An interesting and informative History of MTV video from WatchMojo.com

Some in-class questions for discussion:

1. How important do you think image is for the contemporary music industry? What are some of the different ways that image can be portrayed? Are there particular styles that place more of an emphasis on image than others? Do we associate any ‘stereotypical’ images with certain styles?

2. What do you think are some of the key music videos of all-time? Do you agree with this Ten Vital Music Videos list?

3. What are some of your earliest memories of music videos?

4. What do you think makes a great music video? And what makes a bad one?

5. Are there any particular artists who you think have harnessed the promotional power of image and/or the music video in effective and interesting ways?

Homework Task:

In preparation for our discussion next week of social media and music blogs, identify 3 key blogs in the Australian music industry (including only one by an artist/band). Explore and explain why they are significant, successful or unique. Describe their sphere of online influence and their strongest online affiliations. Note any unusual or interesting techniques of engagement.

Write a blog post and include ‘Aus Music Blog’ in your subject title. Given that we have 50+ students across the 3 classes, this task should yield a very interesting map of Australian music online.

Week 3: Blogging and Writing for the Web

This week we are going to consider some of the issues and tactics involved in writing for blogs and websites. If you missed last week, make sure you are up to date with the WordPress features we looked at in class and add them to your blog.

Today we will also be discussing your ideas for your blogs and essays. With this in mind, in pairs or small groups think of some features and characteristics that you think define the perfect/ideal blog. Have a look at Weblogs: a history and perspective for some ideas and insights. You might want to start by finding a definition of what a blog actually is. A good place to start could be Sébastien Paquet’s ideas, and Anton Zuiker’s anatomy of a blog post. Why blog? What are the benefits? What are the downsides? What are the differences between writing for the web and writing for blogs?

Aside from WordPress, there are several competing blog systems. These include complex content management systems such as Movable Type and the open source Drupal. There are an abundance of less complex blogging platforms such as Blogger and Tumblr.

Want to search for a blog? Try the Technorati and Google Blogs search engines. Take a few minutes to find a couple of blogs that relate to your interests (music or otherwise).

Useful ‘Blogs in Plain English’ video from Common Craft

Scott Rosenberg’s 10 Myths About Blogs

We explored RSS feeds last week, but here’s some more information from the BBC, and another Common Craft video.

Another task for today is to subscribe to some more blogs from the class, so have a walk around and grab a few blog URLs. In a couple of weeks we will be asking you all to give feedback on other blogs from the class.

Here’s a ‘Blog Checklist’ so you know what you need to incorporate in your blog. Does your blog have each of these elements? (WordPress Help)

- An ‘About’ description on your sidebar? (using the ‘Text’ widget)

- An altered tagline (it should not say the default ‘Just another WordPress blog’)

- Have you successfully inserted an image into a blog post?

- Do you have your own custom header graphic?

- Do you have at least 5 links to others in your sidebar Blogroll? (why do this?)

- Have you edited/deleted the initial default ‘Hello World’ post?

For those new to blogging, here are some thoughts and ideas about writing for the web:

- Why include links?

- Writing link text and more on writing link text

- One of the many articles on writing for the web

- And another

For next week write up two brief blog posts: one that introduces you to the reader of your blog, and one about your ideas for your essay and blog.