Music 4.5 Smart Radio, Nikhil Shah, Mixcloud2Pears
The role of the DJ and the wisdom of the expert?
Curation: a buzzword du jour. What is the role of the expert in music discovery? What is curation and why are people so obsessed with it? Who are the most effective curators? How does expert curation differ from mass social curation? And how has the role of the DJ changed when it comes to breaking new music?
Nico Perez of Mixcloud presentation at Music 4.5 Playlists seminar held in New York on 16 November 2015.
An increasing number of “playlist pitching agencies” focused on pitching artists and tracks to prominent playlist curators are emerging as tastemakers and influencers are ‘super-charging curation’ by creating more than just a sequence of tracks.
Is this just a remake of the radio-promo landscape? Which playlists deliver increased sales? What are the monetization opportunities for high-profile DJs to partner with brands and create custom shows and mixes?
Data science remains a high-touch activity, especially in life, physical, and social sciences. Data management and manipulation tasks consume too much bandwidth: Specialized tools and technologies are difficult to use together, issues of scale persist despite the Cambrian explosion of big data systems, and public data sources (including the scientific literature itself) suffer curation and quality problems.
Together, these problems motivate a research agenda around “human-data interaction:” understanding and optimizing how people use and share quantitative information.
I’ll describe some of our ongoing work in this area at the University of Washington eScience Institute.
In the context of the Myria project, we're building a big data "polystore" system that can hide the idiosyncrasies of specialized systems behind a common interface without sacrificing performance. In scientific data curation, we are automatically correcting metadata errors in public data repositories with cooperative machine learning approaches. In the Viziometrics project, we are mining patterns of visual information in the scientific literature using machine vision, machine learning, and graph analytics. In the VizDeck and Voyager projects, we are developing automatic visualization recommendation techniques. In graph analytics, we are working on parallelizing best-of-breed graph clustering algorithms to handle multi-billion-edge graphs.
The common thread in these projects is the goal of democratizing data science techniques, especially in the sciences.
Today I want to talk about abundance, the deluge of content that we produce, also in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM)-sector. How can we make such abundance of content meaningful and useful to citizens, researchers, educators and students? How can we make it easier for them to find that specific needle in the haystack?
Presented at the Erasme-Descartes conference, October 14, 2016.
Music 4.5 Smart Radio, Nikhil Shah, Mixcloud2Pears
The role of the DJ and the wisdom of the expert?
Curation: a buzzword du jour. What is the role of the expert in music discovery? What is curation and why are people so obsessed with it? Who are the most effective curators? How does expert curation differ from mass social curation? And how has the role of the DJ changed when it comes to breaking new music?
Nico Perez of Mixcloud presentation at Music 4.5 Playlists seminar held in New York on 16 November 2015.
An increasing number of “playlist pitching agencies” focused on pitching artists and tracks to prominent playlist curators are emerging as tastemakers and influencers are ‘super-charging curation’ by creating more than just a sequence of tracks.
Is this just a remake of the radio-promo landscape? Which playlists deliver increased sales? What are the monetization opportunities for high-profile DJs to partner with brands and create custom shows and mixes?
Data science remains a high-touch activity, especially in life, physical, and social sciences. Data management and manipulation tasks consume too much bandwidth: Specialized tools and technologies are difficult to use together, issues of scale persist despite the Cambrian explosion of big data systems, and public data sources (including the scientific literature itself) suffer curation and quality problems.
Together, these problems motivate a research agenda around “human-data interaction:” understanding and optimizing how people use and share quantitative information.
I’ll describe some of our ongoing work in this area at the University of Washington eScience Institute.
In the context of the Myria project, we're building a big data "polystore" system that can hide the idiosyncrasies of specialized systems behind a common interface without sacrificing performance. In scientific data curation, we are automatically correcting metadata errors in public data repositories with cooperative machine learning approaches. In the Viziometrics project, we are mining patterns of visual information in the scientific literature using machine vision, machine learning, and graph analytics. In the VizDeck and Voyager projects, we are developing automatic visualization recommendation techniques. In graph analytics, we are working on parallelizing best-of-breed graph clustering algorithms to handle multi-billion-edge graphs.
The common thread in these projects is the goal of democratizing data science techniques, especially in the sciences.
Today I want to talk about abundance, the deluge of content that we produce, also in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM)-sector. How can we make such abundance of content meaningful and useful to citizens, researchers, educators and students? How can we make it easier for them to find that specific needle in the haystack?
Presented at the Erasme-Descartes conference, October 14, 2016.
The Next 5 years of dynamic content
The massive catalogue of digital music available through streaming services needs more than just sorting. Mainstream services currently offer radio style streaming curated by algorithms, traditional linear radio made digital or some type of on-demand peer recommendation mixed with editorial selection. The blend of spoken content, expert playlists and unique live recordings traditionally found in linear radio is not innovating or even migrating well into dynamic radio style streaming products. How will next generation radio offer a mixture of these experiences and a sophisticated content offering that goes beyond just a massive catalogue of music sorted in different ways?
NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) is an online gaming and web portal firm. NetEase has 3 revenue sources: online-game services (87.4% of revenues), advertising services (11.2%), and value-added services (1.5%). By iChinaStock.com.
Pitch de Soundsgood
Keynote IRMA : la musique en 2025 vue par les startups
Evolutions du streaming vers le développement de nouveaux services de playlists et la recommandation musicale
V rencontres Radio 2.0 - Mardi 13 octobre 2015
'La radio 2.0 et vous ? Raconte-moi une histoire'
www.rr20.fr
50 intervenants / 10 keynotes / 4 tables rondes / 7 workshops / 4 études exclusives
Grands Prix Radio 2.0 / La Radio des Rencontres
- Organisateurs : Nicolas Moulard / Actuonda, Xavier Filliol / Editions de l'Octet, Sacem Université, INA
- Partenaires Platinum : Mediametrie
- Partenaires Grand Prix : Scam, Multivote
- Partenaires Gold : Spotify, Deezer, Hyperworld, Musicovery, Targetspot, Triton Digital
- Partenaires Média : CBNews, La Lettre Pro de la Radio, RadioPub, Media +, Edition Multimedia, Satellinet, French Web, La Correspondance de la Publicité
- La Radio des Rencontres : Broadcast Associés, Radioline, Glowbl
Content Curation Primer For Information ProfessionalsCollabor8now Ltd
Online publishing is now ubiquitous and incessant, with the consequence that we’re often overwhelmed with raw, unfiltered, context-free information. This is fuelling a demand for new content organisation and consumption methods in order to find meaningful and relevant information in these fast-moving data flows. Relevant and decision-ready information is becoming a valuable commodity in its own right, and many organisations are beginning to appreciate the roles and skills of people who understand the specific information needs of their information consumers and can provide it in a timely and effective manner.
The answer to these needs lies in the disciplines, competencies and skills of content curation. Effective curation requires technology and tools to find, filter and validate content at the speed of the real-time web. It requires knowledge domain experts who can interpret and add insight to the content they are harvesting. It needs people who can utilise the power of networks and networking to source relevant and reliable information. These are the emergent skills of the 21st Century knowledge worker.
This master class will explore the emerging role of the “Content Curator” and how it relates to the information profession.
Future of Crowdsourcing: Creation to Curation, Search to Synthesis, Content t...Gaurav Mishra
Three trends are defining the future of crowdsourcing:
1. Input: From asking community members to create original contributions to curating contributions that already exist elsewhere.
2. Output: From searching for the best contributions from community members to synthesizing contributions from community members into something new.
3. Focus: From crowdsourcing content like ideas, designs or software to crowdsourcing things like money, products or services.
For more, see: http://gauravonomics.com/future-crowdsourcing-trends/
It’s not hard to be overwhelmed by the wealth of content available today. Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data 1. That’s equivalent to 10 million compact discs that when stacked, would equal the height of 4 Eiffel towers 2. But the explosion of both content and digital technology hasn’t actually increased productivity. In fact, content searches cost companies over $14,000 per worker and nearly 500 hours per worker every year 3.
So how can you break through the noise? The most successful CLOs have begun harnessing the power of all learning experiences through curation, and more importantly, context. Curation and context powers learning in a variety of ways that can help you and your learners make sense of the plethora of information and reduce barriers to creating a culture of continuous learning.
Music with a Purpose: Taking music recommendation beyond love at first listenAndrew Demetriou
https://youtu.be/WIEpk_A9SSI
A reprise of the talk I gave with Cynthia Liem at ISMIR 2016, based on this paper:
Demetriou, A., Larson, M., & Liem, C. C. GO WITH THE FLOW: WHEN LISTENERS USE MUSIC AS TECHNOLOGY.
The Next 5 years of dynamic content
The massive catalogue of digital music available through streaming services needs more than just sorting. Mainstream services currently offer radio style streaming curated by algorithms, traditional linear radio made digital or some type of on-demand peer recommendation mixed with editorial selection. The blend of spoken content, expert playlists and unique live recordings traditionally found in linear radio is not innovating or even migrating well into dynamic radio style streaming products. How will next generation radio offer a mixture of these experiences and a sophisticated content offering that goes beyond just a massive catalogue of music sorted in different ways?
NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) is an online gaming and web portal firm. NetEase has 3 revenue sources: online-game services (87.4% of revenues), advertising services (11.2%), and value-added services (1.5%). By iChinaStock.com.
Pitch de Soundsgood
Keynote IRMA : la musique en 2025 vue par les startups
Evolutions du streaming vers le développement de nouveaux services de playlists et la recommandation musicale
V rencontres Radio 2.0 - Mardi 13 octobre 2015
'La radio 2.0 et vous ? Raconte-moi une histoire'
www.rr20.fr
50 intervenants / 10 keynotes / 4 tables rondes / 7 workshops / 4 études exclusives
Grands Prix Radio 2.0 / La Radio des Rencontres
- Organisateurs : Nicolas Moulard / Actuonda, Xavier Filliol / Editions de l'Octet, Sacem Université, INA
- Partenaires Platinum : Mediametrie
- Partenaires Grand Prix : Scam, Multivote
- Partenaires Gold : Spotify, Deezer, Hyperworld, Musicovery, Targetspot, Triton Digital
- Partenaires Média : CBNews, La Lettre Pro de la Radio, RadioPub, Media +, Edition Multimedia, Satellinet, French Web, La Correspondance de la Publicité
- La Radio des Rencontres : Broadcast Associés, Radioline, Glowbl
Content Curation Primer For Information ProfessionalsCollabor8now Ltd
Online publishing is now ubiquitous and incessant, with the consequence that we’re often overwhelmed with raw, unfiltered, context-free information. This is fuelling a demand for new content organisation and consumption methods in order to find meaningful and relevant information in these fast-moving data flows. Relevant and decision-ready information is becoming a valuable commodity in its own right, and many organisations are beginning to appreciate the roles and skills of people who understand the specific information needs of their information consumers and can provide it in a timely and effective manner.
The answer to these needs lies in the disciplines, competencies and skills of content curation. Effective curation requires technology and tools to find, filter and validate content at the speed of the real-time web. It requires knowledge domain experts who can interpret and add insight to the content they are harvesting. It needs people who can utilise the power of networks and networking to source relevant and reliable information. These are the emergent skills of the 21st Century knowledge worker.
This master class will explore the emerging role of the “Content Curator” and how it relates to the information profession.
Future of Crowdsourcing: Creation to Curation, Search to Synthesis, Content t...Gaurav Mishra
Three trends are defining the future of crowdsourcing:
1. Input: From asking community members to create original contributions to curating contributions that already exist elsewhere.
2. Output: From searching for the best contributions from community members to synthesizing contributions from community members into something new.
3. Focus: From crowdsourcing content like ideas, designs or software to crowdsourcing things like money, products or services.
For more, see: http://gauravonomics.com/future-crowdsourcing-trends/
It’s not hard to be overwhelmed by the wealth of content available today. Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data 1. That’s equivalent to 10 million compact discs that when stacked, would equal the height of 4 Eiffel towers 2. But the explosion of both content and digital technology hasn’t actually increased productivity. In fact, content searches cost companies over $14,000 per worker and nearly 500 hours per worker every year 3.
So how can you break through the noise? The most successful CLOs have begun harnessing the power of all learning experiences through curation, and more importantly, context. Curation and context powers learning in a variety of ways that can help you and your learners make sense of the plethora of information and reduce barriers to creating a culture of continuous learning.
Music with a Purpose: Taking music recommendation beyond love at first listenAndrew Demetriou
https://youtu.be/WIEpk_A9SSI
A reprise of the talk I gave with Cynthia Liem at ISMIR 2016, based on this paper:
Demetriou, A., Larson, M., & Liem, C. C. GO WITH THE FLOW: WHEN LISTENERS USE MUSIC AS TECHNOLOGY.
Pre-version of the presentation that was given by Mendel Broekhuijsen and Joep Kalthoff at the annual IAML conference. The talk was about the future of music libraries, and the their bachelor graduation projects were shown that was the result of a collaboration between the Public library in Amsterdam, and the University of Technology in Eindhoven.
(Final version will be uploaded soon.)
a set of slides introducing the application of machine learning to music related applications; intended for audience not with computer science background;
Music versus non music soundscapes in retailFran Board
Previous research into the effects of sound on shoppers has focused exclusively on music, usually isolating one variable at a time. This study sets out to explore the effects on shoppers’ valence, cognition and stress of alternative soundscapes, and
finds that the music typically chosen in retail settings is probably not the best choice of background sound. When a generative soundscape, café noise and a music playlist
are compared, music performs least well of the tested sounds. Three important new avenues for future research into retail soundscapes are opened up as a result.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
GridMate - End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid...ThomasParaiso2
End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid regressions. In this session, we share our journey building an E2E testing pipeline for GridMate components (LWC and Aura) using Cypress, JSForce, FakerJS…
Maruthi Prithivirajan, Head of ASEAN & IN Solution Architecture, Neo4j
Get an inside look at the latest Neo4j innovations that enable relationship-driven intelligence at scale. Learn more about the newest cloud integrations and product enhancements that make Neo4j an essential choice for developers building apps with interconnected data and generative AI.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
Discover how Standard Chartered Bank harnessed the power of Neo4j to transform complex data access challenges into a dynamic, scalable graph database solution. This keynote will cover their journey from initial adoption to deploying a fully automated, enterprise-grade causal cluster, highlighting key strategies for modelling organisational changes and ensuring robust disaster recovery. Learn how these innovations have not only enhanced Standard Chartered Bank’s data infrastructure but also positioned them as pioneers in the banking sector’s adoption of graph technology.
Climate Impact of Software Testing at Nordic Testing DaysKari Kakkonen
My slides at Nordic Testing Days 6.6.2024
Climate impact / sustainability of software testing discussed on the talk. ICT and testing must carry their part of global responsibility to help with the climat warming. We can minimize the carbon footprint but we can also have a carbon handprint, a positive impact on the climate. Quality characteristics can be added with sustainability, and then measured continuously. Test environments can be used less, and in smaller scale and on demand. Test techniques can be used in optimizing or minimizing number of tests. Test automation can be used to speed up testing.
Enchancing adoption of Open Source Libraries. A case study on Albumentations.AIVladimir Iglovikov, Ph.D.
Presented by Vladimir Iglovikov:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/iglovikov/
- https://x.com/viglovikov
- https://www.instagram.com/ternaus/
This presentation delves into the journey of Albumentations.ai, a highly successful open-source library for data augmentation.
Created out of a necessity for superior performance in Kaggle competitions, Albumentations has grown to become a widely used tool among data scientists and machine learning practitioners.
This case study covers various aspects, including:
People: The contributors and community that have supported Albumentations.
Metrics: The success indicators such as downloads, daily active users, GitHub stars, and financial contributions.
Challenges: The hurdles in monetizing open-source projects and measuring user engagement.
Development Practices: Best practices for creating, maintaining, and scaling open-source libraries, including code hygiene, CI/CD, and fast iteration.
Community Building: Strategies for making adoption easy, iterating quickly, and fostering a vibrant, engaged community.
Marketing: Both online and offline marketing tactics, focusing on real, impactful interactions and collaborations.
Mental Health: Maintaining balance and not feeling pressured by user demands.
Key insights include the importance of automation, making the adoption process seamless, and leveraging offline interactions for marketing. The presentation also emphasizes the need for continuous small improvements and building a friendly, inclusive community that contributes to the project's growth.
Vladimir Iglovikov brings his extensive experience as a Kaggle Grandmaster, ex-Staff ML Engineer at Lyft, sharing valuable lessons and practical advice for anyone looking to enhance the adoption of their open-source projects.
Explore more about Albumentations and join the community at:
GitHub: https://github.com/albumentations-team/albumentations
Website: https://albumentations.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100504475
Twitter: https://x.com/albumentations
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
We will explore the capabilities of AI in understanding XML markup languages and autonomously creating structured XML content. Additionally, we will examine the capacity of AI to enrich plain text with appropriate XML markup. Practical examples and methodological guidelines will be provided to elucidate how AI can be effectively prompted to interpret and generate accurate XML markup.
Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
4. Music Technology
technology
“A manner of accomplishing a task
especially using technical processes,
methods, or knowledge…”
merriam-webster.com
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
5. “Music As Technology”
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
technology
“A manner of accomplishing a task
especially using technical processes,
methods, or knowledge…”
merriam-webster.com
7. “Music As Technology”
(DeNora, 1999)
“Headphones” by Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY 2.0
1. vary by activity
2. change internal states
3. awareness of effects of specific
songs
8. Music as Accompaniment
1hr active listening
vs. 2-4 hrs passive listening
(Kamalzadeh, Baur & Möller, 2012)
less than 2% active listening
(Sloboda, O’Neil & Ivaldi, 2001)
11.6% active listening
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004)
“Paris metro line 4 at Châtelet during evening rush hour” by Minato-Ku/ CC BY-SA 4.0
9. Music as a Psychological Tool
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004;
Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001;
DeNora 1999)
1. arousal
2. mood
3. emotion
“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0
10. Music as a Psychological Tool
“Portret van een man” by Gert Germeraad / CC BY-SA 3.0
Preference for tailored playlists
(Kamalzadeh, Baur & Möller, 2012)
Greater positive effects
(North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004))
Present-mindedness and arousal
(Sloboda, O’Neill & Ivaldi, 2001)
11. Music and the Brain
• Brain stem responses
• Rhythmic entrainment
• Evaluative conditioning
• Contagion
• Visual imagery
• Episodic memory
• Musical expectancy
• Aesthetic judgment
BRECVEMA model (Juslin, 2013)
“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
12. “Flow”
• Complete focus
• Balance of skill and challenge
• Intrinsically rewarding
• Loss of sense of self
• Loss of sense of time
(see Nakamura, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)
“Challenge vs. skill, showing ’flow’ region” by Oliver Beatson / CC BY-SA 3.0
13. Flow and the Brain
• Synchronization of attentional
and reward networks
“Brain Human Brain” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
(Weber, Tamborini, Westcott-Baker, & Kantor 2009)
• Reducing brain stem responses
(http://www.focusatwill.com)
16. New Services & Big Data Challenges
MIR in the wild: new features, models,
metrics?
Beyond download charts: music as
means to achieve ends?
17. Beyond Love at First Listen
“Illustration of a red heart isolated on a transparent background” by
pixabella / CC0 1.0
“Ear-phones Headphone” by pixabay / CC0 1.0
18. Let’s Talk
”The Discussion” by Adrian Snood / CC BY-NC 2.0
Burning questions: fire away right now
Further discussion at Unconference?
andrew.m.demetriou@gmail.com
m.a.larson@tudelft.nl
c.c.s.liem@tudelft.nl
Editor's Notes
Relate to existing work
Video examples?
THIS SLIDE WILL BE PRESENTED BY CYNTHIA
The words "music” & “technology" used together; typically devices, means to access music, or ways to produce it
This has lead to people having access to vast libraries of music at any time
we want to say that:
-leads to the use of music itself as a technology – as an aid to accomplishing tasks
A sociologist by the name of Tia DeNora published a paper in the late 90s called “Music As Technology of the Self” Where she interviewed people about how they consumed music
And observed that:
1) above and beyond general preferences, what they listened to varied by activity
2) they believed music would alter their internal states in various ways
3) they had a clear idea of what selections within their collections would affect their internal states in what way
And they would do this deliberately, using music as a resource
Social Psychology literature tells a similar story
Experience Sampling shows
Music use is frequent
Accompaniment to all manner of activities (commute, workout routine, relaxing in the evening)
Rarely the sole focus of an activity
In other words, we consume it passively, while doing other things, like walking through a mall, or during our morning commute
-44% of the surveys were completed while music listening had taken place within any 2-hour period, yet less than 2% of episodes involved listening to music as a main activity (Sloboda, O’Neil & Ivaldi, 2001)
-38.6% of text messages sent to participants randomly throughout the day occurred during music lis- tening occasions; on occasions where the participants were not listening to music, 48.6% indicated that they had listened to music since the last text message, yet only 11.6% of these episodes occurred when music listening was the main activity (North, Hargreaves & Hargreaves, 2004)
listeners report changes in arousal, mood and emotion even when consuming it passively
And, echoing Tia Denora’s observations, It appears to be that listeners use music as psychological tool to optimize internal state based on what they think is needed for a given situation and/or activity
using i.e. working out, studying, relaxing etc.
It appears to be a very deliberate practice
Listeners seem to prefer very specifically tailored playlists vs. automatically generated playlists
And report more positive effects, present mindedness and control over their arousal when the individuals had the ability to choose the desired music
- This might mean that more specific control allows us to better optimize our internal states
Another way to say this is to say that;
-within the constellation of their music preferences
-listeners choose music that has specific features that affect our brains and bodies in specific ways
-this allows this optimization based on their activity
There are many debates over the many ways that music affects the brain and the body
I discuss one briefly that suggests there may be some universal features that we select for:
e.g. The brain stem is believed to be a very old part of the brain, and has been shown to be sensitive to loud, low frequency, dissonant, suddenly changing sounds
-if there’s a sudden noise in our environment, it might signal danger
-music with lots of “events” like sudden bursts of sound is more likely to cause arousal and to draw attention to the music
-on the other hand, music that is more constant might instead serve to drown out distracting ambient sounds, and allow us to focus on a task at hand
We may be able to take this a step further and say that people are aiming to use music to create the conditions for an “optimal state”
One researcher, Csikszentmihalyi described such a state
-Flow is characterized as a mental state in which:
Complete attention focused on a task,
the task is challenging enough not to bore, but not so much that it triggers anxiety
performing the task itself is positive and rewarding
so completely that one has lost sense of self and of time,
If it sounds kind of nebulous and vauge, that’s because it is
More recently, some researchers reformulated this idea of a flow state in a more specific way;
They have suggested that flow is what happens when the attention and reward networks of the brain are both active
-they were talking about video games specifically;
But like video games, reward networks in our brains are stimulated when we listen to music
Also like video games, our day to day tasks vary in how much attention we need to pay to them based on how difficult they are
Focus@will
-with this in mind, focus@will is a website that creates playlists to assist in complex tasks
Creating playlists with music that is somewhat constant, so that it doesn’t draw attention to it,
But changing enough so as to be interesting while performing tasks that require focus, like studying
They haven’t published a formal paper to my knowledge
So, perhaps it may also be the case that when performing simpler tasks, like doing the laundry, or passing the time during a commute,
Music that is more likely to draw attention is preferred
In other words, we want to suggest that perhaps, in selecting music with specific features, we are aiming for this optimal flow state, whether or not we realize it, and this might be worth looking into
A collaboration between our fields presents us with some rather unique opportunities
-How music evoke emotions is a fascinating puzzle in psych
--learning how specific features affect our bodies and brains is valuable in understanding how music can evoke emotional responses
-A new and more precise means to examine Flow states – or whether Flow states are really a thing
-Which could lead to an understanding of the role of media in the modern world, and the reasons that we choose to consume it
Another way of saying this:
We should look beyond finding people music they are likely to enjoy the first time they hear it
Getting back to Tia Denora’s idea
-It might not yet be clear how specifically music and context may interact, or whether they to produce a flow state, enough evi- dence has been accrued for us to suggest two aspects worthy of study:
1) during tasks in which boredom is likely, more arousing, attentiong-grabbing music may be selected to induce a flow state: by diverting attentional resources to the mu- sic the challenge of the task increases, as it now requires attention to be paid to both the activity and the music
2) during tasks that are challenging or otherwise cognitively engaging music that is likely to be less arousing resulting in less brain stem activation (e.g., relatively un- changing or consonant) may be more suitable
‘Personalized features’
Personal exposure? Expertise?
And also consider what they are engaged in at the time as well