#week6blogpost

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The Sounds of Jupiter

Now that we have trained our minds to focus on the sounds happening all around us every single day, we need to expand our hearing further. It is time to acknowledge that there are sounds happening on as small of a scope as our own bodies, and as large as a scope as that of outer space. It is in our reading this week that these topics were explored further. Both of the artists we studied appeared as chapters in Earth Sound Earth Signal, a novel by Douglas Kahn. The first sound artist we learned about was Alvin Lucier. He has done some amazing work in the world of brainwaves. He is fascinated by, and encourages his audience to be also, the authenticity and originality of the sounds of brainwaves. He describes them as “[performing] their own music. They didn’t wait for the symphony orchestra to ask” (Lucier, Kahn 85). In describing that this way, he accentuates their randomness and individual origin of the brain of the subject. The brainwaves Lucier was focused on recording are called alpha waves. These waves occur only when the subject at question’s eyes are closed and they are free of distraction. They are the brainwaves that come with relaxation and introspection. Kahn takes the studies of Lucier on brainwaves and applies them to another concept of sound widely debated—silence. He uses Lucier’s work to support the argument that true silence cannot be heard by human beings when he says, “The best-known small sounds for Cage were two, normally inaudible sounds of his body, a low one and high one, that he heard during his visit to an anechoic chamber, which provided a scientific foundation for his aesthetic of silence, that is, that no such thing as silence exists“ (Kahn, 89). While I see his argument, I would disagree with the notion that silence doesn’t exist. I would change his claim to state that the true concept of silence has yet to be experienced by human beings—not that it simply doesn’t’ exist. The other author we had the pleasure of meeting was Thomas Ashcraft. This artist was notable in his exploration of the sounds of space. He recorded a series of signals that he resounded off of passing meteors as well as performing live signals he sent to, and received back from, the surface of Jupiter. From these two artists, along with many others unmentioned, it can be seen that sound can be found anywhere, and when transcoded properly, can be listened to and analyzed by humans. 

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New Media and the Entertainment Industry - Carly Ryan

New media has greatly empowered audiences and created numerous opportunities. New media has impacted on and changed the entertainment industry. Sauter (2014) proposed ten concepts regarding new media and entertainment: convergence; inclusionary vibe; forming alliances with audiences; participatory fandom; symbolic and economic capital; vernacular creativity; audiences as entertainers; entertainment as self-formation; blurring of distinctions and ‘new’ vs. ‘old’ media. Some of these will be discussed below. 

Convergence is an important aspect of new media entertainment as engagement must be through multiple platforms. This has led to ‘cross media’—the distribution of the same, only specialised content across varying platforms and ‘transmedia’—producing different material across multiple platforms, to merge into one ‘story’ (Sauter, 2014). One example of cross media can be seen with popular television show, The Walking Dead. As the end credits roll after each episode a preview for the following episode is shown and viewers are encouraged to log on to the network’s website to access additional content including bonus videos and more. Cross media allows producers to engage audiences and bridge traditional media with new media.

Burgess and Green (2009, 25) state ‘vernacular creativity’ encompasses “the wide range of everyday creative practices practiced outside the cultural value systems of either high culture or commercial creative practice.” New media entertainment provides individuals with the opportunity to interact with new creative outlets. Video blogging through platforms like YouTube is seen as a form of social networking—productive play—rather than a “mode of cultural ‘production’” (Burgess and Green 2009, 26).

Through YouTube the ‘blurring of distinctions’ between producers and consumers, experts and amateurs (Sauter, 2014), is evident. Millions of videos uploaded to the website were created by individuals, not institutions or ‘experts.’ Moreover, consumers are producing their own videos to upload; they have become prosumers.

Entertainment in new media is also seen as a ‘sense of self-formation’ with individuals creating and developing their self through engagement. Sauter (2014) highlights how entertainment can be a relational, mean-making activity. How individuals present themselves reflects on their understanding of self, and interactions with others develops and improves it, again this can be seen on YouTube.

“YouTube has been mythologized as literally a way to ‘broadcast yourself’ into fame and fortune” (Burgess and Green 2009, 22). While millions of people upload original content to the website, most videos are scarcely viewed. There are however many, many ‘ordinary’ individuals who have made a name for themselves and established a following through YouTube; Tyler Oakley is an example. 

Labelled a “YouTube sensation” (Bloomberg L.P., 2011) and depicted to have “one of the loudest voices on YouTube” (Romano, 2013), Tyler has uploaded almost 300 videos to YouTube since September 2007; he has amassed over 4.2 million subscribers and more than 155 million total views (YouTube n.d.). Tyler has many endearing qualities that attract viewers: he is hilarious, relatable—he is a self-proclaimed professional ‘fan-girl’, talented, is commendably honest about his identity as a queer man and regularly supports great causes. Tyler’s weekly videos are reflective of pop culture and he regularly involves his fans and audience through ‘Q&A’ videos (see below).

The entertainment industry has transformed as a result of new media and through convergence, vernacular creativity, a blurring of distinctions and sense of self-formation audiences are more empowered and able. YouTube and user Tyler Oakley are examples of entertainment within new media and how the landscape has changed.

References Bloomberg L.P. 2011. Lady Gaga Honored With Google Inc. at 'Trevor Live' Presented by Audi of America and ING. [Press release]. December 5, 2011. http://www.bloomberg.com/article/2011-12-05/a5wTe6Q35C7M.html

Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green. 2009. “You Tube and the Mainstream Media.” In YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, edited by Jean Burgess, Joshua Green and Henry Jenkins, 15-37. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

Romano, Aja. 2013. “Tyler Oakley Is A Bigger Fangirl Than You.” The Huffington Post, February 2. Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/tyler-oakley-is-a-bigger-_n_2599750.html

Sauter, Theresa. 2014. “KCB206 New Media: Week 5 Lecture slides - New Media and the Entertainment Industry.” Accessed April 1, 2014. http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_4_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FcourseMain%3Fcourse_id%3D_108110_1

YouTube. n.d. “Tyler Oakley.” Accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/user/tyleroakley/about