In December 2009, I completed my graduate degree from Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. For my thesis project, I developed the Website: Exploring Conversations.
The following is an introduction to the site’s feature titled Translating the Language of Music, a multimedia qualitative examination exploring musical conversations.
In combination with new media technologies Translating the Language of Music is a four chapter documentary series. Each chapter adds to an overall understanding of how communication takes place between musicians and with the audience in the process of playing and creating music. More about the project’s methodology is below.
Click on the media player below to listen:
The journalistic aim of the online multimedia platform is to engage in a conversation with society utilizing the power of web 2.0 tools built on widely available platforms. The greatest aspect of the blog format, as chosen for the project, is the ability of people interested in this subject to add their comments and link content to each portion of the project as it grows.
The online model also encourages the use of social media technologies like Facebook and Twitter to share the content and foster a greater conversation and interaction. Additionally the project attempts to support the link economy as the next-generation model supporting transparency and moving content around the web.
The overall aim of the project is an attempt to add to the ongoing conversation underway concerning journalism in a new media Internet era. The subject of the site is the language of music and the content was created to add more context and depth to understanding how musicians communicate.
However, the model I developed could just as easily be the home for other important issues society faces. Thus, exploring conversations could be a site where journalists report stories on crime, education, infrastructure etc. in their city while engaging the issues in a multimedia web 2.0 platform.
Click here for more on the methodology of Translating the Language of Music click here.
