I've looked at the service that You Tube provides as well as linking it in relation to harps and harp music (in a previous post). Given that You Tube is the biggest communal broadcasting website available, it is usually the first port of call for accessing information on almost anything.But now I'm going to look around for other online communities related to my chosen occupation. (This is the task for template/tutorial six).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites (retrieved 13/4/2011) Lovely Wikipedia gives a lengthy list of a range of social networks and online communities to join!
Below are three sites to explore my occupation:
http://www.myharpsdelight.com/Celtic-harp-blog.html
This blog aims to educate people on any news in the magical world of the Celtic harp. The blogger has a huge range of resources and material linked to his/her blog to help people connect better with many aspects of the celtic harp.
http://www.celticharper.com/harpblog/ (for some reason this won't hyper link)
Here is what this blog has to say for itself:
'Welcome to the Harp Blog! We’re all about harps - big and small, Celtic and Classical, events, accessories, stories, videos, you name it – if it’s harp-related, we want to know about it.
The Harp Blog is run by Tanah, the webmaster and creator of the
Celtic Harp Page, also a working musician, music
teacher,
composer, arranger, and
writer. She currently directs the
Hurly Burly medieval ensemble and plays in a number of groups including the
Stringwood Trio. The Harp Blog is open to all musicians of all levels and ages'. This link
http://www.celticharper.com/main.html provides more of an overview too.
http://www.socialnetworksformusicians.com/musicians/
This is a social network for musicians about HOW to social network using a range of online communities, particularly the classic: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and Flickr.
Social Networks for Musicians helps musicians and music businesses effectively create + manage their social networks. Started in 2005 by music-industry powerhouse and GoGirlsMusic founder Madalyn Sklar, Social Networks for Musicians bring the best and most innovative web marketing solutions to you. Our team can help you get real results from social media sites in a way that no other group can! With over 15 years internet marketing and promotion experience, we know our way around sites like Facebook, Twitter, ReverbNation, Myspace, Flickr, Blogger, Wordpress, LinkedIn and more! We also keep an eye out for new, developing sites and trends.
On all three sites, members (both from within and outside of the 'community' can use resources from the website for their own personal use, suggest other links to the website, send in information (videos, photos, audio recordings etc). This means that a variety of people can contribute to the information displayed on the site pages, especially with regards to blogging where people are easily connected through 'linking' to other sources of information using the internet.
Information in the harp blogs is mostly reciprocal, because a number of parties benefit from the exchange of information passing through the blog system. People that use these two blogs will have an interest in the celtic harp, accessing music to play, learn, listen to, find information about up-and-coming gigs or events etc etc. People using the musicians social networking site are seeking advice for making advancements in their musical careers. To be able to navigate through online communities is essential for establishing themselves in the world as a musician.
Here is an example from one blog about what is being posted:
Saturday, March 19, 8pm
St. Pat’s Fancy at Sadleir House in Peterborough, ON.
The third annual concert celebrating Irish music, with some of the proceeds going towards the Market Hall to help fund its new renovations. Sadleir House is an historic house in Peterborough, near the corner of Parkhill and George Streets. Market Hall is a much loved folk music and general arts venue in the middle of downtown Peterborough. There will be lots of great music from the likes of Cairdeas, Fiachra O’Regan, and The Jenish Sisters, as well as guest spots from the usual crew of local musicians. Tanah Haney will be playing Celtic Harp on a couple of harp-and-fiddle sets with John Hoffman (hence the harp component!).
For more info, you can visit the
official Facebook page for the event or email Tanah at soloharp @ celticharper.com (minus the spaces).
Harp, flute and cello sighting! Not sure I could convince my trio to do something like this though (then again, I almost have enough antique tea cups to pull it off)…
(A video file of the scene was attached underneath this comment).
Even though these blogs can create opportunities from people to share and declare information, ethical issues still remain in place when it comes to posting videos and photos of people without their permission. Copyrights can be corrupted in this way too, luckily, this blogger has written down who the people are in her videos, as well as letting the public know her subjects approved of being put on the blog. She is an accountable and responsible blogger, one of very few, unfortunately.
Benefits of online communities vs traditional communities:
The advent of the Internet has allowed us the advantage of doing practically anything on-line. For example, we can shop, do research, browse for entertainment and communicate. We do all of this without leaving the comfort of our homes. One of the most popular on-line activities is chat. One can talk to others thru on-line message boards, e-mail and
instant messenger services (http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/7813.html).
Traditional community Versus Online community:
http://spaz.ca/aaron/school/online.html (this guy has written a very, very nice account of this argument. Check it out!).
To me, the biggest benefit of traditional communities is PHYSICAL interaction with one another. And in my opinion, nothing is more important than having a physical bond with your family, friends and wider community to feel grounded, to feel a sense of being 'real', to feel human.
We are not the computers that we socialize and connect with, we are not the technological devices that link us to almost anything we want. We are people and I think we need to recognize and appreciate the importance of that.
