Firstly I would like to thank Loretta for all her help in allowing me to understand the mash up concept. I looked at her page for her examples and explored TuneGlue. I looked at a few local musicians that I am aware of and found what they have released but also other musicians they are connected to. TuneGlue call themselves a "music map". You find one musician or band you like. You either choose "expand", "releases", "lock post" or "delete". For example, I searched for my friend's old band called Mayfly. I clicked expand. Mayfly are linked to The Leopold Gregory, Gandalf the Grey, Giljunko, DJ Blaqstarr Feat. Rye Rye, Accidental Porn and Father Hennepin. I clicked "reseases" on Mayfly and found their two albums. I decided I wanted to know about Gandalf the Grey's releases but no one else's releases so I deleted the others and just had the two bands left up. Gandalf the Grey have also released two albums. From here you can choose to find out who Gandalf the Grey are connected to and keep finding more albums.
This website is VERY interactive. When the "music web" is expanded, it all interweaves and gracefully hovers. I think you may need to see it to believe me with the hovering movement. If you leave it for a few minutes and open the page again the "music web" could be anywhere on the screen. It's a very enjoyable mash up to use. The down side is that it does not have a lot of musicians. I triedch for a lot of bands and people that I knew of and they were not there. This could either be that it is new and still developing. Maybe some musicians have not thought to use it. The other reason could be that it is still a bit "exclusive". I do not know whether anyone could add to it or the people who run the website choose who go on there.
Mash ups in general
I very obviously struggled to define what a mash up is. With the aid of You Tube and my colleague Loretta I was able to get a clearer picture. I believe that it is still a new form of technology so the boundaries have not yet been laid. I think that as people become familiar with the technology there will be more evidence of mash ups. From looking at the examples, I do not use mash ups in my life. I have not found one that I feel the need to use. Perhaps this is why I struggled with the task. I do not have an active understanding as I did with FaceBook, You Tube, Wikipedia and other Web 2.0 features. I had to learn about it from the beginning. I will continue to learn about it now I am better informed.
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Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI was glad to be of help. Your post motivated me to re-examine TuneGlue, which I only had a brief look at the other day. I explored the links from my favourite band 3 Doors Down (who I fear have released their last album ever). I can see the usefulness, as it recommends other similiar music groups you may like. It's pretty accurate, as I already have some Nickelback albums, but I am interested in exploring Hinder and Three Days Grace.
I guess that mashups were difficult because they are such a new concept, which will probably grow in popularity in the years to come. I approached almost all of our weekly topics with a similar unfamiliarity because I had not used them before. It is important to develop the 'active understanding' you spoke about before you can be confident in applying these technologies in a professional setting.
Hey Katie,
ReplyDeletethis mashup sounds interesting. I found one called gigpig which is a mashup of several different apis, for people in the australian music scene. Maybe check this one out too? I've also heard from some other people in the course that lastfm is a fantastic web 2.0 application that recommends bands similar to those you are interested in. Don't think this one is a mashup, but people who are into it really love it so it could be worth looking at as well :)