Final Project: Provo Music And The Digital World

Hear it is folks, compiled in one place for easier viewing. I had a fun time researching the way Provo bands have been using digital media. Now when I think about local music, i'll think about it in a different (maybe more analytical?) way. 

Provo Music Scene (Part 1)

Provo Music Scene (Part 2)

Provo Music Scene (Part 3)

The Heart of the Provo Music Scene (and where is i…

Going Micro: Following A Provo Bands Progress On T...

Going Micro: Following A Provo Bands Progress On The Digital Road

The Moth & The Flame

Now that I have established what the Provo music scene is, it's time to look at how one band has operated within that system, and even helped shape it. When I asked Perry Burton (local drummer in the band Eli Whitney) who he thought the next Provo band to "make it" would be, he told me it would be The Moth & The Flame.



The above photo is the cover of their latest E.P. The art is striking, visceral, and listening to the music it matches the photo quite well. The digital age has brought an even greater focus on the visual, and The Moth & The Flame embrace that. But at the same time, this band has been curiously anti-digital, or at least has not approached the digital in the same way as bands like Chvrches or Sleigh Bells, who blew up online even before playing to live human beings.

No, this band from Provo (currently relocated to L.A.) got its start by trying to win over local music goers. And they released their first album in physical format only.

At first glance, this logic seems strange. Why would a band, in the digital age, not release there music online? The explanation the band gave was that the album artwork was too important to be separated from the music and was actually intended as the first track of the album. The band was also passive in the social media realms, not trying to promote there Facebook page during concerts. All things a band that want's to survive in the digital age of music needs to be doing. Instead, The Moth & The Flame would use elaborately constructed art installations to advertise for shows. The giant in the picture below was used at their "Provo Rooftop Concert Series" show.

They sold out there album release show and had to add another. And every show they have played at the Velour in Provo has sold out since, with there most recent E.P. release show selling out a few days in advance. And it would seem they have set a trend in Provo, as other notable bands like Parlor Hawk, Mideau, and Polytype have held off releasing their music online, following The Moth and The Flame's example. Sometimes going against the digital world gets peoples attention.

 Indeed, the band has been getting national/international recognition with the release of the follow up E.P. entitled "&" (well, an upside down &). They recently went on a European tour opening for fellow Provo band Imagine Dragons in support of the new E.P. and have started to garner more attention and radio play. Their Facebook page has also jumped into activity, as has their twitter and instagram pages. They also released their first music video.

The band is jumping around the internet as well, being featured in numerous blogs and reviews, the most notable of which have been the feature they got in The Guardian, being played on BBC 1, and making it to #6 on Billboards "Next Big Sound" list.

In an interview they did with Examiner.com, the band talked about how the decision to not release the first album digitally was scary for them, but that things have been paying off precisely because of that decision. The lead singer said that they were able to make a bigger impact that way because "the story of not releasing was more interesting," which allowed them to make a big impact amongst blogs, selling a lot of C.D.'s on their website. This led to them moving to L.A. to work with Producer/drummer Joey Waronker (Atoms for Peace, Beck, R.E.M.), whose work is featured on the E.P.

And even more impressive, they caught the attention of mega producer Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) who worked with them on their next full length album (to come out early next year).

The Moth & The Flame have taken untraditional routes, they seem to be the farthest thing from an internet sensation, yet they are doing serious things in the music world.

I am intrigued as to what route they take from here. And if they are as succesful in gaining internet notoriety as they have been at trend-making in the Provo music scene (just check out this blog post from a fan), these guys should be a safe bet to break out in the next couple years.

Proposal for Studying Literature in the Digital Age: Awareness and Updating Our Methods

I believe that in order to update the English major in a valuable way, we need to be aware of and have the skill set necessary to properly address the new audiences and mediums the internet has made possible. This has a lot to do with the concept of awareness Professor Burton talked about in his post, “literary Study in the Digital Age: 17 Comparisons and a Provocation.” Before the internet there was word of mouth, books, etc. as a means of becoming aware of new things. But now thanks to the internet there is Youtube, Goodreads reviews, blogs, social media, etc. that have created a completely different style and manner in which we communicate.  Facebook and Twitter are briefer, Goodreads review needs to be interesting and can’t bog a reader down (much like an scholarly paper might).  The English major must learn how to use these mediums, to exploit the potential they hold.

Say the student is doing a traditional book report. He or she writes it up and then turns it in. It is likely going to reach an audience no wider than the teacher he hands it into. This is a shameful waste of the knowledge and opinions gained by reading the novel. Now, if the student was trained to post that same review onto Goodreads, knowing how to make it rhetorically appropriate for that medium, it is much more likely his review will be seen by more people and become of service in helping them decide whether to buy the book. And if that same review is then  shared on twitter or facebook, now we have the possibility of starting a conversation about the book. And finally, what if that same review is also made into a video review? The result would be a visceral, visual experience that reaches for yet another audience and opens up even more possibilities for the student to make an impact on the world around him or her concerning that particular subject.

An opponent to this restructuring of the curriculum might say that many subjects within the English major are simply too obscure to find an audience in the deluge of superficiality and glamour that is the internet world. People aren’t going to care, and the ones who do care will be turned off by the new mediums. But to them I would say this. The long tale is making many things accessible that previously weren’t. It is allowing for more things to get seen and heard. 

Another complaint might be that these mediums would require a rhetoric that is less valuable than the strictness found in academic peer reviewed journals. However, it would be simple to find a middle ground, appeasing both the new medium (such as shorter, more opinion oriented good reads reviews) and the old (the formal academic paper). One could sum up there opinion of the book in a sentence or two on their facebook account, and then link to a longer more traditional review , thereby appeasing the people looking for a quick recommendation/summary and the people who want something more in depth.

All this is to get more use out of what we are producing, and make more of an impact. The English major can no longer ignore the digital culture in which modern society now lives. 

Essay 1: The importance of Literature in understanding digital culture

A literary work like Moby Dick can be very effective in helping us make sense of the Digital world. The novel is very large and daunting, much like the digital realm. One way in particular that this novel  distills itself onto a pre-digital mind in useful ways is by functioning as a metaphor for the digital realm. For example ,  my teammate Melody wrote a blog post entitled “The Moby Dick Metaphor” talking about how Ishmaels going to sea is similar to our going to see in learning about the digital world. I built off of this post by proffering one of my own entitled “The (never ending) moby dick metaphor.” In this post I talk about how Moby Dick can help us understand the digital by looking at how a continual cycle of always having to hunt down another whale represents the need to always hunt down another digital concept/idea. The need to continually learn and understand the new concepts and things that come up in the digital sea.

Another approach that some of my teammates took was looking at Moby Dick as a platform that will prepare us for curating and building identity. That is, the novel presents its ideas in a way that help us understand the identity of the person telling the story, (and telling the story changes the narrator as well) similarly, when we go onto youtube or soundcloud, the music that we like and choose to curate will show our audience things about our identity, as well as help us construct our identity.

And finally, one of my teammates looked (Derrick) at how Moby Dick represents “deep blogging” in the sense that by looking very deeply into specific subjects we learn more about them and gain a fuller understanding. Just as the whole novel is done under the subject of the sea and whaling, so too can a blog be composed around a specific set of themes or subjects (such as the early-returned missionary blog being done by one of my classmates, or my music blogging).

One Strategy for Digital Humanities

Knowing how to read is a more obvious but just as important question as knowing what to read. English literature curriculum has historically been more interested in the second question, but the new digital age gives the first one a new and urgent importance.

Typical first courses required for English students include introductions to research tools and to literary periods. From then on, the rest of the course of study hones in on specific genres, authors, and texts, with the assumption that students know the general contexts. 

May I suggest an additional mandatory prerequisite: English 299: Digital Literacy. The assumption that students raised in a digital age already know all of what digital tools can offer is is like assuming that a child raised in a library automatically knows everything about books — yes, chances are, that child has read a lot already, but they are limited to the extent of their own whims. Students today have used the Internet a lot, but they have likely only learned the tools that they have naturally been drawn to. 

As one who thought himself to be a DIY champion, this attractive graphic shared by Gideon Burton brought me to a new humility, and made me wish I had a class about digital literacy. Not everything can you learn by yourself.

Much has been done by way of commentary on digital literacy. Doug Belshaw has commented on the difference between digital literacy and web literacy (one, he says, is a subset of the other). Gideon Burton has written extensively about the three C's of digital culture -- consume, create, and connect -- and how knowledge of these amounts to some degree of digital literacy. There is even a website, Literacy 2.0, dedicated to parsing out this very subject.

Loving to read does not make one a literary scholar. We need a course that instills digital discipline and understanding to empower students to use new tools in effective ways. Without it, students will drown in the ocean of the ever-changing web. We can throw them a lifejacket and teach them how to swim.

Burn All the Books? A Defense of Tradition in the Digital Age

Digital enthusiasts are sometimes accused of throwing traditional approaches under the bus. Quit lugging around those heavy books — slim down with 140 characters! But traditional literature approaches are useful for making sense of digital culture. Close reading and analysis of texts, the most analog of the analog, are tools that can be profitably applied to navigating the tumultuousness of digital seas.

Moby Dick, as an example, can provide two kinds of guidance for digital mariners: 

1) The text can be seen as an example of digital culture, and 

2) The text can provide purpose for digital tools.

To the first point, comparisons can be made between Moby Dick and digital contemporary life. Some comparisons are charming and superficial, others offer real insight. We can see in Ahab the passion of fan culture, and in Ishmael’s obsession with whaling information an example of a blogger who is curating all the information possible about whaling. And we can also see type of deep-diving in research that Ishmael uses as an example for how blogging can be a serious and deep endeavor.

Social media is sometimes considered silly and without purpose. What did you eat for breakfast today? When we look to essential literature, we can become re-calibrated to essential values and meaning. It can then give purpose to our digital endeavors. Reading Moby Dick, we can understand better themes of obsession, commitment, shortsightedness, and passion. And a blogger who embarks on a creative journey, for example, will make a more meaningful blog having seen the passion and failings of Captain Ahab. Having consumed the moral and thematic material that great literature has to offer, we will know how to responsibly yield new digital tools.

Social Proof Enhancing Literary Studies

The classroom is a small space with only around fifteen to thirty people bouncing ideas off one another. In the digital age, there is no need to define a text or ideas by what discussion happens in the classroom when there is so much available online to look into and participate in. Traditionally, research is a very solitary thing, combing through books in the library, browsing online journals, and drafting and writing all on a topic that you may not even be sure is relevant or useful to anyone else. This is why developing literary communities that extend beyond the classroom is so important.

 Students should be encouraged to stop making their research and studies such a private activity. The first step to beginning socially optimized research is to find communities, scholars, peers, etc. outside of their classrooms that are talking about the same or similar things. As students discover that what they are discussing in class is being discussed by others also, they will realize that what they are learning is not just for a test or essay, but it is part of a larger conversation that is happening. Circulating ideas and getting feedback helps students to refine their research and helps them to focus on something that is a part of a larger conversation rather than just an essay to turn in at the end of a semester. It is more exciting to students when they know that what they are interacting with a community in discussing literature, rather than be left to feel like what they are studying may be irrelevant or unnecessary.

Everyone has also experienced how ideas are easier to come up with when discussed with others than when just thought through alone. If students are using socially optimized research they no longer have to wonder by themselves, “does this topic matter to anyone else?,” “are others thinking the same thing?,” “are others thinking things in opposition to my ideas?” A simple Tweet, Facebook status update, or Google+ post can start to reveal the answers to these questions from friends and peers. As you start to expand your circle and once you realize that your ideas have some value, question can be posted in groups of people focusing on similar topics and posed to scholars who have authority on the subject.

Any study that stays entirely within the confines of a classroom is not fully teaching its students about the resources available to them. If students are encouraged to find ways to socially optimize their research, they will not only become a part of a community outside their classes and university, but will also find that they improve their research to be more relevant and better executed. 

Moby Dick as a Lens for Digital Culture

Combining a classic novel like Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and digital culture may seem like an odd idea, but even something written as many years ago as Moby Dick can still provide insight into the digital age. Many of the characters in Moby Dick can act as representations of aspects of the digital world, in particular Ishmael and Ahab.

Ishmael is an example of curation. Throughout the novel he is “collecting” data about pretty much everything he encounters. He goes into great detail about whales (almost creating his own Whale Wikipedia), explains customs for when one ship meets another, describes the ship, explains the background of some of the crew, like Queequeg for example. In many ways, Moby Dick becomes Ishmael’s very own Pinterest board, Diigo account, or Wiki.

Ahab can be seen as a representation of social proof and understanding the web. For him the white whale is Moby Dick, for the internet the white whale is whatever new thing is coming up. This white whale can never really be captured, because as soon as you grasp one thing in digital culture something else new will emerge. It starts to feel like an endless goal to keep current on things and no matter how many harpoons that you throw at digital culture, you will never be able to fully capture it, because then another white whale will just appear.

Digital connections like these can be made througout the text of Moby Dick that enhance both the text and an understanding of the digital world. Finding connections like these and exploring new ideas is what literary studies and digital culture are entirely about, and using these two hand in hand is of great benefit to students.

Find Relevance in What You Are Studying

What do you do in an English Literature class? You read books. Sometimes you just focus on one book, but I have even been in a class where we read ten books in one semester! (I thought that was a little ridiculous, but, oh well.) But each time a new book was started, I felt like I just dove right in, blindly, not knowing what I should actually look for. I had a few professors that would try to guide our (my classmates and I) reading in a way to help with that day’s discussion, but I always felt a little bit lost. I never knew exactly what to look for in my reading, and I felt like it impeded my learning. Not to sound dramatic or anything, it just was a little bit random sometimes.

Then I was introduced to a new way of reading by Dr. Gideon Burton. He showed me and my classmates an Algorithm for Reading a Book in theDigital Age, and we were required to do an assignment in this process. (You can find mine finished product of this algorithm here.)  I’ll be honest; at first I thought it was just busy work. I didn’t want to do it because I had actual reading to do for other classes, and I didn’t have time to jump through all of these hoops. But then after I finished and started reading the novel, I had an epiphany:

I actually had a purpose in reading the book.

That sounds dramatic again, and it was what the point of the assignment was anyway, but it was still fun to figure that out. As I read the novel, I focused on passages that would help with ideas that I was already thinking about, and I could find themes that I wanted to focus on for later projects.

This algorithm is what I propose as a way to study literature in the digital age. It doesn’t have to be exactly as Dr. Burton proposes already, but the idea of ingraining your study in an overarching theme is what can help students to go deeper in their learning. It also ties in with the idea of the tiered content model of writing and publishing, but it applies to learning and studying. When we find the backstory and discussions about a novel, we are getting a teaser, and then studying the topics that have already been explored surrounding the text give us a trailer. Then, finally, we can formally study the text.

Basically, we need to avoid just blindly going for it. We need to find the “why” in what we are studying. We need to be prepared for the end goal. The digital age allows this algorithm to work because of the social aspect of finding discussions that surround the novel, and this is how we can find our place in the conversation. Such is the goal of the English major: make a meaningful contribution to the conversation. Now, in the digital age, this is more than ever easily and meaningfully done.

Understanding Digital Culture: Brought to you By...

Before Ishmael starts his journey in Melville’s Moby Dick, he gives a description of an oil painting that he sees in the small hotel that he is staying at. At first, the painting is completely obscure, and he cannot tell what it is supposed to be, but as he studies it and sees each little part individually, the painting starts to make sense.

If this were a traditional literary analysis of this passage of the novel, I would simply say that this passage is a metaphor for reading the novel. The novel doesn’t really make total sense if we just look at it in one glance, but as we dissect each part of it, we start to see how each chapter, each word works together to create the quest of finding the white whale.

But this isn’t a traditional literary analysis. This is an analysis from digital culture point of view. The metaphor for reading Moby Dick becomes a metaphor for studying digital culture. When we apply the method for studying the novel to studying the digital culture that surrounds us, we see the process of digital culture better. As a whole, digital culture seems like a giant, jumbled, ugly mess that would be nearly impossible to navigate, but if we focus on one part at a time, it becomes manageable, meaningful, and even possibly beautiful.

When we do a broader literary analysis of Moby Dick we see things such as how the chapters work together to create the story as a whole. There are chapters when the plot is pushed forward quickly, especially at the end of the novel when the crew of the Pequod is batting the white whale. On the other hand, there are chapters in which hardly anything happens at all, and Ishmael just dumps all of the information that he has gathered together on us. These chapters may not seem important on their own, but they create greater importance for the plot-filled chapters. If we didn’t have all of the knowledge about whales that Ishmael gives us, we wouldn’t know the significance of how they catch the whales, or what they do with their findings.

Understanding this helps us understand the workings of digital culture. Often, people just want the exciting things—the plot filled chapters. But if we don’t gain all of the informational pieces that we need, these excitements won’t have as much meaning or importance for us.

In short, the method of understanding Moby Dick can be used as a way to understand the digital world. This is an idea I’ve mentioned before in posts like this, or that Sam has mentioned in posts like this. But the basics point to how digital culture and traditional literary study can be linked together. Their hand-in-hand study allows for new ideas to come about in new ways that will continue to develop.

Reflective Post On Digital Culture

I got into this class on the recommendation of Greg Bayles, himself a wizard of digital culture. And I have learned an awful lot about how the digital world works, where it is moving, and where it has been. I was intrigued with the way we connected the subject with Moby Dick, and this post by Melody Hiatt entitled "The Moby Dick Metaphor" is what initially got me excited about the connections that could be made between Moby Dick and Digital Culture. From there, I started to really read Moby Dick with a new perspective, and the result was this post entitled The (never ending) Moby Dick Metaphor. In fact this illustrates something else I have learned in this class about the nature of the digital world: there is a lot of building off of other things and remixing. And also, it can be confusing to get a grasp on new concepts, because there will always be new concepts that need grasping. There is always going to be the need to hunt for more knowledge and ability, we will never be resting or completely in control, but in a wild chase for The White Whale. The Holy Grail. The Thing We Desire. The Thing We Need.

I enjoyed being in Team Queequeg, where I was a first mate. I think being in a team was appropriate because a lot of things in the digital are moving to a more team work/collaborative model. Crowdsourcing is a good example of this, and is talked about in this class post entitled "Collaborative Creativity and Crowdsourcing."

I found it especially interesting when we talked about a musical site called "Kompoz" that Professor Burton had found that allowed for musical collaborating amongst many different people from anywhere in the world to collaborate on tracks. Each person contributing a specific part, and advertising for other specialists (a drummer or guitarist) to come in and help add stuff. This kid of collaborative environment is really neat. The possibilities it opens are fascinating. And it got me thinking about the power of collaboration in new ways (and appreciate the internets power for connecting people)

Another part I really enjoyed in this class was talking about the concept of the long tail, written about in this blog post.  It opened my eyes to the power the internet and recommendation platforms have had in allowing for revolutionary changes in the way main stream markets are no longer in complete control like they used to be. For example, now niche products (such as music, videos, video games) can really make an impact and be able to self-sustain without being a main stream product making millions upon millions of dollars.

Another point that got me excited in this class was when fellow Queequeg teammate Danielle Cronquist did an altruistic post for me giving me a jump start on my final project and a good base to work from. I also enjoyed doing an altruistic post of my own for a classmate on fandom and was surprised to see how I could at the same time link it to my own final project and Moby Dick at the same time.

That might just be my big take away from this class. That everything in digital culture is extremely connected. And that can be a powerful thing.

Digital Culture Reflections

Note the three folders at the bottom. Thinking academically about digital culture has helped me organize and think about my own digital life. In Consume, I keep apps like Music, Podcasts, and Hulu; in Connect, I have Mail and social media; in Create I have Calendar, Voice Record, Notes, and To Do lists.

A couple years ago I presented at a conference for podcasters in Utah called Pod Camp SLC 2011. Now, as I reflect on what I have learned this semester in digital humanities class, I find myself thinking back to that presentation. Maybe the main thing that the digital culture class has taught me, in my final semester of college, after years of podcasting, is that this stuff I have been up to has been more than merely a side project.

I’ll go ahead and share below my presentation that I gave back then. It was called “Being Professional With Your Passion.” I defined what that meant for me, and how I measured success with my podcasting. I explained how I sometimes felt like Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, making people believe that I was anybody worth listening or talking to, and how I tried to hide the screaming Beatles fan inside me every time I got to interview one of my most respected artists about my favorite subject.

Back then, I felt like I was getting away with something. What my digital culture course has taught me is that I wasn’t: I was directly participating in something real. Digital tools gave me access to The Thing, not just a superficial rehashing of it.

Brittany Purcell, a classmate of mine, has written about how digital tools like Etsy can afford access to real business opportunities. She outlined the Maker movement in her article, “Etsy: The Vehicle to Professional Entrepreneurship,” and defined Makers as “the population of creators that use available resources to create and enhance given products.” 

Reading that, and talking in academic ways about consuming, creating, and connecting, has been for me like going to the doctor and finding out that this strange thing you have growing on you has a Latin name. Even if I don’t know exactly what to do about my passion for Do-It-Yourself digital and creative projects, knowing that it is a recognizable, diagnosable subject, worthy of academic attention, is paradigm-shifting. And confidence-inspiring.

After three years of podcasting, I am closing shop on The Pixar Podcast and starting a new show in January. I will continue to apply the principles of consuming, creating, and connecting that I had found on my own and then became cognizant of in this class, and I couldn’t be more excited to go forward, my vision now clear about what I am doing and why it is worthwhile.

Reflecting on a Semester of Digital Culture

Before this class, I thought that I already had a pretty good grasp on digital culture, but in reality, I had just barely been skimming the surface. I was already familiar with the basics like blogging from writing my own blog and managing one of BYUs blogs, and I thought that I was already pretty internet savvy, but there are so many resources, curation, and research methods that I had never even thought of Like using Twitter to research? That one kind of blew my mind a little big. I really just saw that as a place to say silly and witty things and hope for a few "favorites." But, then with the idea of using it as a tool of research and connecting with those outside of your circle I was able to contact the author of the book that I read for this class and get some information from him (I texted my mom right after he tweeted me cause I thought it was that cool...). 

I also found myself liking Google+ a lot more than I would. I had gotten a profile with them when it first came out really more out of curiosity than anything, and then got bored and deleted it, but now that I have been introduced to the communities on Google+ I think I may still hop on every once in a while after this class is over.

  

So I guess thinking about it, what amazes me most about digital culture is the way that people are connecting through it. I’m glad that I chose for my final topic to research something that is relevant to me (editing in the digital age), because it made me much more aware of what is going on in the editing world, what type of people are in this field, and how I can get more connected. In the beginning of the class, I was mostly feeling a little hopeless about what digital culture is doing to our society as I expressed in my blog post “Connecting or Disconnecting?” But, as I started to see the positives, the negatives seemed pretty outweighed. The opportunities for growth, creativity, and connection that the digital age has created are amazing. I especially started to feel more positive about the way things are headed with the class lecture/blog post "Collaborative Creative and Crowdsourcing."

I learned a lot from this class that is going to be very applicable to my future career, which is hopefully doing web based publishing and editing, but other than that I think I just have a better understanding of what is happening online and how I can be a part of it.

The Heart of the Provo Music Scene (and where is it going?)

The music world in Provo is centralized around one place. That place is Velour.

And the velour (and subsequently the Provo music scene) is centered around one guy. Corey Fox.

This article in the Deseret News says (in an interview with Provo mega-blogger C. Jane Kendrick) that “You can’t talk about the Provo music scene and not talk to Corey Fox, he is an amazing coach for a lot of these bands. He knows what he’s doing. He’s got magic.”

Indeed, Corey Fox seems to be the godfather of music in Provo. With his blessing a band can get a hold in the local scene, and without it ... things might be harder. 

As far as the nature of the music scene, Fox admits that “Provo is a transient town, so you only have these bands for a short amount of time.” Thus he sees himself (and the Velour) as more of a means of developing bands, helping them find direction rather than being the final destination. 

I think this is perhaps the main component that sets Provo apart from other music scenes around the country. Nowhere else do you have a scene that is small enough to have essentially one man control everything. And nowhere else do you have one guy capable of handling a scene this big. So it is an interesting balance. 

People in provo are starting to take notice, as well. Recently, a blog called "provobuzz" featured the top 10 bands in provo here. The post got some good attention and shares from various social networks (Facebook being the biggest). Another post on the same site claims that the local music scene is on the verge of exploding. 

But i'm a bit skeptical that things are headed that way. The blog was talking about mainstream success, and Provo houses mainly indi-bands. Bands that are aiming for niche markets in certain genres rather than mainstream success. 

I decided to interview Perry Burton, the drummer for the Provo band Eli Whitney, to try and understand the nature of the Provo Music scene in Provo and what sets it apart from the rest of the country.  What I knew going into the interview was that Provo was certainly no L.A. or New York in terms of having a ton of big bands. Provo was something different. Burton didn't think so either. In fact, his opinion was different than the blogger who thought Provo was on the verge of exploding. Perry's opinion on that subject was that "Provo is the way it is partially because of our demographic here and partially because of size. I don't think it would be (or will be) the same when it gets to be a million people bigger or what not." Everybody is aware that Provo is growing rapidly, and that certainly means 10 years from now things may be very different. And i'm not sure one can predict what things will look like. 

But, Perry continues, "right now it's just big enough to produce a populated scene with lots of players/groups/shows/etc. but small enough that one group can make waves and rise to local fame which in turn, provo is then big enough to raise their star players high enough that the big boys out in LA and NY notice. So it's a careful balance right now, as I see it."

 A good comparison is looking at the Boise State (college) football team. They make a big impact on the national scene, yet they are a small school with a small pool of resources to draw from. Talking with Perry confirmed this. And he also lauded the way "digital mediums allow for completely decentralized success of an otherwise totally centralized concept ("the scene")." All this goes into that careful balance of the Provo music scene.

Finally, when I asked Perry about Provo being a halfway point, or a stepping stone for bands rather than a final destination... well, he wasn't convinced that was a good idea. "The way I see it, why would I want to live somewhere with 1,000 other up-and-coming bands? When I can live here and be famous and make waves and get attention. Big fish in the small(er) pond, so to speak." I agree with Perry to a certain extent. I think a band would be wise to stay in Provo on the condition that they are also having lot's of success in the digital realms (as opposed to bringing lots of people to there live local shows but not getting much play in the digital). I just don't see Provo bands doing that at the moment.  

For example, look at the band Chvrches (from Scotland). In this article in The Guardian the band gets classified as "quintessential examples of that recent paradigm, mysterious-new-sensation-make-giant-splash-with-debut-track." Meaning, they were born on the internet, getting big thanks to blogs and re-posts. Indeed, the first time there music was ever heard by anybody (live shows included) was when they were featured on the blog Neon Gold. They got a ton of Plays off of that, and just like that they were a widely known band. And all this before even playing a show as a band. For me, this represents the truly digital bands, or at least bands that are using the full potential that the digital world has created. Of course, it takes a bit of luck and a certain kind of music to get big on the internet like that. 

Recently, I was able to talk to Derek Miller, the guitarist in the two-piece band Sleigh Bells. I asked him what it was, exactly, that got them huge, if he could pinpoint something. He told me it was when some of there demo tracks got featured on a blog that was being done for the movie Where The Wild Things Are. They got posted on that blog (somewhat coincidentally) and suddenly they were being passed around the internet. Here is an excerpt from the blogger who did the blogging: 

"In August 2009, I blogged about the duo for a website coordinated by Spike Jonze for his movie Where the Wild Things Are. Spike got excited about the music and played it for his friend M.I.A., who also got excited. Several other things happened after that, and now here they are at the low-ceilinged Studio, about to play for a packed audience that's already generating a smell typically associated with the end of a show: booze, sweat, booze sweat."

So here is another band that got big before they were really even a band with mixed and mastered tracks. 

It is this sort of thing that Provo is lacking. Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees got big primarily because they played very good live shows (Imagine Dragons) or because they were invited on tour with a big band (Neon Trees going with The Killers). Once they started to gain steam, it of course helped that they had some good movies put up by local outfit Occidental Saloon, but that was not what got the wheel moving initially.

The Provo music scene is most likely to continue in this precariously balanced state. A lot of small bands fighting to become the big fish in a small pond. And the occasional band that makes it. As far as an explosion? I think the scene is not set for one, nor does it need one. That isn't Provo's identity. Provo will be that cool niche that not many people know about but has a lot going for it. However, I definitely think the scene will continue to grow, as more people take notice, and more bands get success. More people will take it seriously. More bands will come here hoping to succeed in this small-pond dynamic. It is unique in the nation because of that. 

Provo Music Scene (Part 3)

These are the bands that have not yet made a splash but are capable of doing so in the Provo Scene.  This article from an informative blog about all things provo gives a list of the top 10 provo bands that could potentially reach outside the provo area.

One of these bands, Parlor Hawk, has been participating in some newer aspects of the online music world. They recently did a kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a site that allows bands (and really anybody that wants to raise money) to ask fans to donate some money so that they can record an album. The premise is that the fans get to help a band they like make there album while at the same time getting shirts and other prizes for donating their money to the kickstarter campaign. Parlor Hawk was able to raise $15,265 via 337 backers (people who donated). Very impressive for a local band. This shows the power of online marketing, as a quick look at their kickstarter page will no doubt impress visually and sonically. Needless to say, the album was produced and released. To generate hype, they made and posted to Youtube a live recording of one of the new tracks a few weeks before release, which acted as a powerful visual reminder/notice to fans and others that the new album was about to come out.

You can watch that here

Parlor Hawk has recently had a couple songs featured on the hit television series "The Sons of Anarchy."

Another band that has been making some impact in the local scene is Polytype.

They recently released a concept video.  Highlighting once again the strategy (perhaps considered traditional at this point) to couple music with a visual, online experience.

Another good band is Eli Whitney. They have taken a different approach than the previously mentioned bands in soliciting their music. They have in on their website. You can listen to all the songs, and if you like them and want to download them you can pay. I like this idea because the money goes to the musicians and not some third party. The drawbacks to this of course are that not as many people are going to stumble across the music when it isn't in a "share" environment like Soundcloud or Pandora. They do however compensate for that by releasing videos onto youtube.

And finally, a band that has done an interesting thing with Video is Red Yeti. They have made a "micro-trilogy". This concept is interesting and allows for the viewer to watch more than just one thing on the band (and short enough to keep your attention), thereby getting a deeper perspective on who the band really is. I see this concept really helping out bands that are harder to figure out on first sight. Just like some people's personalities are harder to place than others on a first meeting. This represents some of the innovation going on in the digital realm.

Reflective Post

As I have been thinking about my experiences in this Digital Culture class and in my experiments in blogging, etc. I have realized how often I am lost. There are different kinds of lost that I'm talking about. One is similar to this blog post, where I get lost in my thoughts, and I forget what I am supposed to be focusing on. When I am lost in this way, I stumble on things that aren't necessarily what I was looking for, but they sometimes help me in creating new ideas, or tying together others.

On the other hand, I realized that I really do legitimately get lost in the digital world. I have no idea what I am doing, where I'm going, what I'm trying to accomplish. It is a vast sea of information that always changes, just like how Sam talks about in this blog post. This class introduced to me entirely new ways of learning, researching, connecting, and I had to start from scratch in learning to use them. I have never been so out of my element in a class in my student career here at BYU. Usually, my classes are like Dr. Burton's Spiral, (I feel like I mention this in every post!) and I can draw upon knowledge that I already had as a foundation for the new information that I am receiving.

I had to start from nothing in this class.

So, as I tried to learn the concepts for this class, I had to learn the basics of the digital world. To learn the correct way to do something, start at the basics, and then you will be able to find meaning in what you are learning. But I still felt like I couldn't ever grasp the concepts in ways that were expected or described in class. So I started avoiding it. I became an Edupunk in this class (a concept introduced to me by Derrick). But as Derrick talks about in his Edupunk success story and project, he gained his education while avoiding the things he was "supposed" to do.

My Edupunk/Digitical Culture success:

I am definitely not the greatest blogger to ever life, and I am still struggling to really understand why and how to use all of the different tools that are available for curating, connecting, researching, etc. but my success came because I now have the foundation to build on. I had to learn new way to think in order to complete this class, and now I have that skill to enhance the other skills that I already have. I have already started to incorporate this new type of thinking into other aspects of learning.

Now I just have to remember to not get used to it! As Sam mentions in his post mentioned above, the digital world is ever-changing. I have to get used to being shaken up. I have to get used to things changing. That is part of using the digital world. It is a new facet of humanity that I have learned about and become part of.

I have been remixed.

Staying Afloat in the Digital Sea

Here is the link for my final paper. I kept bouncing back and forth between ideas that I have been having throughout the semester, but I actually decided to just retool my first paper. So this is still pretty heavily influenced by Moby Dick, but I added new facets and new ideas to the first paper. Like Dr. Burton's spiral (again)!

Shaping Editors for the Digital Age: Final Paper

Here is my final paper arguing that in order to better prepare editing students for jobs in the field of editing, curriculum should be focused on involving the technology that is now a crucial aspect of all literature, news, and text that is being published and that the population is consuming. 

As much as I was dreading writing another final paper, I actually found myself really enjoying this one. I guess that's the difference when you are writing about something that you are really caring about and excited to share.

Provo Music Scene (Part 2)

Overview continued:

After the huge success of Neon Trees, some other bands were quick to follow in gaining national notoriety. First up was a band called Fictionist. Fictionist was selected by Rolling Stones magazine to be in a contest whose winner would be put on the cover of Rolling Stones magzine. They got a number of unsigned bands from around the country, and it is a testament to the growing reputation of Provo that a band was selected.

 

Fictionist gained a bunch of facebook fans, and a lot of attention, from being in this contest. They did not win the contest. But they made a big enough impact to get signed by Atlantic records, which was a huge accomplishment. 

Th above video is a "vlog" or video blog, which shows some of the new ways bands are interacting with fans in the digital age. So after Fictionist came another band that has made the Biggest waves out of Provo yet. Imagine Dragons, Who broke out in a number of ways. One of which was building bringing a lot of people to their shows at Velour music gallery in provo. (I will talk more about Velour in the next Blog post). The other was being selected to play in the Provo Rooftop Concert series, which allowed them to make an impact on the larger part of Provo and is said by some within the Provo Music scene to be there turning point in terms of starting to gain a lot more notoriety. Interestingly, it was another occidental saloon video that paired with this increased exposure to really break imagine dragons out and get them signed to a major label. 

So here we have been given a quick introduction to the biggest bands to have come out of Provo, and seen that for most of them it was a combination of old and new routes (having success in Live shows as well as on the newer medium of Youtube videos) that got them major notoriety. Up next is a look at the mid level bands and the routes they are taking to follow aforementioned, and whether they are succeeding in the realm of the digital. 

Provo Music Scene (Part 1)

Overview of the Provo Music Scene:

When talking about the music coming out of Provo in recent years, the average person might recognize a few of the names, Neon Trees, Imagine Dragons, and possibly Fictionists. But what most people don't realize, even within Provo, is that there are a number of other bands beginning to rise, and that Provo has made a name for itself within the Music industry as a hub, almost a little phenomenon, of burgeoning bands.

So in order to understand why Provo is being taken seriously in some circles (certainly not all, as a Seattle, or New York would be, but that is starting to change as more local bands make an impact) we need to look at the first band that really broke out, Neon Trees. Neon Trees, it might be said, started the Provo revolution in terms of finding a very large audience outside of Provo. Before Neon Trees had hit song "Animal" playing all over the radio, there were a lot of other bands in provo, and a very healthy underground scene. But that is all it was, an underground scene. Neon Trees, somewhat unexpectedly, got invited to tour with mega-band The Killers, which really changed things for them. On a side note, The Killers have some interesting connections to Provo bands due to the fact that a number of the band members, including the lead singer, are Mormon. And Provo is predominantly Mormon, including many of the musicians in bands there. So you might say Neon Trees got its notoriety from one of the more traditional routes, touring with a well known band. But they needed something to pair with that tour, and they had a music video made by The occidental saloon that started getting tons of views.

The occidental saloon is a Provo filmmaking team that has partnered with a lot of provo bands to create live performances. Their website, and other videos can be viewed here. Some of the film makers involved (Matt Eastin, Corey Fox) are very important to the success of the Provo bands because it is undeniable that having a visual online presence is important for a band in the digital age, as youtube has developed into a sharing and commentating culture that allows for "viral" videos that can gain the attention of a broad range of viewers.

So there it is, Neon Trees were the forerunners to the Provo Music scene, they brought the eye of the national music industry to Provo, and they gave the other bands a sense of confidence in the ability to make a splash in bigger markets.

Working Post: Provo bands and social media

Working Thesis:
Provo has a thriving music scene, and one of the biggest reasons for this is the way the bands have been using social media to gain fans. How exactly have they been using social media, and how have some of the bands gained international notoriety?

Preliminary Exploration:
I have been interested in the Provo music scene for quite some time now, and for a number of reasons. I like a lot of the music that they are creating, but I also like watching the bands develop followings and try to "make it". It is definitely an extraordinary accomplishment for a band to gain a big enough following to allow them to make music for a living. But ever since taking this class, I have been looking at these same bands in different ways. I am interested in what they are doing in the digital realm to try and make a ripple in the music world. Indeed, I believe the digital world is the only way for a band to become big anymore. But how are they doing it? I have explored in a blog post how fans have a large impact on the bands music, but i want to delve into how they are gaining these fans in the first place. I have also looked at another issue confronting bands: copyright and the need to make money from there songs , indeed copyright has become an issue that might be worth exploring as changes in the laws could make it easier for bands to get exposure. This was explored in a book a did a video review on. But as i go forward with my research, I need to look directly at a number of provo bands and see how they have gone about gaining fans through social media.

Relevance:
This is where the revolution is happening in the music world right now, and I don't see any other way for Provo bands to get wider recognition if they are not having social media successes. They need to be creating an image, getting music up, and finding exposure.

Format:
I would like to create something a little more digital than a paper, and appropriate for the audience I am trying to reach. Perhaps a blog.

Outlet:
I have not crystalized any particular outlets. Perhaps I would create an article which I would then submit to newspapers, or perhaps I would submit the blog to prominent music blogs, showing the world what Provo is doing. In any case, the ideal is to reach people outside of Provo who don't know about the music scene, but it would also be desirable to have those in the Provo scene see it. For that I could share it around twitter. I have found some people there that are involved in the music scene, such as @provomusicfacts, @thefakecoreyfox, @velourlive, etc.  I have also found some websites that talk about provo bands, they are all quite surface level stuff though, that is why I want my blog post, or whatever I end up doing, to really get into the details of the scene. The Micro rather than the Macro.

Curation:
I have been curating a soundcloud list of provo music. I might look into curating on Youtube as well.  As mentioned above I have found a few places on twitter, and some websites that are talking about provo music. This would be crazy but maybe I could make a remix a video for a song for a provo band and put it on youtube.

Social Proof:
I have been talking to people in bands as I have gone to the Velour (a musical venue in Provo) to see bands play. I have gotten great information from teammate Danielle. I have been following the progress of a number of Provo bands via there facebook pages. I would like to search google+ communities for anything, but because this is so new I am not sure I will find anything.  Maybe I should create for part of my project?

Next Step:
I need to get a few more blog posts up on all the information I have found/know about provo bands and social media, as something to work off of. Perhaps I could get some interviews with people involved in the seen. And I might even consider narrowing my focus to tracking the path of one band, seeing what they have done and are currently doing to gain a wider audience. There are a few provo bands that are doing a lot in this area. That would be cool cause it would be more of look at the growth of a band in real time rather than looking at the bands from provo that are already famous.

Working Post: Editing in the Digital World

Working Thesis Statement 
Editing is generally seen as a field dealing in print media, but as more and more companies, sources, sites, and people are taking to the web and modern technology editing is changing. What does this mean for the need for editing and editors?

Preliminary Exploration
I started looking at the relationship between editing and the digital world awhile before this class when I first started thinking about getting a job in web based publishing and editing. I took internet publishing as an initial interest in this topic and talked about it on my personal blog with a post about a website that I coded as an editing portfolio. This class has gotten me interested in looking much further into this topic. I started getting interested in the relationship between I guess "non-technology" things and digital culture with my posts about BYU and technology (found here and here). I started to realize that this was my opportunity to start curating information that was not only going to be helpful in me finding that future job in web based editing, but would also help me get my final paper written for this class (win/win right?). So, I started out with Dan Gillmor's book We the Media and did a preliminary book review where I started to question some ideas, a book review where I reflected on these ideas post reading, and a video book review. I have also been using diigo to curate articles on this topic.

Relevance
a. to digital culture: I think one of the most important things you realize when you study digital culture is how much it is changing things: for the better, for the worse, for who knows what. So, I wanted to zone in on one specific aspect of this that is relevant to me.
b. to a specific audience: I think its really important for editing students to know what is happening in terms of editing and the digital world. As more and more text is in the digital realm, it is important for editors to know what this means for them.

Format
I would like to create a blog/wiki about editing and the digital world, their relationship with each other, and what the digital world means for editors. If this is a no go, I will be writing a paper...

Outlet
If I do a blog/wiki I would see what I can do to get it shared around the editing department and involved in some of the editing communities that I have found.

So, if I end up writing a paper I found several calls for papers for publishing/writing/editing conferences and some that are focused on the relationship between these and digital culture.
12th International Conference on Books, Publishing, and Libraries
IFLA World Library and Information Congress
ACES National Conference 

Curation 
curation for analysis: I have been looking at a lot of editors blogs, types of editing that is happening online, and web editing jobs that are available
curation of secondary sources: I have been collecting articles about technology based editing on diigo.
curation of community: I have been following some people on twitter talking about this topic, joined editing groups on Google+ and linked in, and joined editing forums that allow editors to ask and respond to questions about the current state of editing.

Social Proof
Most of my social proof is coming from these communities I have joined which are all buzzing about what relationship the digital world and editing have. I have also chatted about this with fellow editing minors seeing if they see their editing career going in a print based or web based direction.

Next Step
Now that I have some content and ideas going, I need to start getting even more involved in these communities, start asking question, and start actually writing my paper and getting this all figured out and formed into some cohesive thoughts and ideas.

Proposal: My Edupunk Success

Working Thesis Statement

Students who excel in academics sometimes find themselves ignoring the value of extracurriculars in rounding out their education and helping them develop skills that make them marketable in the work force. I have always had the exact opposite problem. And looking back, I have gained experience and skills following my own interests and projects that have fulfilled many of the roles of education in the first place. It is my intention in this article to show what I have accomplished and how I have gone about accomplishing it, and show how my story can be a case study for the Edupunk movement — how I have gained an education while actively avoiding my degree.

Preliminary Exploration

As I have reflected on my experience in college, I see my extracurricular experiences as more connected to the goals of my educational pursuits than I previously realized. I've drafted out an initial narrative of what I have done, and am looking to tighten its purpose and make it more solidly applicable to wider questions about education.

Relevance

I have engaged in a unique way in digital humanities, which has led me to create work that has led to genuinely tangible results. I have gained experience and skills that will help me in my career, as well as which has rounded out my liberal arts education.

Format

Narrative essay, using my story as a case study for the Edupunk movement.

Outlet

Digital Humanities Quarterly

Curation

I have begun to curate selections from my podcasting experience (including unpublished mess-ups) to give a sample for the type of work I have done.

Social Proof

People often ask me about my unique college experience with podcasting in my spare time. The school paper published a profile of my efforts. I see my experiences largely through the lens of my weaknesses as a student, but have recently begun to see my experiences in terms of something positive (not just "fun"), and perhaps my experience can help provide a thoughtful critique of traditional education approaches. As I have hinted that I will talk about my experiences, several students have expressed interest in knowing my story.

Next Steps

The next step is to jump in the critical conversation surrounding Edupunk theory, and make application to my own experience as a student. Then, to continue working on my draft and see which parts of my narrative are most useful for making the commentary and point that I am hoping to make.

Working Post: Staying Afloat in the Digital Sea

Working Thesis Statement

In a world that is becoming more and more digital, it is important to be able to understand this digital realm and find a way to create a personal, even human, space in that realm in order to avoid the singularity.

Preliminary Exploration

The idea stems from my first paper earlier in the semester, as well as Dr. Burton's spiral post.

Relevance

The influence of the digital world swings like a pendulum between extremes of how strong it is. Some people try to make sure they are not influenced at all by technology, wanting to be a more primitive culture, while another extreme would be to have every single piece of new technology, constantly wanting the next big thing and allowing it to dictate every aspect of their life. It's not really possible anymore to avoid all aspects of technology, but finding a way to inject humanity into technology is relevant because it is how we can find a way to master the machine of the digital world on a personal level.

Format

Somewhat short editorial essay, approximately 1200 words.

Outlet

Digital Humanities Quarterly: The Literary 

Curation

Curation of Content: I have found a lot of different content (there is no shortage about technology in the technological world) but a lot of times it seems repetitive and like there isn't anything new. So the ones that I feel that fit in with my argument the best are all found in this blog post.

Curation of Secondary Sources:  For secondary sources, I've also found sources discussing the different aspects for and against singularity, and being educated in both the real and digital worlds.

Curation of Community: These are the online communities that I found that are talking about the ideas that have spurred my thinking:
- Google+: Accelerating Technology & Future Tech
- Google+: Artificial Intelligence
- Twitter: #singularityu

Social Proof

This idea came about as I was talking to a friend who is a high school English teacher. She has structured her classes around the theme of "what makes us human?" and I especially enjoyed talking with her about her Science Fiction unit and how humans and technology can interact. I started thinking about that in regards to the digital realm and in our time reading "Moby Dick." I started asking people what they think about the relationship between humans and technology through Facebook, Google+, and the blog, and it is an idea that I found that people enjoy talking about and everyone has their piece to say.  This just pushed me more towards the idea that it is on a personal level that we must find a way to "master the machine."

Next Steps

The next step that I will be taking is to draft my editorial and creating more of the connections between people's opinions and the more scholarly and academic sources that I have found. The idea from my first paper was that in order for people to "master the machine," they must find a way to make an imprint in the digital world by learning how to use certain aspects of the technology to their advantage. I am also continuing to look into how people can actually do that through things such as DIY, music, etc. in similar ways as I have done throughout my process of blogging.

Possible Outlets for Research

The following are a couple venues/outlets for research that I feel fit pretty well with my topic:

-  Digital Humanities Quarterly: I was drawn to this scholarly journal because it is simply just trying to gather information about the digital humanities from as many people/resources as possible so that ideas can build off of each other and create more connections between similar topics. Exploring this site took me back to one of my very first posts that has been culminating in different ways through my posts like Greatness, and Teach Yourself.

-  I was also drawn to Digital America because they focus on things similar to DHQ in that they are like explorers in the digital world that is shaping how we look at life in America and how it is changing. This is similar to that same first post and the idea kind of grew.

-  I also found Sounding Out to be a really interesting outlet, but I don't really have a topic that goes along with what they are looking for. However, I thought that it would work pretty well for Derrick, considering his interviewing and narrative. So maybe that's worth looking in to.