Tag: discovery

Shenanigator, moi?

internet changed my life

I hadn’t really thought about it till the discussion with Ryan, Tom and Ruth on Lovegrumps last Sunday night.

We were talking about the different types of love and I mentioned how much Philia I tend to have in my own life. Ryan mentioned shenanigans and how some people like myself enjoy the shenanigans over other life pleasures.

Shenanigator – A male instigator of shenanigans. See also Shenanigatrix.
The Shenanigatrix can be counted on to bring together numerous people who would never normally meet and to enhance their evening by instigationg all number of harmless but hilarious shenanigans.
Of course its a balance but I won’t lie its very fitting with my personality, especially if you read the typical ENTP.
The ENTP personality type is the ultimate devil’s advocate, thriving on the process of shredding arguments and beliefs and letting the ribbons drift in the wind for all to see. Unlike their more determined Judging (J) counterparts, ENTPs don’t do this because they are trying to achieve some deeper purpose or strategic goal, but for the simple reason that it’s fun.
Shenanigans is fun (at least for me and a number of people) and make the fabric of life, so much more fun and playful. The more you do it, the more fun it is to arrange or get involved in more. I could throw in some more thoughts including curiosity, discovery and serendipity into the same pot.
I can understand it must be draining for some, but I bearly give it a thought. Its only when things start to clash or I get cogative overload then I wonder, if I should give it a rest…for a day or so?
I am a shenanigator and always will be…
Expect it to pop up in profile descriptions soon…

On the beat with the BBC

I had the pleasure of attending the BBC’s on the beat conference.

The conference was in beta state as LJ Rich announced at the very start. It is a example of the way the BBC is changing. More people within are able to push the organisation the way it needs to go. More risks taken, more gained for the general public.

Beta or not, it was a good afternoon with speakers from across the music industry. Each panel was backed up with somebody from the BBC.

The sessions were centered around the audiences, discovery and metadata. The keynote was given by Mark Mulligan, whom I gather is well known for his blog and writing about the future of music.

It was interesting to hear how the music industry has parallels with the film industry.

Artists need to ‘find their popcorn’

In the audiences panel it was interested to meet and hear from DJ Charlie Sloth and  Shazam. There was also a interesting reflection between the Charlie’s focus on the BBC Radio 1xtra audience who may not own a hifis and use their phones for music discovery. Against a talk by Jeff Smith from BBC Radio 2, with audiences who still buy CDs.

In the Metadata session which included Music Brainz, there was a debate about the lack of metadata  in music and they only scratched the surface. When it came out that theres not really a well used standard for music classification.

To which I tweeted…

In who’s your music dealer? with  Spotify, PingTune, BBC R1/1Xtra, the question of algorithms for discovery came into call. But even more interested was the power of the DJ to bring forward music unlike anything else. Something the music algorithms fail at.

The event was top and tailed with musical demos from many companies and our own BBC R&D UX team showing off the scalable documentary. However there  was also, LJ’s impromptu’s play on the piano.

…and live music which I thought was odd, however I really enjoyed the quite unique voice of Layla, one of the many artists who signed up with BBC Introducing.

All excellent stuff and ultimately reminded me that DJ Hackday needs to happen… Love to team up with BBC Music to consider the future of participation, remixing and music discovery from a slighly different standpoint.