Communicating with Curiosity: Social Media on Mars
08 August 2012
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This may be the social media Olympics, but there’s been one clear winner this week in ‘who’s had the most interesting presence on twitter’, and that’s Curioisty (@MarsCurioisity). The 900KG, 6-wheel robotic mobile laboratory that has, since the 5th of August, been bumbling about the surface of Mars. The twitter account associated with the robot is an amazing example of how to telling an unfolding and complex story with (ironic?) humanity, wit and brevity.
Just look at the Rover’s first tweet from the red dusty plains of a planet some 34 million miles away:
I’m safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!
#MSL— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) August 6, 2012
Obviously these tweets aren’t coming from Curiosity itself, but the people in charge of interpreting the vast and complicated data streams being beamed across space are doing an amazing job at compacting down the information whilst injecting some real personality into their communications…
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This Is My Jam: Slowly Sharing Music
02 August 2012
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Last year I set up a music blog which aimed to share a song once a day, everyday. The project was fun at first as I ploughed through my record collection for different gems to link to and write about. But, over time the site became stagnent. I came to realise that I’d set up the music blog because I loved the idea of receiving a slow trickle of new music that I would probably like. By running the blog I was trying to provide that service for other people, but, constricted by the post/comments format of blogging, I would always be broadcasting my tastes outwards, rather than getting that trickle of new music flowing in.
Turns out that, whilst I was having these thoughts, some of the ex-members of last.fm and their friends were holed up in an office in East London also having the same ideas. Late last year www.thisismyjam.com launched, and, since I’ve been a member, it has in a number of small but significant ways, changed the way in which I listen to and share music…
Tweeting @Gigs: Captivating or Capturing?
30 July 2012
7 replies
Over the weekend the tweeting at gigs debate was rekindled by a short article on the Guardian Music Blog. It was sparked by Jack White’s recent decision to post signs at his gigs asking the audience to ‘please leave your phones in your pockets/purses and enjoy the show live and in person’. Danny Wright finished the piece stating that:
Our preoccupation with tweeting, posting, texting and filming destroys the intimacy of what the best live performances should be, which is a captivating and all-encompassing experience.
The sentiment is really a small part of the wrestling of control away from centralised bodies that the ‘general public’ has experienced as they’ve gained access to forms of social media. In this case the tension is a small localised one, rather than a global issue – do they audiences let the artists captivate them, or do they try and capture some of the experience for their own (and others) supposed gain? Within an audience we’re all performers forming part of the live musical experience, but the question is do we let it wash over us, or do we try to capture the flow…
