Reflection

Now it's time to say goodbye...

Well folks, it's been real, but, like steam engines and Apple II, my time in my Digital Civilization class is history. This long beauty of a post is a "what we have learned today" type of post, and while it is largely for the benefit of the grading system of my Digital Civilization class, it can also be a useful source for those interested in seeing how a class like this can be structured, or for those who just want to hear my thoughts on my blog in general.

1. History

Throughout this course, while the class itself addressed the historical periods very little, I learned a lot through the personal study I conducted before each historical class session so I could discourse intelligently on the subject during class discussion time. Since I was assigned to the 19th century, the majority of my attention was focused there, but I also blogged and commented on Google+ about the other periods. Here are some historical blog posts I wrote:

16th and 17th Centuries:

Greensleeves, Facebook and Humanism.

18th Century:

Pinhead Efficiency.

Classical With a Capital C.

19th Century:

Arts Education in the 19th Century.

Don't Forget the Chopin Liszt.

I don't know anything!

20th Century:

Cell Phones and Star Trek: 20th Century Reality Inspired by Sci Fi.

Standardization - Is a Ballerina Less Intelligent Than a Biochemical Engineer?

Since we're still at the beginning of the 21st century, I didn't write a big over-arching blog post for this century, but most of the posts I wrote had to do with current issues from this century. In the Arts chapter of the e-book that we worked on as a class, I worked on editing all the historical period sections, and wrote the one for the 19th century. I also wrote part of the chapter's section on the 21st century, which you can read here.

2. Core Concepts

We focused on a few specialized concepts as we studied digital civilization. You can hopefully see examples of these core concepts reflected in many of the historical posts, as I tried to mix the concepts and the history and the other course goals throughout all of my work, but I also wrote some more specialized content as I focused on one or another of the aspects of control, information, openness and participation.

Control

Because of SOPA and current piracy issues, I discussed the control concepts of identity, security, disruption and law a lot in class and researched them quite a bit out of class. In my blog post Identity Theft: Your Very Own Evil Twin, I explore the concept of identity theft and share some suggestions to improve identity security.

Information

The informational concepts of computing, connectivity and disruptive innovation are ones that I discussed in class quite a bit. I also explored these concepts in my blog, especially disruptive innovation, in such posts as Not Quite the Same..., How digitally civilized am I?, Is It Written in the Stars? and PowerPoint Power: Taking That First Step, and I particularly address the subject of the digital divide in Sorry, Promethius. I also explore the power of internet information as a weapon in the form of music videos on YouTube in my post Music as a Weapon.

Openness

This class taught me to think about openness principles such as open software, copyright and standardization, which were some things I had not really seen as big issues before. In Standardization - Is a Ballerina Less Intelligent Than a Biochemical Engineer?, I discuss Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which separates human intelligence into different domains and illustrates why standardized testing may not always be the most effective tool.

Participation

I learned a lot about collaboration in this class through multiple group projects and situations where the need was great for everyone to work together and share content in order to get massive projects done. Social networking was a huge part of my class experience, as I have used it to promote things, communicate with others, and make arrangements for projects to be done. I never missed a class session - I wouldn't have dared to, since it seemed like there was always a new assignment being given out at each class session that wasn't written down anywhere. I wrote about finding ways to participate in an event I couldn't attend in my post The Event I Wasn't At... You can see I learned the process of agile development - the process of making releases of a product - by comparing two editions of a piece of the ebook chapter that I posted on my blog: Do You Sing in the Shower? and Integrating Music in a Technological Culture.

3. Digital Literacy

The points of digital literacy, consuming, creating and connecting, were the story of my life this past semester. I was constantly doing these things both in class and in my private work outside of class. I was introduced to many new sources, created all sorts of content, and got many online accounts as a result of this class.

Consume

I learned about consuming many new sources through this class, and learned how to seek innovative ways to find quality information. While I still used Google and Wikipedia to gain basic information about some things, I also tried many other sources. Some of the sources that I explored for this class to gain information include the books I was assigned to read for this class (which I rated on Goodreads), other books that I was not assigned, databases such as JSTOR, open informational websites such as Prezi, informational video websites such as YouTube, library websites, and the personal websites of professionals. You can see an example of a few of the many sources I consulted in my post Arts: An Annotated Bibliography.

Create

Throughout this class, I have definitely put the "create" principle to the test. Over the course of the semester, I have posted regularly on Google+ and my blog, I wrote two sections for the Arts e-book chapter, and I edited both the Arts and the Business chapters. I participated in three class presentations. I filmed each Arts group member talking about the arts. I was filmed for the promotional video for the Arts chapter. Not counting e-mails and Google+ posts, I estimate that for this class I have created somewhere between 70 and 80 pages of content. I wrote about how failure is a part of learning to create effectively in my post Nothing Ventured: Burned-Out Light Bulbs, Missed Baskets, and a Bombed F Harmonic Minor Scale.

Connect

Learning new ways to connect has been a big part of my learning experience in this class. As part of this class, I interacted with others through Google Docs, Google+, Goodreads, Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Flickr, Blogger, Google Chat, and Prezi, and perhaps a few others that I can't remember the names of at the moment. I have spread fliers and advertised events in a method of connection quite new to me. You can read about those efforts in my post Becoming a Flier Hawker: A Quest for Social Proof. I discussed the book and its content with friends and teachers, and I even went so far as to question the head of my department, who was interviewing me at the time to decide if I would be accepted to my major. You can read about that crazy experience in my post Crazy? Me? Well... Maybe a Little....

4. Self-Directed Learning

Self-directed learning is something that has fascinated me for a long time, and I agree that students learn better when they are passionate about the subject and spend lots of time independently researching it. This is a difficult concept to utilize fully when one is very wrapped up in a full schedule of other classes that follow traditional learning methods, and I find that self-directed learning usually works best for me in the summer. Despite that, I still learned almost everything I learned from this class through my own exploration. You can read some of my thoughts about self-directed learning in my posts Cannibalistic Chickens and the Classroom Cage: Think Outside the Coop and You Tweet, I Whistle.

5. Collaboration

Collaboration was one of the biggest parts of my experience in this class, with me coming to know most of the students in the class by the end of the semester. Collaboration requires a great deal of trust that others will fulfill their responsibilities, which, since I was a group leader, could be quite scary, especially when others didn't do their parts and I was left trying to pull the pieces together. At the same time, however, hidden talents came out of the woodwork from people that I would never have guessed were talented in those directions, and together we were able to create something greater than any one of us could have created on our own. I recorded some of my thoughts about group projects in my post What Do You Think of Group Projects?.

That's All, Folks!

Well, since my focus was largely on the arts and music side of digital civilization, I think it's quite fitting for me to quote Michael Buble when I say that "it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, and I'm feelin' good"! I've learned lots in this class, I've worked lots in this class, I've grown lots in this class, and I will certainly never look at digital civilization the same way, ever again.

Integrating Music in a Technological Culture

As arts have been transformed by technology, a longstanding domain of music has begun to rapidly disappear – that of making music in daily life. As a result of the increasing relationship between the arts and technology, especially in the United States, it has become far more acceptable for one to enjoy music on headphones than to make music out loud in most social situations. Even those who sing in the privacy of their own showers are often laughed at. While people often view shower-singers as a laughable trope, the scrub-and-sing population represent a rapidly disappearing demographic of US society – that of people who integrate music into their daily lives.

Interestingly enough, other cultures do not have the same perspective on daily music that Americans do, likely in part because they do not have the same technological influences affecting their arts as there are affecting arts in the United States. In Liberia and other parts of West Africa, for example, the arts are a part of daily life because all young men and women go through special training as part of their coming-of-age, which includes training in music and dance. Everyone is expected to be at least somewhat musically proficient, and they mix music into everything they do. When they are working in the rice fields, they sing a song and beat on drums so they can work in time to the music.34 In Ghana, even the postal workers, when cancelling stamps, devised a song that they whistle while creating an intricate rhythm with the stamps.35

This presents a stark contrast to post offices in the United States, which are generally silent, or have quiet, piped music. In the United States, it seems like it is often the case that unless music is the focal point of an event, then live performance, especially in an official capacity, is viewed as less dignified than digitally produced music or silence.

In Brazil, music is also enmeshed in daily life. In the past, Brazilian slaves who were trying to escape invented Capoeira, a sort of martial arts that they disguised with music to make it look like they were dancing.36 Although the need for slaves to escape has disappeared, the tradition is carried on in the form of modern street performers. Those who go to Brazil now report that there are always some kind of street performers out on the streets playing music and dancing. This is considered perfectly acceptable in the Brazilian culture, and those walking by understand what is going on, and would likely feel fine joining in the performance.

Yet if someone in the United States were to sing at the top of their lungs and dance in the center of a public square, in most instances it is unlikely they would have an appreciative audience who felt free to join in. More likely, they would receive a few stares by uncomfortable people walking by. A 2007 performance by Joshua Bell, a world-renowned violinist who decided to perform in a New York subway, went entirely unnoticed by those passing by, and made it into the news simply for the fact that it went unappreciated by everyone else.37

In South India, people are taught the principles of music, but then when they get together, they improvise what they play. Because they have learned the rules, they can play whatever they like. This enables them to combine with others who know the rules and be able to play with them, because they have all learned basic music.38

In the US, Americans have a similar tradition in the form of jazz music, but the openness of jazz is not the same as Carnatic music. The basic principles of jazz are not commonly taught, and while the jazz tradition stemmed from street performers, jazz has been largely boxed up in concert halls and distributed through recordings. As an essentially American type of music, jazz has the potential to be a great source of music in daily life, were it to be more publicly taught and re-opened to public, spontaneous performance.

In Finland, music is considered to be a core part of a child’s learning development, and is seen as making them more able to be calm and concentrate in daily life. Children attend music play groups starting at very young ages, often going with their parents, and integrating the music they learn into their family lives. Music is an active part of the Finnish school and home lifestyle.39

In the US, schools are increasingly underfunding music programs and phasing them out to leave room for other technological pursuits. Those pursuing careers in American music education know they will experience little career respect and cannot expect a wealthy lifestyle from their choice.

In Bali, the Balinese people learn from the time they are children how to play instruments in a Balinese gamelan musical group, and everyone in society knows how to play. Grandparents teach grandchildren, older members of society teach younger members, and the tradition continues as an integrated part of society where everyone knows how to create music, and a strong sense of community is created through music and passed down from generation to generation.40

In the US, those children who choose to learn music are generally taught by a formal music teacher who teaches the child in a setting detached from the child’s regular life, or the children are taught by musical computer programs, which, while having the potential to be very helpful, are at the same time very impersonal.

Certainly different cultures value different things, such as Canada's interest in hockey and Brazil's passion for soccer, but it seems that musical expression is a universal language that transcends the boundaries of nations. While not everyone can kick a soccer goal or skate on ice, pretty much anyone can listen to music. Yet it takes a bit of effort to learn to produce the music itself, and that brings a whole new experience. This experience can be especially rewarding when the learning experience is mixed into normal life along with the musical knowledge being taught. It seems that American culture, by becoming a society focused on the convenience of vicarious participation, is missing the joy of integrating music into everyday life.

Since technology has made American society different from many of these other cultures, it is unlikely that integration of music will occur in the same settings. Most Americans do not find themselves harvesting in the rice fields or planning to escape from slave-drivers, but there are many other instances in which the creation of music could become more acceptable, even in a technology-driven society. A wait in the DMV would be transformed into a much more enjoyable experience if the grim officials were to pull out keyboard and sax and drums and start jamming. A daily bus ride would be far more entertaining if the bus driver sang show tunes. The wait at a doctor's office could be much more tolerable if the receptionists started typing in rhythm and tapping their pencils and singing scat syllables. Waiting in a long line at a ticket office would be much easier if everyone in line started clapping and singing while they waited. While digital music is a great advantage in many situations, and technology can be very helpful in sharing music and other arts, there are instances where modern life could be much improved if more people were to take out their earbuds and join in the creation and sharing of music in daily life, becoming participators and not just consumers.

The USA has a great musical heritage, but in some ways it is beginning to fall behind other cultures in terms of arts participation in daily life. Ironically enough, while technology has enabled Americans to remove music from concert halls and traditional educational settings so they can enjoy it anywhere, the technological forms of music have caused Americans to focus on enjoying music through listening for personal enjoyment only, and they have largely forgotten the value of open education and joint participation in the production of music for enjoyment in the average American lifestyle.

The Event I Wasn't At...

I know sometimes it's hard to get involved in events that you're at. But... how do you get involved if you're simply not there? Well, here are some things I came up with that I did for the recent class event that I couldn't go to:

1. Invite people.

As mentioned before, I tried my hand at handing out flyers. I also invited my family, told a few other people about the event, and put an invite on Twitter.

2. Participate in the planning process.

I attended class every class period and went to every practice run-through to plan the event with my group, even after I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the actual event. I brainstormed, helped edit the poem chosen as narration, timed practices, gave feedback, shared ideas on social media, played piano live in run-through sessions of the event for timing purposes, and made a recorded version of my piano part to be used in the actual event.

3. Participate through media.

I am still working on this one. I was in a performance at the time of the event so I couldn't watch the live stream of the event, but I am actively searching for a recorded version of the event to watch.

4. Respond to feedback.

The evening of the event, after I was finally back from my performance, I went on Twitter and responded to various questions that had been asked during the event.

There you have it! Even though I was sad to miss an event that I had poured many hours of preparation into, I still felt connected because I did these four things to keep involved.

Becoming a Flier Hawker: A Quest for Social Proof

Part of obtaining social proof is first getting an audience to look at what you've got and review it. For a recent class event that needed social proofing, I went around soliciting people to attend even though I wouldn't be able to participate in the event myself. It didn't make sense for me to invite my own friends, because I couldn't think of any friends in my admittedly limited social sphere who would be particularly interested, and I didn't think it made much sense for me to invite them when I wasn't even going to be there myself. However, the event needed social proof, so I decided to look for it among those who might be interested.

Although I have in the past been largely indifferent to people who go around handing out flyers, I decided to give it a try. I took 29 flyers and set out to place them.

I started with the Kimball Tower. I figured there would be some nursing students and SFL students, and also all sorts of students taking American Heritage, among which diversity I thought I might be able to find some people who would be interested in the event. I distributed about five flyers there.

Next, I went to the HFAC and passed out flyers to everyone at the slab, where lots of artsy students congregate to study, since I figured people were more likely to be receptive to a flyer if they weren't rushing off to class and sticking the note in a back pocket because they didn't have time to read it. I distributed the majority of my flyers there.

Then, I headed over to the Wilk and passed out the remainder of my flyers where I figured a very broad range of students were to be found. While not everyone there would be interested, I figured that if one person didn't want a flyer and put it down somewhere, there was a chance that someone else who was more involved in the topics discussed at the event would find the flyer and be interested.

With 29 flyers passed out and one "thank you" received from a student at the slab, I went away sticking my new experience as a flyer hawker in my own back pocket. I'm not sure I would choose to hawk flyers again, but soliciting social proof from a broad audience was certainly an experience to be had at least once.

Music as a Weapon

Have you ever looked out the window of an airplane and winced as you saw your brand-new luggage soaring through the air? Or recovered your brand-new luggage only to find it sopping wet and realize that all the perishables inside had perished a water-induced death? Or found that the sides of your brand-new luggage were all scraped up? Or realized that the handle of your brand-new luggage was all bent out of shape and couldn't extend or retract anymore? Or gone to the airport desk and complained only to be told that it wasn't their fault?

I have.

What did I do about it? I felt sad, but I figured that my luggage would have to get initiated to the rough life of being a traveling suitcase sometime, so I straightened out the handle and shrugged and left meekly.

Yet what did a musician named Dave Carroll do when his custom-made Taylor guitar was destroyed by United Airlines, and they refused to do anything about it? He threatened to make a music video.

What did United say? "Good luck on that one,"

Obviously they didn't take his threat seriously, but what did he do? He made a music video.

Music turned out to be a very effective weapon. Right now, the video has almost 12 million views, and I'm sure it will get many more. Pretty soon, United was offering compensation if he would only remove his video.

What did he say? "Good luck on that one."

Arts: An Annotated Bibliography

My research process was to look for people that I had thought of previously in terms of the subject, and then shamelessly Google keywords when I ran out of ideas. I tried finding people in Google+ and Facebook, but couldn't seem to locate any of them that way. For further readings, I looked on Blackboard to find articles I had read for a class, and I searched Goodreads and Google Books and JSTOR.

My group is discussing how technology has affected the production and spread of the arts over time. Since a big part of the spread of the arts has been through arts education, I looked for sources that explored types of art education in the modern world, affected as they are now by technology.

Further Reading:

1. Bartscherer, Thomas and Roderick Coover, "Switching Codes: Thinking Through Digital Technology in the Humanities and the Arts," University of Chicago Press, 2011. Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10554253-switching-codes

This book explores the connection between the rapidly changing technological world and the world of the arts. Since technological people often know little about the humanities, and arts people sometimes know little about the digital world, the goal of this book is to foster a discussion between the two groups, using many different forms to do so. Since we are talking about the relationship between the arts and technology, this is a valuable source to us, especially since it is exploring the current relationship between the two.

[I found this source by searching on Goodreads, and it seems right up the alley of our tweethis.]

2. Jaccard, Jerry, "A Brief Rationale for High-Quality General Music Education," n.p., 1996.

This article explains how the value of music education in society has changed over time, and reviews Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences to show that music and artistic ability holds an important part in a child's education, alongside other technological pursuits. This is important to our thesis, especially since we are focusing quite a bit on music in our chapter.

[I read this article for my Careers in Music Education class, and immediately thought of this article when we figured out what our chapter was going to be about.]

3. Rudolph, Thomas E. et al, "Technology Strategies for Music Education," Technology Institute for Music Educators, 2005. Google Books link: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fYdSeCj1irQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=technology+%22arts+education%22+-industrial&ots=XeiL-oeq28&sig=XdvNbJS4YxkTHVj97g1cqdopmNs#v=onepage&q=technology%20%22arts%20education%22%20-industrial&f=false

This is a wonderful handbook exploring many different facets of music, technology, the arts, and education. This is a great resource for further reading about a number of the aspects we discussed for our chapter.

[I was e-mailed a link to this book, and realized it would be perfect as a reference for further reading, because it applies so well to our thesis.]

Thought Leaders:

4. Jaccard, Jerry L. (http://cfacbeta.byu.edu/directory/jaccard)

Author of "A conceptual model for literature-based musical education" - http://books.google.com/books/about/A_conceptual_model_for_literature_based.html?id=YPAmGwAACAAJ

Jerry Jaccard is an active researcher and strongly promotes the importance of music for the development of children's mental capacities in all areas of life. He is the coordinator of BYU's Elementary Music Education program, received the Organization of American Kodaly Educators (OAKE) National Outstanding Educator Award in 2004, the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications Teaching Excellence Award, is Vice-President of the International Kodaly Society and a board member of the Willems International Music Education Association, and is coauthor of The Complete Musician series and wrote "A conceptual model for literature-based musical education," as well as offering many other contributions to the world of music education.

[I met with Dr. Jaccard in a recent interview and was impressed with his wealth of knowledge about the importance of music education in a modern world. I had heard many good things about him, but was still amazed as I researched him to find just how much he has contributed to the field!]

5. McClure, Marva P. (http://www.artstechacademy.org/)

Marva McClure is the head of The Arts and Technology Academy in Washington DC - a unique school that combines the arts with the latest technology to help children learn effectively.

[The idea that technology can support the arts rather than detracting from them fits well with our thesis. I liked what Marva McClure is doing with her school, and I feel she is leading forward to find a connection between technology and arts education.]

6. Stephenson, Brad. (http://bradpstephenson.com/)

Brad Stephenson is the director of online communication for Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III College in Pittsburgh, PA. He works with Technology in the Arts, an initiative that explores the intersection of arts managment and online technology. (http://technologyinthearts.org/) Previously, Stephenson was the director of projects and marketing for the University’s Center for Arts Management and Technology, an applied research center dedicated to providing technology services and support for non-profit arts organizations. Brad has been assisting artists and arts organizations with their technology needs for more than seven years. Stephenson is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Arts Management program, for which he currently teaches technology planning.

[I chose Stephenson as a source because I like what he is doing with the Technology in the Arts initiative - it fits well with my group's exploration of the relationship between technology and the arts.]

What Do You Think of Group Projects?

This semester I have had more group projects than ever before. By the end of April, I think I will have been involved in at least five major group projects/presentations. And that doesn't count musical performances.

I have been thinking, and have come up with a number of decided pros and cons to working in a group setting for a grade.

Pros:

1. You get to know people in your class.

2. You get to learn ideas from them that you might not have thought of yourself.

Cons:

1. Your grade depends on the work of someone else.

2. If you fail, you damage others as well as yourself.

3. You often assume someone else will do something, when they think you'll do it.

4. Group members sometimes don't care and fail to fulfill their responsibilities, leaving it all up to the few who do care to bear the brunt of the work.

5. Miscommunication often causes project segments to not splice together evenly.

6. Group members often don't agree on content or method.

7. Group members may start to feel either cocky or incompetent, depending on their level of know-how about the subject.

8. Schedules may not line up, making it difficult if not impossible for students to effectively collaborate.

9. Some students may be more quick to get things done than others, leaving the early birds nervous as they wait for the others to get started.

10. It is difficult to know who contributed what, and some students may ride along on the efforts of others and get a good grade despite doing no work.

While there are some definite perks to group projects, the pro-to-con ratio does seem a bit lopsided.

I love being around other people and working with them, but I agree that too many cooks spoil the soup, and sometimes I would rather work alongside others than work on the same thing as them.

Do You Sing in the Shower?

I know I do.

I warble vocal warm-ups, and sing showtunes, and try to squeak out the Queen of the Night's famous aria from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" while shampooing my hair.

I also walk around campus whistling, I hum in the kitchen, and I drum out rhythms on my computer desk. Most people in America would probably classify me as a bit of a music nut. My friend just the other day was describing someone to me that they thought was a little overly artsy, and gave as an example the fact that that person sings while walking around campus.

Ooooh... burned! So do I.

Why does this seem weird to us in the USA? Knowing that I go around randomly singing, people would probably classify that I'm somewhat of a "musical person," and nod their heads in understanding once they heard I was from a "musical family."

Interestingly enough, other cultures don't have the same perspective on daily music that we do. In Liberia and other parts of West Africa, for example, all young men and women go through special training as part of their coming-of-age, which includes training in music and dance. Everyone is expected to be at least somewhat musically proficient, and they mix music into everything they do. Sometimes people march around town in the morning, singing a good-morning song, and everyone joins in the procession. When they are working in the rice fields, they sing a song and beat on drums so they can work in time to the music. In Ghana, even the postal workers, when cancelling stamps, devised a song that they whistle while creating an intricate rhythm with the stamps.

Now, I could be wrong, but it seems like the last time I was at a post office in the good old USA, it was silent, grim and gray. Emphasis on silent.

In Brazil, music is also enmeshed in daily life. In the past, Brazilian slaves who were trying to escape invented Capoeira, a sort of martial arts that they disguised with music to make it look like they were dancing. I was talking to a friend the other day who has spent a lot of time in Brazil, and she told me that there are always some kind of street performers out on the streets playing music and dancing.

Yet if I were to dance in the middle of Brigham Square and sing at the top of my lungs for long enough, I would probably end up in the campus paper.

I realize different cultures value different things, such as Canada's interest in hockey and Brazil's passion for soccer, but it seems to me that musical expression is a universal language that transcends the boundaries of nations. While not everyone can kick a soccer goal or skate on ice, pretty much anyone can listen to music. It seems very sad to me that our culture is missing the joy of integrating music into everyday life.

Imagine if you went into the DMV and the grim officials pulled out keyboard and sax and drums and jammed for you while you waited.

Imagine what your daily bus ride would be like if the bus driver sang showtunes.

Imagine what the wait would be like if you were sitting in the doctor's office and the receptionists started typing in rhythm and tapping their pencils and singing scat syllables.

Imagine what it would be like if you were waiting in a long line at a ticket office and everyone in line started clapping and singing while they waited.

I realize some people are easily distracted and annoyed by music, but I would love having it everywhere.

The USA has such a great musical heritage, and I would love to see us make the best of it. I would love to see music integrated into the daily American lifestyle.

This isn't just a fantasy - it has certainly been possible elsewhere. If you were in a post office in Ghana, you would hear something like this:

Crazy? Me? Well... Maybe a Little...

I may be a bit crazy. Here's why:

This week I had my interview for BYU's Elementary Music Education program. I interviewed with a wonderful man, Dr. Jerry Jaccard, who I respect immensely. The interview went well. He stood up at the end, shook my hand, and thanked me for coming.

No, that's not crazy. Here's the crazy part:

I didn't just say goodbye and get me out like a sensible person would. I asked him if I could ask him a question. He said sure. I explained I was working on a section of an e-book about music education, and wanted to ask him a question about the topic.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: You believe children are inherently musical, right?

Dr. Jaccard: Yes...

Me: In light of that, why do you think children should learn music in school as opposed to elsewhere?

That question opened up a well of information.

Dr. Jaccard said that although all children may not be able to develop their musicality to the same level, each child should be taught to develop their musicality in order to obtain a well-rounded educational experience. He feels children will have a use for a musical education in their future lives, whether they will use it someday to be teachers, performers, or just appreciative audience members. He also told me he feels schools should work with home life to teach children music, and cited examples of several school programs of various nationalities that do well at that, especially the music education program in Finland. He went on to tell me how music is quite compatible with scientific ability, citing Einstein as an example of one who is renowned for his brilliancy in math and science, but who was also, I found out, a prestigious violinist. Dr. Jaccard even told me a great story about Einstein being kept out of a performance in a queen's palace by a new guard who thought this scraggly, hobo-like man was a crazy fellow come to assassinate the queen with a gun hidden in a violin case.

When Dr. Jaccard finally saw me out of his office, there were already two other applicants waiting for their interviews.

I would have liked to have recorded him - obviously I can't quote the interview verbatim - but I thought that, in light of the circumstances, that might be taking it a wee bit too far.

A crazy person interviews the interviewer, but for someone to actually record the interviewer... well, they have nice padded cells for those sweet folks.

Arts Education in the 19th Century

Technological advances in the 19th century greatly influenced the spread of the arts.

For example, formal music education in the United States was introduced in the 19th century when Lowell Mason and George Webb founded the Boston Academy of Music, and Mason published a Manual of Instruction that taught music theory. The publication and spread of this handbook was influential to the spread of music education in the United States. While music education was first used just in the elementary schools in the 19th century, Luther Whiting Mason influenced the spread of music education to grammar, primary and high schools. Music education for teachers also developed in this period, starting in what was called the Normal School. During this time, the spread of music in general was greatly influenced by technology through the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison.

Art education was influenced through the Picture Study Movement, which started late in the 19th century, and focused on learning in school to appreciate the art found in daily life. This appreciation of art found everywhere was greatly influenced by technology through the invention of photograph technology.

The Physical Culture Movement also occurred in the 19th century, promoting physical activity in normal life through dance and exercise. Technological advancements in mass production techniques allowed for the widespread distribution of exercise equipment.

Certainly these things could probably have developed to some degree without the accompanying technology, but it is certain that without publishing, phonograph abilities, photography, and mass production techniques, the advances of the arts in the 19th century likely could not have turned out to be what history has shown them to have become.

Identity Theft - Your Very Own Evil Twin

You read stories where people have their credit card number swiped, and next thing they know their account has been cleaned out. You hear tale of people taking the social security number of a dead person and passing it off as theirs. You learn of people traveling to foreign places using someone else's passport, or checking things out with someone else's library card, or even entering the temple using someone else's recommend.

Then, you cluck your tongue and shake your head and fill out a long doctor's office form with all your personal information that the doctor will never read and will stow away who-knows-where.

What are you doing with your information? Do you really have ANY idea what happens to it after you share it? When you give a check to the cashier, do you know where it goes? When you swipe your credit card in a vending machine, how do you know your number is still safe? When you give the DMV your entire life and proof of existence in legal document form, what assurance do you have that the employee does not have photographic memory and is not storing up your info in his head and planning to steal your identity?

Well, all right, some implicit trust in the innate goodness of human nature is required for you to retain your sanity and not dig yourself a hole to hide in. You must realize that in this world, you can't very well keep your identity entirely safe and still live a normal life. But be wise. I would recommend two steps for both those disseminating information and those requiring it. Don't give out or take in more information than is absolutely necessary for the service being rendered, and once that information has been shared, ensure that it will be kept safe.

Is the information necessary for the service being rendered? If a field is optional in a form, why fill it in? If the doctor does not require you to sign a statement, why sign it? If the site does not require you to use your primary e-mail address, why not use a secondary one or make up a fake one? If the information being asked for is only recommended and not required, consider carefully whether or not them having it would be beneficial to you, and whether or not you would feel comfortable if that information was accessible to anyone. Then, make your choice accordingly.

Once the info has been shared, is it safe? If you are buying something on the internet, are you using something secure like PayPal, or are you typing your credit card number anywhere you see a cursor? If you are using online banking, do you make sure you have a secure server connection first? Do you make sure you shred old bills and bank statements before you throw them in the trash? Do you look up unfamiliar sites that you want an account on to find out if they are safe before sharing all your personal information with them? Do you have a secure password with more than seven letters, and other parts like numbers, capitals, punctuation and spaces? Do you make sure that you don't use the same password for your e-mail address as you do for an an account on an untrusted website that requires you to sign in with your e-mail and a password, so they don't have all the info they need to access your e-mail? When you are sharing information, even if it is minimal, you need to be careful about who you are sharing it with unless you are OK with the whole world knowing it.

OK, here are a couple of examples to shiver you right out of your fuzzy socks. Real people. Real stories. Muahaha!

My ward made a Facebook page. The password was HACKED. The worst that happened: the password had to be changed. Inconvenience.

My sister's medical records got transferred to the U of U hospital. 2.2 million records were STOLEN. The worst that happened: my sister's info was taken. Lasting uncertainty.

I went to vote for BYUSA president on campus computer. I was about to place my vote when it dawned on me that I hadn't been asked to authenticate. Danielle Somebody-or-Other had forgotten to log out. I almost STOLE somebody else's identity. The worst that happened: Danielle Somebody-or-Other almost voted for BYUSA president. Surprise.

So, bottom line is, unless you want someone else controlling your identity, protect your personal information, folks! Identity theft can happen to anyone. Just be smart.

Is It Written in the Stars?

I remember various times throughout my childhood when I would find myself lying out in the backyard with my family on cots in the middle of the night, eating cinnamon toast, drinking cocoa, shivering under blankets and trying to keep the dog from licking our hair while we waited for a lunar eclipse or a spectacular meteor shower. As I hunted the sky for constellations, watched the moon turn red, or looked for sparkles of light shooting across the blackness, it never occurred to me that for different viewers over time, what I was seeing would have had many different meanings.

A book I've been reading called "The History of Astronomy talks about astronomy up through the 19th century. It was fascinating to me to realize how much religious importance astronomers of past ages placed on the stars.

Many different cultures had their forms of zodiac or patterns of constellations that they placed religious significance on. The ancient Egyptians patterned their calculation of the seasons off of sky patterns that corresponded with the flooding of the Nile - an event that they believed was caused by the god of the Nile. Aristotle created a concentric diagram of the cosmos, portraying angels and God at the outer levels. Kepler focused on diagramming the aspect of geometry in the universe, which he believed was created by God, the great geometer. Newton saw the sun and planets as having been planned by a divine Providence for the protection of man. The list goes on and on.

What happened? Now, the stars are viewed as lumps of matter out in space, placed there by some sort of Big Bang. Those viewed as serious astronomers have placed God on the sidelines and covered him with the cloak of religious fanaticism as related to the heavens.

Some people, however, still cling to the belief that God is involved in the heavens. They read accounts of the stars being formed in the heavens, and the earth being turned backward for a day, and the star appearing at the birth of Christ, and they believe that God still has power in heaven. They read the Revelation of John and believe that someday the stars will fall from heavens and the sun will hide its face and all the other miraculous heavenly occurrences that have been prophesied will happen.

Is there a way to prove they are right or wrong? Not in any way that will convince both believers and non-believers, as far as I can see. I just don't see the harm in letting people believe what they want.

After all, if God is not allowed in heaven anymore, then where is he allowed?

Not Quite the Same...

Is there a difference between an e-book and a good old-fashioned paper book?

Besides the obvious, I mean.

I admit, I am a fan of the paper book, but that is just my personal preference. That doesn't mean I think reading paper books is the right choice for everyone. Here are a few reasons I have thought of as to why people might prefer one over the other.

Perks of an e-book:

1. You can have all your books in one spot

2. It's cheaper per book

3. A Kindle is not as heavy to carry as a bunch of books

4. You can feel technologically advanced and progressive

5. Your bookmarks won't fall out

6. You can feel secure in the knowledge that you are saving trees

Perks of a paper book:

1. You can enjoy the old-fashioned format

2. You can put sticky notes inside and write in the margins

3. You can thumb through looking for a certain part

4. You can pay just for the book you want without having to buy a technological device

5. You can put it over your face when you want to sleep in a hammock

6. If it gets destroyed, you've only lost one book

You can probably think of more, but my point is that for adults, at least, it seems like digital vs. paper is mostly a matter of choice at this point. But what about for children? Children are known for often destroying paper books. In my house, we have a copy of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" that I swear a fisherman went to town on or something, because half the fish are missing. Along with the covers. And a few words. Actually, a lot of words. And "The Princess Bride" is split in half right down the spine, and has another book shelved in between. And "Pippi Longstocking" is quite dogeared and naked. Poor Pippi. None of these things would happen to a Kindle. Maybe paper books aren't the best, after all.

On the other hand, if a child drops "Fox in Socks" in the bathtub, well, you've lost "Fox in Socks." But if a child drops a Kindle in the bathtub, you've not only lost "Fox in Socks," but you've lost all your books and your Kindle as well. Expensive bath. Since there are risks both ways, perhaps book format for children is also personal preference.

As you make your decision, Kindle vs. paper, feel free to choose what is most compatible with your needs and best fits your personal preference, but don't make your decision based on fear of change. Changing from one format to the other is nothing new.

We don't read scrolls anymore, and who knows... maybe someday no one will read books, either.

You Tweet, I Whistle

Since a horde of people have suddenly started posting about their blog "tweethises," it made me wonder if I had a central message to my blog. The verdict: I do!

When I started this class, I was surprised to find it was geared almost completely toward digital technology, philosophy, information systems, government control, and other things along that line. When I took the first half of World Civ, the focus had been on the music, art, religion, literature, famous people, and other aspects of the culture, and so I was excited to start the second half because that sort of thing is very interesting to me, especially the music. I admit it - I was very disappointed to realize as the weeks went on that no thrilling exploration of world history's culture would be forthcoming. At first I moped around, feeling stuck in a class where there was such an inundation of digital focus that, while I'll be the first to agree that it's important to be on the cutting edge of understanding technology, I was drowning in too much of a good thing, and starving for lack of anything else. Then, as we talked more about self-directed learning, I realized that it was OK if I was interested in the real-life culture and people of the time periods being covered while everyone else was eager to philosophize about digital worlds, because with self-directed learning, we could learn about whatever we wanted to. I decided that I would be the voice for the cultural side of history, and everyone else could be the voice for whatever they wanted to be, and if nobody was interested in music and dancing and books, well, that was OK, and if I found out there were others who were also interested in the culture of the time periods, that would be good too, and if in the meantime I became more interested in digital philosophizing, well, that would be great as well.

So, I love music and culture, and I'll be an advocate for it even if no one else is interested, because they can be interested in whatever they want, and that's OK.

So, that's my "tweethis." Except, I don't have Twitter yet. So for now, I guess it's my theme song.

Sorry, Prometheus

Once upon a time, there was a god named Prometheus. He wanted to share fire with the poor little cold people on earth, because they had none. Zeus said no. Prometheus said yes. Zeus said thunderbolt no. Prometheus took the fire to them anyway. Then they were warm.

But that's not the end of the story. Did I mention Prometheus was grounded by Zeus? Chained to the top of a mountain? Sentenced to have his immortal liver eaten out daily by an eagle? Well, that's what happened.

In "Blown to Bits," one of the books I'm reading for class, it talks about the Prometheus myth, and says "The Promethius myth is about technology. Technology, like fire, is neither good nor bad - its value depends on how we use it. And once we start using a technology, society itself changes. It is never the same again."

It doesn't mention what happened to poor Prometheus for his efforts.

We talk about the importance of "bridging the gap" of the digital divide, so the poor people in far-off countries can have internet and calculators and electronic toothbrushes too. But somehow it is never as easy as it seems. Governments complain, red tape gets in the way, and some people who have the power to help simply don't care.

On the other hand, some people worry that the poor may be happier the way they are. What happens when the people themselves don't like what they're getting? Go to this link to take a look at this modern Prometheus of sorts, who ended up being shot in the heart with an arrow for his efforts, and not by Cupid, either.

http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2012/02/ignoring-reclusive-tribe-no-contact-demand-results-in-bloodshed/

So, bridging the gap for those sunk in the digital divide is a touchy subject, both inside and out. It's not too easy on the trying-to-be-helpful Prometheuses, either, but hopefully good comes of the continued efforts.

Oh, and did I mention that Hercules came and found Prometheus? Or that he broke the chains and set him free? I didn't? Well, he did. And that's the end of the story.

Where's Hercules when you need him?

Don't Forget the Chopin Liszt!

In all our intellectual talk about current events, crowd sourcing and the digital divide, it seems like we sometimes forget that there were actually people living during the historical periods we are studying who had families, and religious beliefs, and favorite foods, and favorite books, and a keen enjoyment of music and dancing and art that had cultural significance to them. In other words, we sometimes forget that the time periods we are studying are not just spans of numbers on a timeline that were governed by governments and affected by technological and social changes - they are actual moments in people's lives, filled with their culture.

In my group's presentation on the 19th century this week, we did not really address the culture of that time period, so I would like to briefly touch on it. Of course I can't begin to cover 100 years of worldwide culture in a single blog post, but here is a representative sample of some of the culture of the 1800s:

Literature: One very influential author of the 19th century was Charles Dickens, an English novelist who wrote many novels that bore strong social commentary, such as "A Christmas Carol" and "Oliver Twist," which are still considered beloved classics today.

Art: One significant artist from the 19th century was Claude Monet, the founder of French impressionist painting, and the painter of such masterpieces as "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies" and "Poppies Blooming."

Child Rearing: Some changes in child rearing philosophy occurred in the 19th century with the creation of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory and his conceptualization of the id, ego and superego.

Dance: A new English dance - the waltz - rose from peasantry to the finest dance halls in England, breaking social barriers as it tossed away the formality of holding partner at arm's length and paired partners together in a close embrace.

Religious Beliefs: A new religion came on the scene in the 19th century with the advent of what is commonly referred to as the Latter-day Saint Movement, originating in upstate New York, which has now spread to become the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and affected the lives of millions of people.

Food: A big breakthrough in 19th century food preparation came about when French confectioner and brewer Nicolas Appert discovered that food did not spoil when sealed tightly in jars, and came up with the process of canning, which is still widely used to distribute food today.

Music: Last but not least, 19th century found the musical Romantic period coming to full swing, with composers like Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin on the scene, creating beautiful music like Liszt's famous Hungarian Rhapsodies, and concert etudes such as "La Campanella" and "Un Sospiro," and Chopin's ballades, etudes, and waltzes like "Waltz in C Sharp Minor" and "The Minute Waltz."

So, as we study important philosophies, governments and technologies, don't forget that there were people who lived at the time who were happy to find ways to preserve food, and raise their children right, and dance scandalously close to each other to the tune a lively Chopin waltz. Without the richness of culture inside, the greater things would have been only a hollow shell.