Washington DC-based duo Bluebrain just released their second location-aware album. ‘Central Park’ is a site-specific work of music that responds to the listeners location within the stretch of green of the same name in New York City. The app contains more than 400 tracks, each tied to a location. They were written to fit together harmonically like a sonic jigsaw puzzle.
It’s pretty apparent that the future is not in virtual reality. The future is layering virtual worlds on top of our reality, enhancing them. Think about the possibilities: you can create virtual worlds of sounds, with sources of music that change depending on factors like the weather, if you’re walking or running, daytime. I’m excited about the future.
I get up in the morning, check my email first and then explore what happened overnight on Google+, Facebook and Twitter. My streams are littered with reactions to some software updates or a new app release, musings about social platforms and why they’re dead or half-alive, food posts, complaints about flight delays, snarky remarks about politicians or pundits.
It’s my fault. I created this virtual world.
These are friends, colleagues, acquaintances, thought leaders. I chose to follow them. I created this stream. Sometimes it seems silly.
We have so many problems in this world. Our institutions don’t work anymore. We have a crumbling infrastructure. Debt everywhere. People kicking cans down the road. I’m worried about our future. I’m even more worried about our kid’s future.
Social Media was supposed to change the world
We finally had a voice. We finally could speak out. But we tend to talk mostly about entertaining issues: TV shows, sports, weather.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming anyone. I’m just blaming myself. We’ve been given this fantastic technology and we tend waste it on trivial matters.
Since I called myself out…
Over time, I will try to make a meaningful effort to add more compelling content into the stream. And stop bothering people with the triviality of my existence.
The Arab Spring, the London riots, the storm in Los Angeles: Examples were Social Media was used beyond marketing.
Take this video:
A racist woman on the tram. The viral video – named My Tram Experience – shows a white woman racially abusing Black and Polish people on a train from Croydon to Wimbledon. The video, which is extremely uncomfortable to watch, sparked millions of tweets on the subject. The hashtag #mytramexperience was the top trend one day and soon the video had been watched million of times. Later, following outrage from the general public and many celebrities, the woman, later named Emma West, was arrested.
That is the power of Social Media. And we should remember it when we tweet or post the next time.
uwehook 