HowlRound: Many times I have to tell myself that the weight of the world is not solely on my shoulders. I am reminded this daily when I check things like Facebook and Twitter. I’m sure on a small scale they do the same for you. Think about the different things you friends post about or the different links and videos they share. Everyone has his or her own interests, hobbies, and expertise. I would like to talk about how to utilize social networking sites to your advantage for research. - See more at: http://www.howlround.com/research-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-social-media#sthash.flDC5u68.dpuf
4 comments:
Its interesting how new tech and trends that people might have not of using for legitimate theater purposes are being used in such a way to good effect. It helps influence the play or production in a way that responds to an audiences current mindset, hopefully to greater effect.
Oftentimes social media are given a bad reputation of being full of inanity and nonsense, but it's been seen time and time again that no matter what platform you're talking about, it's really the way it's used that is important. As proved in this article, even Facebook has its uses. With it, people can connect to each other and the world wore easily -- the same goes for Twitter and Youtube and maybe even Foursquare. We like to villify the internet as a mindless place full of cats and trolls -- and in some parts, that's what it is -- but it has also been the source of many new forms of communication that, while unable to replace face-to-face conversation, are still effective in different ways.
I understand the positives of Facebook for situations like this dramaturgy research. It's an easy way to poll a large amount of people at once. However, the section of people that you are polling is very limited, and are all probably pretty similar since it would be all the people you are friends with on Facebook.
The biggest problem I have with Facebook is that no matter how you spin it or how you try to look at it, it's still a social networking site. It's unprofessional. Having your cast look up your dramaturgical research on a social site, at least to me, appears sloppy, and unprofessional, as if you couldn't be bothered enough to think of a better and more appropriate way to present your information. On the flip side of that, if the concept of the show is to get involved in that kind of social media, then it could turn out to be an interesting use of the site. Of course, in that case, the use of Facebook or other social sites is really a commentary on the social networking site itself, which is another dimension to consider.
Ultimately, if the concept of the show is to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Tumblr, then make sure that what you are doing with the sites present the commentary that you are actually looking to showcase to your audience. If the concept of your show has nothing to do with that type of social world and internet communication, then avoiding the sites as a source of presentation is going to make your work look more polished and more professional.
Jess, I think you misunderstood. The author is not posting research to share with her cast on Facebook, but instead using Facebook to get ideas and information from her own friends in order to help inspire her dramaturgical research. She is using blogs on sites such as Tumblr to present the information in an easily accessible way. I don't see this as any different from her creating her own website to present and share her work, and what's unprofessional about that? Tumblr is basically doing the formatting/programming work for her, plus it 's likely that many of her cast members are familiar with Tumblr and will therefore be more open to using it to access her research. I think it's a very smart way for her to share her work with her collaborators.
Also, in response to your comment about Facebook polls reaching a limited/similar section of people, I don't think that's entirely true. I am friends with a variety of people from all walks of life on Facebook. Yes, a lot of my Facebook friends are involved with the arts in some way, but many of them are not. And even those who are involved in the arts can have vastly different opinions and ideas on a given subject. I am friends with people younger than me, and much older than me. Some of them are conservative, while others don't have a conservative bone in their body. I have friends who are international, friends for all over America, and friends who don't go far outside of their small town home. Perhaps your Facebook friends are all similar, but I really doubt that's the case for most people.
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