I have set up my blogspot and am beginning to explore the world of blogging. I truly have no clue as to what it is yet, but I can recognize an amazing opportunity when I see it. As the quote so eloquently put it, the internet has created a new platform of education...not just music education, but education in general. The unlimited ability of the internet to access even the most remote geographic locations, connecting the isolated idea with the knowledge banks of this world is truly remarkable.He points out that the new digital revolution extends beyond disciplines and conventional boundaries, challenging those of us in music to create a higher level of discourse. In setting up our news blog, I had hoped to find sites developing music education technology exploring ideas, issues, and techniques in ways that could be syndicated and reused in new and different settings, serving to inform our own encounters with implements of digital gear.
Two important sites that represent our "best efforts" are TI:ME (Technology Institute for Music Educators) and ATMI (Association for Technology in Music Instruction).
TI:ME is a not-for-profit corporation and requires you to become a member. There are some advantages to membership, including "certification" courses and workshops. It is supported by NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants, now named The International Music Products Association) and IAEKM (International Association of Electronic Keyboard Manufacturers). This marriage with the commercial arena of musical products may subtly shape TI:ME's agenda. TI:ME has articulated a mission of developing sophisticated users of such equipment who will be able to integrate this new technology into their teaching. Technology still exists as a product and a content that is to be delivered to the learner.
ATMI is more of an association of like minded practitioners who share a zest and interest in the use of technology for the instruction of music. Some parts of the website seem somewhat dated. The Squeak and Blat section has a copyright of 1996-2000. There is a strong search engine for articles, and you will find you can dig up interesting articles on CAI, which is just one among many categories dealing with music technology and music education. I couldn't help but think that so many of these articles would be timely, even now, if they were syndicated as Atom or RSS files. However, the site seems to stop growing un terms of new information just as the Internet was beginning to erupt with the creation of new content by countless individuals now empowered as web authors.
Bruegnon remarks on the miracle of "connection"---and I suspect that we are still in such a primitive stage in understanding how significant this connectivity is---for we still look to it as "ignorance" connecting with "knowledge". I suspect it will take a while to value the unique quality and contribution of each "connector." This requires a growing recognition of the unique qualities each of us can share. Wikipedia is an open source encyclopedia that be edited and contributed to by anyone. It is multilingual with more than 500,000 articles and growing. Many of the newer platforms like Flickr, Google, and Yahoo provide easy access and creation of new material, which can grow exponentially, archiving the created works as they grow over time. Each of these platforms explores connectivity in very original ways that may be helpful to understand in terms of music, musical growth, musical understanding, composition, improvisation, and performance.
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