MU Honors Program: Student Blog

Music, Muzak, and iMusic… (Part I)

    My iTunes library is currently at 6,901 songs, totaling 31.06 Gigabytes of memory on my computer. That is approximately a sixth of my entire memory focused entirely on music. Now, some would say that wastes computer memory for personal amusement, yet music plays an important part of any college student’s identity and experience. Music is a transcendental media that enables many important aspects of college, namely (in no order): dancing, homework, conversation topics, growth in perspective, and enjoyment. This blog (which is multi-part) is going to discuss a couple aspects of music’s importance on college students in hopes of describing why music can help define a person’s experience and identity in college.
    Music is often a panacea. It really does not matter whether I am reading, writing, at a party, or just hanging around - music really does smooth out experiences. This is best exemplified by:

Planning a Party: When planning a party, here are the considerations: party purpose, party events, who is coming, and music (drinks might be important too). The difference between a good party and a poor one is how the people react with the music and game choices. For instance, if I played Ray LaMontagne all night, everyone would be looking around wondering, “what is this crap?” The same is true if I tried busting out monopoly at a party. Yet a simple transition to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and the game Twister makes the crowd triumphantly raise their glasses, serenade everyone in earshot, while contorting their bodies into oddly sexual positions.

Doing Homework: Another example is doing homework; it is relaxing to listen to the right music   when reading “Information Management: A Systems Approach.” At the same time, music can differ from person to person in this subject; some people cannot do homework without music, others can. This is why I define reading music as “the right music;” the music has to fit the mood, so Ray LaMontagne would perfectly suit someone pounding through the books. Personally I find studying slightly more difficult with music, but easier to read for a class with (really, really loud) music.

Marketing: Wait, what? Is he bringing in something he learned in class to this blog? Yes is the answer to that. Music is the catch in many commercials, the jingle everyone remembers, and the reason I now hate Led Zeppelin’s “Rock’n’Roll.” What is interesting about this aspect of music is that it defines one journey and identity solely by catch phrases, funny commercials, and unforgettable quotes (“It’s my money and I want it now!”). Music jingles and commercial phrases are used daily to enhance (or impede) conversation and to generally focus our buying patterns. They are important in college life because they are incredibly prevalent and pervasive.

    What these examples show is that music adds context, background, and theme to tasks and events, which can often enhance different experiences to something more enjoyable (or at least memorable). This is important for college life for obvious reasons, namely because people are consistently searching for new ways to enhance their experience. The other interesting aspect of music that I personally utilize often (and broadly falls under this segment) is writing with music playing. For some reason music enables my hands to write pages without even realizing it - the effect is incredible. Yet this falls under the enhancement category that a lot of these other musical uses fall under, just in a different and interesting way.
    Well this concludes the first segment of this blog (which I guess you could call a series within a series). What I have hoped to portray is the direct correlation between situational enhancement and music for college students (which I have been using as a blanket term, but really means Miami students since that is my “area of expertise”). It is important to consider that all of these tasks and activities are quintessential pieces of college life and music can play a large part in enhancing the overall experience; yet this is not the only aspect music can play.

College Culture and Connections (Pt. 1)

    “Organizational culture refers to the shared pattern of beliefs, assumptions, and expectations held by organizational members, and their characteristic way of perceiving the organization’s artifacts and environment, and its norms, roles, and values as they exist outside the individual”(Bowditch, J.L., Buono, A.F., & Stewart, M.M. A Primer on Organizational Behavior, (2008), pp. 320).  Now if that is not a laborious definition, then I do not know what is. While this definition certainly works in an overall discussion of culture, it does not clearly construct a strong or realistic enough image of the Miami University culture. So, in hopes of displaying the nuances of Miami’s culture I am focusing an entire series of posts at the tangible and intangible aspects of culture at Miami. In the first couple posts, I plan on focusing directly on micro issues of culture, those being surface cultural identities, with my final posts in this series focusing on campus culture identities and trying to tie some of the micro issues discussed together. While realizing this is a (hopelessly) ambitious approach to blog writing, it is nonetheless my newest series.
    Now that is out of the way, let’s talk about one of the most visible aspects of any modern campuses culture: the digital age. We live in the age of instant communication, information, and satisfaction; Miami (or any American university) sits at the apex of such an era. Whether it is cell phones, iPods, laptops, or video game systems, college life is inundated with technology. There are many reasons for this, but two stick out most acutely to me: College students are consistently offered new ideas and seek new ideas; our age demographic spends a lot on personal technology and technological pleasures. As such, part of any university’s identity is technological in nature.
    Miami University itself has a great technological network. I have no been in a classroom without the Internet, projectors, computers, and all other sorts of fun gadgets for professors. The university also offers many accessible and powerful online tools, including grade, class, and work decision-support systems, as well as the ability to use incredible technological resources throughout campus. Overall, Miami has a very tech-savvy faculty and campus. Yet this is not the technology I want to focus on, instead I am going to discuss some student technological debate points:

Facebook vs. Myspace: For the high school/college students reading this blog, there is no debate. Yet for all the parents and grandparents catching up with the times, let me initiate you in on a little secret: Facebook won. Overall, Facebook defeats Myspace on many important issues including network, cultural acceptability, and ease of user use. To discuss the first aspect, Facebook runs through a larger network primarily because it treads a thin line between professionally accepted and socially accepted. Myspace, which has a stronger focus on musical information sharing, is seen as less acceptable (except for in the music and film industries). Facebook also is more culturally accepted; both my boss and my little cousin concurrently use Facebook, but in entirely different age, sex, and location demographics. Myspace, on the other hand, has been unable to grab the older age demographic, thus giving Facebook the competitive advantage. Finally, Facebook was created to make even the least tech-savvy individual proficient (me). The interface allows users to alter their information, applications, and pictures in an easy point-n-click style that makes Facebook idiot friendly. Myspace focuses more on artistic ability; users are able to customize their color, style, and background schemas to create an incredibly artistic feel. Myspace also uses an intense amount of coding in messaging, while Facebook restricts users options to make the learning curve much lower. In conclusion, Facebook is a better interface because it is more marketable; more people are able to use it and it is not viewed as culturally taboo, thus allowing for a greater social network and therefore market dominance over Myspace.

Mac vs. PC: (Probably my favorite technological debate) Let me preface by saying that I am incredibly biased in this. Even though I am biased I will try to present both cases fairly and let people to decide for themselves. I also want to point out that I highly recommend all students coming to Miami to look into the “Miami Notebook” program; you will be happy you did.
    So let’s talk Operating Systems (OS). Overall PC’s allow for greater maneuverability, accessibility, and customization. PC’s allow users to work with every facet of their design and alter it; the only better OS than PC’s for user autonomy is Linux (which I will not discuss). Mac’s, on the other hand, are created for mass consumer consumption. With an incredibly high customer satisfaction rating, Mac trumps PC because they are incredibly ease to use. This is primarily because Macs have the ability to create very personalized OS styles, with minimal effort or knowledge, and have an incredible support community underneath it all. Mac’s also target the college age demographic because they are chic, sleek, and allow for incredible time saving options. Because of these things, and extensive experience struggling through years of PC use, I am firmly a Mac user. This may seem nonsensical (probably is too) because I am a business student, but the truth is that the business world is adapting to a multi-functional operational network. Though this is my opinion, let me reiterate that my opinion is based off my experience, and the choice is entirely up to you.

Video Game Systems: This discussion will be brief because I am incredibly unfamiliar with video games, except Super Mario World (which I dominate). Let me just say that two major points concerning video games: classics and the Wii. First discussing classic games, these games are still loved universally. Probably the most enjoyed game at any party I have been to date at college is “Super Smash Brothers.” This is primarily because anyone can compete on these easier platforms, and they often allow for infrequent game users to polish off their skills in melee combat. So don’t through away that NES or N64, just wait until college to use it. The second point I want to discuss is the Wii. While Xbox and Playstation have hoarded the market for cutting edge game technology, Wii has created a gaming platform for the multitudes. With easy controls, uses, and games the Wii is truly a gaming revolution. For instance, my little cousins are much better at it than me; my grandmother is also good at it. This shows that while other systems hold true to diehards, the Wii captures public interest.

    Well, I hope this first segment of “College Culture and Connections” was interesting and possibly enlightening. I tried to discuss some relevant issues concerning a college student’s life at a campus concerning basic technology (I guess Facebook is technological, right?). Whether I did or not, I want to say two things: first, stay tuned for the next edition (which I think will be the discussion of musical identity, but I am not sure yet); second, please send some love my way. Comments are wonderful, and feedback will always help me better my topics, writing styles, and points. Thanks so much!