For my Digital Artefact, I sought to present a persona who wished to increase their knowledge in the topic of 1960s Rock music. Through this persona, I could convey my interest in this genre by sharing with an audience the ways in which this era of music remains both important and relevant to the eras that followed. Later on, I summarised my project by naming it ‘The Birth of Art Rock’. I intended to have it take the form of a series of discursive essays, each one focusing on one particular artist and their significance in popular culture. I aimed to use a Twitter account to promote these essays. In addition to educating a potential audience, I also wanted to use this as an opportunity for me to learn more about this era of music, which is where the autoethnography comes in. Although I admit with a heavy heart that I did not come close to realising my vision, what I can do now is reflect on the experience – more specifically on the epiphanies that struck me as I went along. What the ethnographic process tends to promote is the importance of epiphanies. According to researcher Robbie Blinkoff, they are “the real metric for ethnographic success” (Blinkoff, 2016), and they took a few different forms during my process. Whether I acted upon them effectively or not is up for debate, but many of them at least offered a vision of what my project could’ve been.
My first epiphany struck when writing up my map for my ‘classic rock’ niche. The idea behind the map was to outline the ways in which this niche has been both accessed and approached in the past. One of the lists I made included the names of online creators who are known for their dives into this niche (along with a handful of notable music critics that I threw on for no reason). Polyphonic was one of the creators I listed, as he is someone who I’ve been observing on and off for a few years. Through his YouTube channel, he posts video essays that explore a multitude of different eras of music and the artists within them. After listing him on the map, I sought to take a closer look at the ways in which he engages with his fans, which brought me to his Twitter and/or X account. Leading up to this point, I was struggling to envision what my social media persona should look like. Outside of using it as a means of promoting my essays, I had nothing. This is why it was an imperative for me to observe how others within my niche use it. What I found in Polyphonic’s Twitter account was someone who is actively finding ways to connect with their fans.
Observing this allowed me to have my first epiphany. From that point onwards, I intended to use my Twitter account not only to promote my essays, but also to share opinions of mine that would likely not become part of the main project, but remained in-keeping with my niche. I would use the platform to engage with my hypothetical audience, which would allow them to join and inform my process. It was clear to me that this was considered the norm in this field, so I wished to follow suit.
While I can safely say that this was my plan, what soon transpired was me opting to post my essay first, which would leave me to worry about setting up my account later.
Soon enough, later translated to weeks…
…… and it eventually reached Neverland.
By just posting my first essay with nothing to accompany it, I was unfortunately enabled to remain within my bubble, something which an effective social media presence would’ve done wonders in bursting. In a way, my second epiphany was me realising just how much evolution I was missing out on. Without a captive audience, my drive remained on autopilot. Even though I had put a plan in place for the essays (one every two weeks or so), I was lacking in inspiration. Even if I had stuck to that plan, I still missed out on the benefits of outside interest. Building a fan base willing to share their input would’ve allowed my content to grow far beyond my initial ambitions.
My idea to both share my love of classic rock and find out more about it quickly became something to be shared with only myself. Also, based on the content I created, it would seem that Bob Dylan stands as the only innovator of that time. In the absence of true proliferation, I am left to sulk in the shadow of what could’ve been. The epiphanies I experienced only work to highlight this. By now, I was hoping to have told the story of how art rock came to be, with each essay providing a piece to the puzzle. If I have to do another Digital Artefact in the future, I will make sure to lead with the social media angle. I’d probably also choose a niche that is more accessible, and thus easier to market. Most importantly, I will be sure to embrace the video format next time. I now believe that I should’ve taken an extra step from my experience observing Polyphonic and Lie Likes Music and borrowed the video essay format from them. This stands as my final epiphany. Based on the level of engagement these two creators have achieved, the potential was wide for a lot more outside interest than I envisioned even from the beginning of the process.
I’ve learned that the general idea behind autoethnography is to create “evocative descriptions of personal and interpersonal experience” (Adams, Ellis, Bochner, 2011). It appears that’s all I can do now. I’m sure I’ll find time to explore this niche further on my own, but I’ve failed my hypothetical audience. It’s been a disappointing experience, in spite of the lessons I’ve learned along the way.
References
Adams, T, Bochner, A, Ellis, C. (2011) Autoethnography: An Overview, Conventions and Institutions from a Historical Perspective, Vol. 36, No. 4, p. 277
Blinkoff, R. (2016) The Full Epiphany, Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings Volume 2016, Iss. 1, p. 552
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