Mobile Media & Social Computing

CONTROL PUBLIC SPACES THROUGH MUSIC

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Control public spaces trough music Portable music players in public transportation

Louise Jensen Digital Media and Design program It-Universitety of Copenhagen, Denmark loje@itu.dk Abstract

Everyday a large amount of passengers uses a portable music device as they move through the city in public transportation. Looking in a historical perspective this was not always an option but the technological development has changed the music consumption and opened up new possibilities. The portable music devices in public transportation presents the ability to control interaction with the surroundings, organize the self, stage self-presentation, create personal experiences through urban storytelling and reconfigure relationships to the urban environment.

Keywords-component; Portable music device, music, reconfiguration, social interaction, experiences

a.

1. INTRODUCTION

Music plays a big part of our lives and it has been for thousands and thousands of years. But it is of course especially with the ability to record and later replay sound, it really was possible to make music fully integrated part of everyday life [1]. Digital personal music technologies today offer the conveniences for users to carry their entire music collection around the city. The possibility to listen to music when ever and wherever one want has dominated the spaces of public transportations. When I was using the Metro, I noticed that the majority of passengers were listening to music with their earphones. My interest of consuming music in the public spaces started actually started with a slightly irritation of mostly teenagers that play, in my opinion, inappropriate loud music through cell phones speakers. My lacking understanding of this cultural phenomenon created a curiosity to instigate this topic further.

In the process of making the video in this course, my group and I made few empirical observations in metros, trains and busses that expanded my perspective. At the same time I began to discover theory within listen to music in public spaces. I found it interesting how theoreticians described users is enables to preserve a sense of private space in public space, where new passengers are constantly getting on and off. This

means that there is constantly new people and surroundings that passengers have to relate to.

My thesis is that portable music enables passengers to personal control spaces and shapes their personal experiences, which is supported by various theoreticians. My focus in the analysis is exactly how mp3 player can control spaces in public transportation and how mp3 player allows users to create an alternative aesthetic experience in contrast to the trivial transportation. In order to understand this present cultural phenomenon, I would argue that it one must understand the development of the portable music device. I will therefore shortly place the mp3 player into a historical and contemporary context in order to understand the field of portable music in public spaces. This will contribute to an understanding of how users adapt technology as much as technology is affected by the consumption. This provides a basis for answering my research question. b.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How does portable music player enable passengers to control personal spaces and shape an alternative experience? c.

METHOD & THEORY

Through a discourse analysis I will investigate the research question. I choose not to conduct empirical fieldwork, as there is a large amount of exiting literature to investigate. Even though conducting my empirical data could be insightful, arguments will be based on theory and research that the chosen theoreticians have conducted. In the process of creating the video, I have though executed few small interview and observations with mp3 player users passing my way, in order to get a basic understand of the field.

Currently discussions of portable music player in they city is dominated by Michael Bull. Miriam Simun and David Beer are also two important theoreticians within the subject and their contribution is of high importance. Bull has conducted great empirical work about how people incorporate these devices into their everyday routines. In addition the scholarly sources, I have also used Castells, Campbell and Katz & Sugyiama to support some of the arguments that concerns aspects connected to listen to music in public spaces, such as self-presentation and appropriation. d.

HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

A. Previously portable music players The Fm-radio was the first sensation within portable aural experiences but the signal depended on the location and it changed as one moved [20]. With gramophones users was enabled to choose personal music and with shift to cassette boom boxes made it easier to carry the technology around the city. Compared to present mp3 player they where heavy to carry, only played music in the already decided order and most important, the music blasted into the entire soundscape, which forced people in the surroundings to listen to users taste in music [8].

It was first when Sony launched their Walkman, that music truly became a personal and mobile stereo. The Walkman thereby revolutionized the experience of listen to music in public spaces. Music was now personal and portable in more adaptive and pleasant way [11]. Previous generations of personal stereos were plagued with problems that prevented a smooth listening experience. The user got interrupted, it had poor sound quality and one had to carry around bulky tapes [31]. When music was storied on CD’s it created a need for new music player technologies whereas the CD boom boxes and the smaller Discman is a product of. Compared to having mp3 it was still a source of irritation to carry CD’s around.

The digitalization into mp3 files again meant a need for a new music player and the mp3 player was brought into production.

Compared to previously devices is a small, almost weightless and embodied device. The Mp3 player’s strength is that it uses flash memory for storing MP3 files. The first mp3 player had limited capacity but the further development of digitalization resulted in a change in our consumption habits of music in relation to the capacity (16GB), by making it possible for users to take their entire music collection everywhere they go [3]. Now users are not limited to listening to a pre-defined sequence on a CD or limited by using a Discman with only 50 minutes of music.

The development of the functionalities on the cell phone has enabled users to listen to the music on their cell phone. This is convenient as a majority of passengers already carries it with them everyday. I would argue that this contributes both to higher music consumption in public space but also a range of possibilities, as I will discuss later in the paper. In addition to

this Beers statement define precise how important a role the mp3 player plays: “The mp3 player is now undoubtedly a significant cultural icon of the digital age and has become familiar and ordinary urban technology, a part of an everyday discourse”[2].

B. Modern portable music players I would argue that the cell phone solves a range of different needs, but given that the music player technology is incorporated it solves the same need as the mp3 player. However, these different music devices embrace it in different ways. Today, portable music devices come in all shapes, sizes and functionalities.

When the iPod was introduced in 2001 it changed the landscape of portable audio players. At this point users had not experienced music players that was very intuitive, had a flattering design or was synchronized with users music collection. The users had been used to another process when gathering the music (download or buy) and transferring music to the mp3 device. Even though the iPod is just a brand of the mp3 player made by Apple, It has a unique set of features and design qualities that results in different music consumption compared to the regular mp3 player.

The way the iPod differentiates mostly from the regular mp3 player is that iPods uses Apple iTunes (software) to transfer music to the music devices. Using iTunes one can store a music library on ones computer, burn music from CD, make play list, buy music, download podcast or ebooks, see videos, game and small applications (when supported by the player) and many other features. Apple has achieved to build a unique service around the physical product that changes the consumption of the mp3 player (and generate sale). When using an iPod there are more features and the music experience is more customermized, which affects the daily music routines and how the music is consumed.

Apple have taken advantages of this and incorporated a music player into the iPhone. As Beer [2] puts it “the highly publicized iPhone, a device that brings together mobile music with computing, cell phone and a touch screen interface”. In relation to this is still trendier to have an iPod or iPhone compare to a normal mp3-player from e.g. Sony or Creative. Having a trendy phone is of high priority for a various teenagers as Katz & Sugyiama [24] states: “This [third-person-effect] suggest that the mobile phone, in young people’s discourse, takes on the role of a fashion accessory that is in great demand as a status symbol”. This can be transferred to mp3 player. Having either a trendy mp3 player or cell phone to play music on is therefore also important in public transportation.

e.

Compare to one of the first cell phone the service and functionalities has developed intense. Goggin contributes with “A limitation of first-generation cell phone was not only the relatively low functionality, large size, and quality of handset and the stage of evolution of mobile networks, but also the capabilities of the rest of the telecommunications network.” [21]. Now almost every modern cell phone are able to play music either through speakers or earphones. To my knowledge other phones cannot compete with the iPhone. Given that the iPhone have a smoother interface, the connection to Itunes, functionalities similar to the iPod, I would argue that it is the best cell phone for listening to music. Cell phones strengths are being a multimedia; it is convenient only to have to carry one electronic device. The big difference between mp3 players a cell phones is that is it more common play sound trough speakers with a cell phone compared to the mp3 player, that in most cases only is able to play music through earphones. This causes that cell phone is more used device, to play music in pubic spaces with. Most important compared to mp3, is that cell phones allow the user to explore content on the wireless network [20]. The Internet access opens up a range of possibilities for users to communicate, stage selfpresentation and stream music through services like Ping or myspace (social network for music). The cell phone has several other services and functionalities besides from being a music player, so there is still a big difference between the consumption of the mp3 player and the cell phone. In 2007 Beer [5] predicted this “The next step as mp3 players converge with mobile telephone, will more than likely see these networked mobile music reproduction devices allowing access to any online achieve of music anytime, anywhere”. As Beer predicted the devices borrows from each other’s functionalities, e.g. the new iPod can go on the Internet and thereby communicate with the surroundings, which buries the line between suing cell phones as music player and mp3 player.

According to Goggin the cell phone and the mp3 player have in common that they both reconfigured spaces and social setting [22]. Bull concentrate in his work on the iPod [8], but as I have argue though the last paragraph the mp3 player, the mobile phone and the iPod are solving the same need and the functionalities are merging together. In the context of controlling spaces it is less important how the devices differs. I will therefore in the next paragraph refer to the cell phone, iPod and the mp3 players as one portable music device, the mp3 player. What is important is that both devices makes it possible to control spaces. In addition to this, when I use the term users I refers to users of these devices.

CONTROL SPACES IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Discussions of space and spatial boundaries starts often with a fundamental distinction between the concrete, physical space and the more devoid of abstract space, not rooted and geographically localized. It is the mental constructions of spaces that allow listeners to perceive a private experience, that I will focus on.

Well, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that overall I fell pretty out of control in my life”… ”The iPod has given me some control back”[11].

This quote is from Bull research and is interesting as it reflect upon the mp3 player as a way to gain control. In the following I will discuss how users are able control the interactions with other passengers and shape alternative experiences. I have categorized my analysis into topics in order to get a better overview of what portable music devices enables.

A. Symbol of isolation In public spaces passengers are forced to share and negotiate spaces. According to Bull the development of the music technologies has provided possibilities within reconstruction of the social rather than a separation of spaces [8]. Portable music devices can thereby be used to control interaction with other passengers e.g. strangers who want to talk or noisy mobile conversation. Headphones dangling from the ears represented a ‘do not disturb’ sign, making it harder for others to initiate contact with the user. If an unwanted interaction with others comes in the way, the earphones do not stop it from occurring, but it provides a shield and a distraction from the here-and-now surroundings [5]. Whenever users do not want to be distracted or disruptive from what they are doing, headphones can be used an as symbol of wanting to be isolated. In addition to wanting to be isolated to a certain extent Bull states: “This contradictory desire for privacy and fear of social isolation is resolved through the use of mobile sound media.”[9].

B. Private Sound bubbles According to Bull users seek to gain a “social withdrawal” from the immediate surroundings by creating private listening room. Bulls term of this is sound bubbles [8]. He states, “In iPod culture, representational space is constructed within the head space of the user through a mediated and privatized soundscape”[10]. Bull thereby suggests that users attempt to immerse themselves into a private experience and thereby escape the public atmosphere. As one of Simuns interviewed described, rather than ‘switching off,’ listening to her Mp3 player enabled her to ‘switch away’ – to an urban experienced with her choice of music, transforming the city’s overwhelming and brutal soundscape into privatized and

enjoyable spaces [32]. Creating private space can also unwinds and unpacks the users emotions, thus proving a base for thinking more clearly or lucidly [8]. The personalized music thereby enables users to channel their thoughts and leave room for reflexive thinking by creating a ‘cognitive space’ in which they could successfully inhabit. In relation to same subject Simun express it very precise “By creating personalized soundtracks, users configure their emotions, thoughts and actions – and thereby, the self."[37]. By calling upon music to gain control over the users perceptions, thoughts, and conduct, Mp3 enables them to reconfigure their role within the spaces they navigate in.

C. Sounding out the city Wanting to avoid noisy and stressful surroundings such as traffic chaos or alarming sirens, can also be seen an attempt to control spaces. As Mitchell express it “Dial up a track on your iPod and your attention is instantly shifted to another place and time”[28]. Mitchell statement indicates that whether it is intentional or not, the consequence of using an mp3 player, is that attention is turned away from the surroundings. In relation to this Simun states “While the control the Mp3 gives users does allow them to attend to their musically mediated environments in an enjoyable way, this very mediation prevents users’ full participation in urban space - thereby negating the public nature of this space.“[36]. By adding a new sound layer, users negotiate with the surrounding about who owns spaces, as users transform the public spaces into private sound bubbles [6]. Listening to music allows to a certain point to escape from unwanted sounds and remove users from their surroundings. Some users thereby are moving into the rhythm of the music rather than to the rhythm of the city [8].

D. Self-realisation & Self presentation Some passengers use the music to stage a self-representation with themselves as the only audience. For them it is not important that others cannot hear the music, because others opinion do not matter. What is important is that when the user listening to specific music they feel affiliation to the certain music culture – thereby shaping their identity with music.

Sound can be seen as a tool for self-realization. Simun support this reconfiguration of the self with “Mp3 users employ music to reconfigure time, space and self as they navigate the urban commute.” [31]. Beer mentions that sound can escape the listener’s earphones, “If the earphones are loud enough, it may also be contributing to other people’s experiences through sound leakage”[5]. This could both be intentional or not. The first option means that the user do not settle with only themselves listening to the music, but want others to be a part of their sound space. This is often constituted through cell phones speaker function. Here is a culture where it is all about spreading the sound to its surroundings, thereby signaling a certain sense of belonging and identity through music taste, and celebrates a territory defined by how fare the sound can

reach. According Katz & Sugyiama cell phones can like other fashion items be used to project a sense of identity and self into the public areas, which can be applied to mp3 player [25].

Using these device to stage a specific image are though not limited to the visual but is also done through sound. Like there is unspoken rules about having cell phone conversation in public transportation, there is also social norms about playing music.

E. Appropriation Appropriation is an important aspect of listen to music in public spaces, as it dominates the aural space at a higher level and thereby is a more upfront method to control spaces. I will therefore shortly discuss how unspoken rules are created.

From my perspective it is acceptable to play quiet music with headphones in public spaces, if it does not disturb other passengers. Campbell found that tolerance for cell phone use in public increased after participants became heavier users of technology. His studies showed that cell phone ownership, degree of use, and experience with technology can influence perception and attitudes towards it [17]. As the mp3 player has some common characteristics discussed before, it will be some of the same social norms that apply. Our own observation indicated that more young people used portable music devices compared to older adult. Based on Campbell thesis, young people are therefore more tolerant then older adults. It seems that young users are more tolerant and therefore presumes that others have the same level of tolerance. Taking this into consideration it makes sense that it was mostly young users we observed that was playing loud music in public spaces.

In addition to this, Castells explains how each group member of different small communities perceives differently what is social acceptable, which they learn trough a social learning process [19]. He explains how manners are taught through experience of how and when a cell phone should be use in certain situations. Castells also refers to customs as people are used to hear a mobile ring in almost all situations [12]. Since the mp3 player has become a common used technology in public transportation, the majority of passengers are also used to sound leakage from earphones. Given that it only happens occasionally that some passengers play music from their cell phone speakers, other passengers are not used to loud music at the same level as sound leakage from earphones. Another aspect of this is also that there is a difference between how much the sound disturbs and annoys other passengers, which affect their degree of tolerance. Castells point is that because of the social learning process each country defines what is appropriate [12]. After having read web articles about music in public transportation in London, I quickly realized that this was also the case between countries like London and Copenhagen [38].

F. Turn constrained time into leisure The physical environments that passengers are visiting are already occupied by spoken words, musical performances, buildings, movements, text and images [29]. By combining the city’s expressions with personalized soundtracks the user can create a new aesthetics and a new story of the traveling time.

Bulls term of sound bubbles is similar to Beer’s term tuning out, which refers to the movement, the listener takes when one transfers his auditory attention from the world into a constructed private sound space [5]. According to him “Tuning out describes an attempt on the part of the user of portable music device to rewrite the narratives of the city toward a preferred set of narratives”[5]. His term differs from Bull by focusing more on the narrative and tuning out of the physical immediately place in favor of the virtual [5]. Building narratives through mp3 player can be perceived as a reaction against the places that are experienced as uninspiring. Beer state, “By engaging with the Mp3, users turn their 'constrained time' into leisure. Transforming, as they describe, their ‘boring’ and ‘stressful’ commutes into times of entertainment and relaxation”[33]. The transportation time that can be considered as ‘wasted’ time, gets ‘dressing up’ with music.

Thereby gets the ‘empty time’ turned into pleasurable into privatized pleasure place. “Mp3 enables users re-configure the public urban commute as personal spaces of leisure”[35]. The experience thereby transforms into an “alternative experience of the city space, a space that is narrativized by musical soundtrack”[4].

G. Urban storytelling Bull found in his empirical work that “Common in iPod accounts of aesthetic experience is making the street mimic the mood engendered by the music playing on the ipod.”[14]. He also reports from his studies, that people create special personalized play lists that fits upcoming events or modes, that supports the natural scenery, which they find themselves in [8]. Portable music is thereby both used to support the urban experience spontaneously and planned. Mp3 thereby presents an interesting ability to actually engage with the city. It seems that the music create an auditory frame around the surroundings, enables users to enhance their experience of the urban experience and connected them to their specific location.

When using mental writing to describe the urban story, Mitchell claims that our surroundings stimulate memories, emotions and narratives, which is triggered by things that one see, hear, smell or touch may make one think of something else. When traveling through the city any element of the surrounding scene may serve as a link to memories of past events and distant places, to narratives that one have heard, and to facts that one have learned [27]. The combination of these simulations and personal music, can generates a production of personal impression that is anchored to specific places or song, which support the engagement with the city.

By combining this with music and the city's dynamic

expressions, users are enabled to get a alternative aesthetic experience compared to the non-audio experience. According to Bull this is not accidental: “Aesthetic enhancement is a central strategy of iPod use”[15].

According to Beer the reconfiguration of the surroundings is done by prioritizing the content users are being offered [6]. In addition to this Simun describes how users can change their perception of the urban experience by “actively use personal meanings of music to re-configure their understandings, actions and place in the city”[34]. Users thereby becomes an active part in the shaping of the urban experiences by prioritize and adding meaning, which is facilitated by the portable music device. As a result users construct a sound space with new meanings of the situation and new aesthetics of the surroundings. Bull describes this process as a rewriting of the city's narrative. His study contains several examples of users who describe how the ordinary journey becomes audiovisual scenery by mental describing the surroundings in filmic context [13]. The user thereby becomes creator of the script.

In relation to this one of his informants describes, “I like to watch people around me and imagine as the characters in a novel.”[12]. Decorating the regular bus trip with colorful storytelling offers an alternative experience and can give an illusion of being in another fascinating space, like an exiting movie. Mp3 thereby also presents an interesting ability to create aesthetic experiences. a.

CONCLUSION

Placing the portable music player in a historical context emphasized how the consumption of music in public spaces has changed because of new technologies. Compared to previously music devices the Walkman revolutionized the music consumption by facilitating personal music in public spaces. In the contemporary society especially the ipod that has achieved significant cultural icon by offering unique features and design qualities that changed the way users consumed music into a new level. Even though the cell phones, mp3 player and iPod differentiates in some technological areas, their functionalities are merging together and they are thereby all able to solve a need for listen to music in public transportation.

The portable music enables different ways of controlling the spaces in public transportation. Users are enabled to symbolize to the surroundings through the mp3 player that they do not want to be disturbed. Portable music devices also presents an ability to sound out the city by overlaying an audio layer and thereby creates private sound bubbles that leave room for reflective thinking. It also enables to stage a self-presentation through a certain taste in music that represents a belonging to a certain social group. This could both in honor of themselves or to the surroundings. If the user wants others to be a part of the sound space, there is a set of social manners that apply, which is taught through a social learning process.

By mental describing the surroundings in a narrative context and combining the personal music with expressions of the city, a foundation for enriched and aesthetic enhanced experience is offered. It presents a possibility for the user to engage with the city and connect to the specific location.

Wasted transportation time is thereby turned into pleasurable leisure.

To summarize, “By calling upon music’s power as a prescriber of social action, users shape experience, organize the self, and reconfigure their relationships to the urban environment” [31].

b.

PERSPECTIVES

The mp3 player is far from being an effective tool for control spaces as there are several of elements to take into consideration in the dynamic and constantly changing environment. Even though users can try not to be infiltrated in others spaces total exclusion is not possible. It is instead coexiting mental spaces that is being experience simultaneously with the existing surroundings. The users still remain a physical and concrete part of the public space and will have to relate to the surroundings. One can also question if it is a positive ability that the mp3 players offer isolation to a certain point.

Finally one could perceive sound bubbles and urban storytelling as overanalyzing the transportation experience. I would argue that various people do not think of the mentioned ways to control spaces or creating experiences, and that they probably just want to be entertained or let wasted transportation time be empty transportation time. c.

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