Mashups - Week 11

The Reflect activity for this week was in response to Mashups. A mashup is essentially combining two or more pieces of data to create one, singular, new piece of data. Mashups can ultimately consist of anything, whether it be pictures, sound, video, or even a web-page. I first heard about mashups through songs on the radio. People all over the world combined popular songs to make new ones, various websites popped up and it even featured in movies like Pitch Perfect. The problem with pop-song mashups is obviously the copyright issues, although these songs exist they are not legal unless endorsed by the music company that owns the songs.

This leads me to the competition by Library Hack which asked participants to use data from Australian and New Zealand libraries to create something new. The purpose of this was to raise awareness about the amount of shareable content libraries have and encourage users to engage with the collection by creating something new. This is an ingenious way for libraries to expose their collections to a wider audience, not only do artists and amateur artists get to exercise their skills, but viewers as well.

My favourite mashup was by Gardey, who 'mashed up' two photographs and added text for a comical effect.

After having a laugh about the picture as a whole I start to ask myself some questions:
1. What is the original context of the diver in the photo?
2. What beach are the people below standing at?
3. What are the people looking up at in the original picture?
4. What year were these photos taken?
5. Who were the people in each of these photos?

It is these kinds of questions I think Library Hack were trying to elicit from the users. The mashups trigger curiosity in the viewer and leave them wanting to know more. How do they know more? By engaging with the collection! The competition by Library Hack shows the potential for libraries to extend their audience by utilising their creative commons and open access data.

An article by Nicole Engard relates mashups specifically to a library setting. The mashups discussed in the article are used to increase efficiency within the library rather than provide entertainment, but they are relevant and interesting nonetheless!


Reference.
All rights reserved by Gardey
The birth of stage diving and moshing in Australia
◾Photo 1: Taking the plunge at the Valley Baths, Brisbane, ca.1930-1940
◾Photo 2: Dirigible over tamarama, Hall & Co. Home and Away -34701
URL of this entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardey/5775416779/