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Music is a magical cultural activity that allows people to bridge differences and come together. The BeeSide is a decentralised open-source platform for local musicians to develop strong commmunity bonds and digital autonomy. It employs the logic of the jam session to facilitate online collaborative songwriting and jam planning.
Within the context of my degree project, 'A million ways of musicking', I developed this vision for the BeeSide as a platform for true connection. A new way of looking at music, different from the current streaming platforms and event organsation. This platform brings together musicians and listeners thorugh three distinct pages, in one website.
The landing page of this invite only platform welcomes the user with a buzzing canvas of musical ideas, posted by their peers. User can collaborate on these ideas by adding a recorded layer on top, or post a fresh idea for others to riff off.
Experienced community volunteers will stimulate the planning of jams when enough songs are written. In this colourful interface the source of inspiration, bees collaborating, shines through most obviously.
If jams are professionally recorded, these recordings are hosted on the platform's P2P streaming system by those who were present at the jam. The ultimate goal? Reminiscing good times with new friends, while listening back awesome jam moments.
A little prototype to illustrate the interaction. I think this groove could still use some melody, like a synth, vocals or lead guitar; feel free to add any sound file to see if it works ;)
This digital design was part of a broader research through design project where I discovered what musicking can mean to people. I did so by looking at its role in society, both on the world stage and as experienced in my direct environment, which was Umeå, Sweden. As common with RtD projects, I developed an understanding by making simple interventions into how music is experienced, and how musicking is designed.
for more in depth info, see my project A million ways of musicking.