Posts
A PhD student at the University of Strathclyde has won a UK-wide
award for his research into the information practices of DJs in choosing
their music and communicating with their audience by University of Strathclyde.
 |
| Photo: University of Strathclyde |
Keith Munro, of Strathclyde’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences, has been named as the 2021 winner of the ET Bryant Memorial Prize, presented by IAML (UK & Irl) (the UK & Ireland Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres).
In his submission, Keith explored the questions of whether DJing can be considered a profound activity, how DJs relate to the concept of serious leisure, how they search for music information to meet their creative needs and whether they use the human body, through senses and physical responses, as a source of information...
“This type of embodied information is a key to how a DJ performs. It’s a communal experience and there’s also a lot of instinct and intuition involved in choosing the music. There’s a planning and decision-making process in performance, in putting together different genres and styles, based on the flow of the crowd.
“In my interviews, I also found that DJs have a fluid relationship to the concept of serious leisure. They can be considered as a type of ‘occupational devotee’, for whom the line between work and leisure is so blurred that what is easier to define is a deep-rooted commitment to the activity. DJing was the main source of employment for some of those I interviewed, for others it was not, but it offers experiences, both to the DJ and the people they play to, that are elevated above their day-to-day existence.”
Source: University of Strathclyde
