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Professor iPod Discusses Device's Social Impact
PurdueGraphicsMan writes "There's an interesting story over at Wired News, involving an interview with UK university professor Dr. Michael Bull, apparently the 'world's leading expert on the social impact of personal stereo devices,' according to The New York Times. The piece also mentions: 'Bull, a lecturer in media and culture at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, is the author of 'Sounding out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life', a book Bull calls the 'definitive treatment' of the impact of the Sony Walkman and its descendants.'"
...very fitting for people who proclaim themselves the "world's leading expert on the social impact of personal stereo devices."
;)
I'm sure it's quite flattering to the elitist Apple snots, though.
Is he anything like Dr. Pepper? If so, I want to see his credentials.
EVERYDAY IS CATURDAY
Even Mr. T thinks you should buy one! And with advertisements like this one, all the fans of Dude, Wheres My Car will want one. Those two should take care of most of the US population, I'm sure.
True story.
Sounds like a load of Bull to me.
Half the people I've talked to so far download music illegally.
He must be new at this.
why yes... it causes the user to turn entirely black with white headphones showing.
The original generic sig.
Back in the 80s, I wanted to buy a Walkman, but I couldn't find one with OGG on it. Stupid closed-source fascists!
It's blue and it plays music real good. I walk around with it and listen to music. It's pretty.
Thank God there are scientists researching this shocking phenomenon.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
it also removes people from social interaction, which is vital for mental health. /. and that explains why we are so weird..
apply that to
'world's leading expert on the social impact of personal stereo devices,'
Wow... I'll bet that one was a highly-contendted for title....
Why are people suddenly questioning Professor iPod's, uh, I mean Dr Bull's credentials? I'm telling you, that guy is so misunderstood.
Just let go of your suspicion and paranoia and put your trust in someone for a change. What's the worst that can happen?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
I'd check out his seminal 8-Track: A New Social Order before jumping to conclusions.
It's not really personal now. I want a direct link into cranial nerve 8, the vestibulocochlear nerve!
-I am an elective eunuch.
I recall that the big selling point of slashdot subscriptions was that you got to see articles before they were posted to the public.
Looks like I got the same deal with my Wired subscription!
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
Bull: Right. In terms of usage, Apple got it intuitively right. People use (the iPod) as an alarm clock, and when they listen to it at night, they like the fact it can turn itself off...
My God, those Apple engineers are geniuses!
Let's see, I don't have an iPod, but my portable MD player can turn itself off. My $30 cassette player can turn itself off. The Sony radio-cassette player we had in our house thirty years ago could turn itself off.
In fact, that old Sony could even turn the radio off. With a tape playing, you could turn the radio on (which would override the sound from the tape), and when it got to the end of the tape, both the tape and the radio would shut off.
And according to Penny Arcade, you don't have to worry about yours skipping, either.
Fellowship 9/11
Remarkable insights (and you can sing along!)
I don't mean to boast but I believe that I am one of only two researchers in this field. The other refuses to publish fearing that it may start more discussion of societal impact since the result of such discussions is mostly negative, at least according to his latest findings.
After three years of detailed questionaires and the use of various statistical models I have found that most people that discuss impacts of things on society fall into 4 categories.
Those that think the impact is negative, those that think the impact is positive, those that really don't think there was and impact at all, and finally by far the largest group is those that don't even know what you are talking about.
I have yet to find find any exceptions to this rule. Take any set of data points, the comments posted to this article for instance, and you will quickly see that each comment easily falls into one of the 4 categories.
Would anyone like to discuss the impact this research might have on their decision to make future posts to
http://www.palmone.com
I applaud you for raising your children. Or maybe you just got lucky. If my brother and I were in the same car, and ONE of us didn't have a walkman/CD player (either so he woudlnt talk or i couldnt listen) there would be warfare.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
"Dr. Bull says, "It gives people totally private worlds." While that may be true, it also removes people from social interaction, which is vital for mental health."
Bullshit!
There is plenty of social interaction in the average day. The Walkman/iPod allows you to use it as a gateway to that interaction.
"Being Morally Opposed To The Walkman Carries With It Certain Responibilities"
by Penn Jillette
I was leaving my business manager's office. The elevator arrived right away and I got on to find there was another passenger. She was black, she had a beautiful smile, her headphones blended with her hair, and she was listening to some pop love song on her Walkman. It was loud, but I couldn't make it out. Maybe I'd never heard it before, but it was a love song. I smiled, slipped on my super-cool candy-red headphones, and turned the Clash's London Calling way up.
We had ridden together for several floors when we were joined by one of those bicycle delvery guys. He had a little hay, the tight black bicycle pants with the reinforced crotch;he was Hispanic and had the little tiny headphones that fit right in the ear so you can only see a couple little spots of blue and some wires coming out of the ears. He looked at us, wrote something on a manila encelope, put it in his backpack, and turned up his music. I have no way of knowing what he was listening to, because "Revolution Rock" was filling my head. But whatever it was he was enjoying it. We swayed our heards together in different rhythms.
The three of us rode a few more floors, then we were joined by a businesswoman type. She had on one of those female biz suits, and her hair and makeup were soft and natural. I think she ran every morning or at least took a dance class. Through the light tint of her glasses, I saw her look at each of us and roll her eyes up. Then she started shaking her head like we wern't going to notice. My fellow passengers didn't notice, but i slipped my headphones down around my neck and said, "It must sound like Charles Ives out here, huh? Is it too loud for you?"
She gave me this little condescending smile through her tastefully lipsticked mouth and said, "You people just cut yourselves off from everybody, don't you? I mean, it's really bad enough that no one even makes eye contact anymore, but you people just walk around in your own little worlds. We're a culture of very lonely people. It's sad. It's really very sad."
Since the other two people in the elevator were in their own respective little worlds, I appointed myself spokesperson for us three lonely people. "You were really dying for some human contact here, wern't you? Huh? You walked on this elevator and said to yourself, 'Oh, Jiminy Cricket! I really wanted to talk to this delivery boy, this receptionist and this big ugly sone of a bitch with a square head. But, alas, they've cut themselves off from my personal contact. I guess I can't have any meaningful dialouge with them. Darn!' You don't give a yuppie-tweed fuck about the three of us! You just need something sensitive and humanitarian to talk about over your fuckin' power lunch... I'll make a deal with you - we'll take our headphones off and we'll listen to you, but you better have something to say. And when you ask him what kind of bike he has and he tells you, you better really care. And you better keep us entertained... do a little fuckin' dance if you have to! When each of use walked onto the elevator, we smiled at one another and you just rolled your fuckin' eyes. So, you want personal contact? Shoot!"
So, this was another elevator ride in the big city during which I didn't fall in love, make a friend or even set myself up to get laid.
But I do enjoy the Clash.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
It's OK. Feel the pain of that trauma. This is Slashdot. You can cry here.
If the iPod is the treasure chest for the online music pirate's treasure, then does that mean this guy is actually Professor Booty?
Me, I'm not going anywhere without my portable gramophone.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
When I was attending Affluent-White-Kids-In-A-Western-Industrialised-Na tion high school as a youngster it was all about the Walkman. If you were cool you had one and you swapped mix tapes at lunch time and hid behind the bike sheds smoking cigarettes and all that sort of crap. I didn't have one. Now I work with computers. I forget what my point was.
Now wash your hands.
screw reading the newspaper on my morning metro ride!
Yes -- you should be reading 30 newspapers on your handheld instead.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Hm, try turning the dial away from NPR during pedge week.
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines