- Undoubtedly one of the most amazing things I’ve seen done with social media.
The 2011 Virtual Choir video features 2052 performances of ‘Sleep’ from 1752 singers in 58 countries, individually recorded and uploaded to YouTube between September 2010 and January 2011. http://virtualchoir.org
People: This was not possible even five years ago. And now it is. And it’s free.
Eric Whitacre - Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 2.0, ‘Sleep’ (by EricWhitacreVEVO)
Back to Museums & the Web:
During a small break-out session on tapping into volunteer talent, our group got into the term “crowd sourcing.” What does it really mean? Is it really effective?
Crowd-sourcing is taking content from tons of people all over the place, and then taking the time to filter it to your organization’s needs. I think using volunteers and/or interns is just the opposite — it’s them taking the time to lay a strong, substantial foundation that can be built upon by others. Crowd-sourcing, at least for museums, is not necessarily the best way to work unless you know exactly what you want and exactly how to tap into the hardest-working people who can churn out quality work.
I mentioned the above video, which is an amazing example of crowd-sourcing. Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre place an online call for submissions to a choral piece he’d conducted and conducted this virtual choir in an amazing choral piece. As a former choral nerd, I’m completely entranced and hope to participate in something like this someday!
Keep questioning,
Sara
