Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The wisdom of crowds and the vocabulary of emotion

If you haven't yet seen Susan Boyle singing I dreamed a dream from Les Mis on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, then here's the YouTube URL that shows the lot, from glimpses beforehand to her reaction afterwards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
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You can't embed it (it's the one from the TV show producers, I think that's why).
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And you'll be one of tens of millions to have seen this.
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What I find interesting is, having seen this, to read analyses of what it means, or might mean, maybe as an example of the wisdom of crowds as enabled by technology (Paul Sheehan writes in the Sydney Morning Herald here, linking this to Kevin Rudd and the Australian economy). 
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Helen Elliot in The Age takes another tack here, seeing in the viral spread of this through YouTube and Twitter an example of the vocabulary of emotion.  She links Susan's story to Cinderella archetypes, and wonders just what the future may hold for this (wait for the cliches) Scottish middle-aged unemployed church choir singing spinster who lives alone with her cat. 
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Sam De Brito in the SMH canvasses various responses, including the idea that to be respected, you need to fit some accepted idea of beauty.
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At over 100 million views of Susan Boyle online videos (mostly the original BGT appearance), she's apparently within 15 million of being the most-watched online video EVER, according to a company that tracks such things (as also reported in the SMH).
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One YouTube video of contestants on this program had me falling off my chair, because it was silly and hilarious and the father and son were obviously having a GREAT time: Stavros Flatley.  (Greek-Irish dancing, they said).  Enjoy.
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1 comment:

Lynda said...

Like millions of others I watched Susan Boyle on YouTube last week and also saw Stavros Flatley - best laugh I've had for a long time. Tonight, when I'm home, I'll read the articles at the links you added.