Throwing sheep in the bandroom: Visualising a social and economic network of musicians in Cheshire and North Wales

Abstract

The aim of this session is to apply some of the visual and technological tools of 21st-Century online social networking, e.g. network visualisation using "friend wheels", to a densely interconnected network of jazz and dance band musicians active in the Chester (UK) area in the 1950s, as revealed by research on the "hidden history" of live music in the area. Over 30 interviews with musicians, dancers and promoters have been collected, plus more than 200 photographs from personal collections, and an M.U. diary/address book belonging to local bandleader Wilf Field. The recent dramatic growth of online social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace has led to a revival of interest in the economic importance of social networks; Fraser and Dutta’s "Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom" provides an interesting survey of the issues, and was an inspiration for this session. But working musicians have long known the importance of knowing (and impressing) the "right people" in order to get work. Have social networks changed fundamentally since the advent of Web 2.0, or were they always there, and just a little harder to visualise when held in a pocket diary, rather than displayed on a Facebook wall?