Calendar

"Virtual Idol as Media Platform: Miku and and the Value of Social Media" by Ian Condry

• 9/26/2012 | 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
• Location: Visual Arts Center, Beam Classroom
• Event Type: Lecture
• Sponsor: Asian Studies Program
• Contact: Suzanne Astolfi
• - Open to the Public -

Hatsune Miku is a virtual-media singing sensation from Japan. Created by an enthusiastic fan base using a music synthesizer package called Vocaloid, she is a crowd-sourced pop star.

Using her as an example, Dr. Ian Condry, a cultural anthropologist from MIT, will discuss how pop culture, like politics, depends on energetically undertaken collective actions. Based on fieldwork in Japan and the U.S., his talk will also explore the dynamics of the social media in contemporary Japan, using examples from the aftermath of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami.