Situational relevance of music information modes. An empirical investigation among Doctor of Music students

Date10 September 2018
Pages1008-1024
Published date10 September 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2017-0149
AuthorAntti Mikael Rousi,Reijo Savolainen,Maaria Harviainen,Pertti Vakkari
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet
Situational relevance of music
information modes
An empirical investigation among Doctor
of Music students
Antti Mikael Rousi and Reijo Savolainen
Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
Maaria Harviainen
Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki Library, Helsinki, Finland, and
Pertti Vakkari
Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the picture of situational relevance of music information
from a performing musicians point of view by delving into its diverse layers within the context of Doctor of
Music studentsinformation seeking.
Design/methodology/approach Music-related information is approached through six modes that
categorize music information sources based on their levels of abstraction. Situational relevance of the modes
of music information is examined in relation to the situational requirements of accomplishing a dissertation
on music task consisting of both a series of concerts and a written thesis. The empirical material was collected
by interviewing Finnish doctoral students in the field of music performance.
Findings A set of situational relevance types related to each mode of music information were identified.
As a whole, the differences between the perceived importance of the modes varied a little.
Research limitations/implications The goal of the present paper is not to create a generalizable list of
situational relevance types suggested by modes of music information, but to show that the modes may
suggest diverse situational relevance types of their own when evaluated by performing musicians.
Originality/value The present paper provides a rare account on performing musiciansvocational and
school-related information seeking. For studies of music information retrieval, the present paper offers new
contextual facets explaining why diverse music information could be relevant to musicians. For studies of
music-related information seeking, the present study offers new insights on why performing musicians have
information needs regarding certain types of music information sources.
Keywords Music information, Information seeking, Relevance, Music, Musical semiotics, Performing musicians
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Music is a domain where information resides not in mere written language. In their works on
musicology and musical semiotics, Bengtsson (1977) and Tarasti (1994) examine the different
systems of description relevant to musical communication. According to Bengtsson (1977), the
concept of tone may refer to a notated tone, a measurable frequency or an aural experience.
Tarasti (1994, p. 4) supports Bengtssons (1977, p. 18) claim that different systems of
description relevant to musical communication should be held as separate. It cannot be
assumed that unequivocal translation between the diverse systems of musical communication
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 74 No. 5, 2018
pp. 1008-1024
Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-10-2017-0149
Received 24 October 2017
Revised 15 March 2018
Accepted 20 March 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
© Antti Mikael Rousi, Reijo Savolainen, Maaria Harviainen and Pertti Vakkari. Published by Emerald
Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article
(for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original
publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/
licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for helping us to improve the manuscript.
1008
JD
74,5
exists (Bengtsson, 1977, p. 18; Tarasti, 1994, p. 4). The previous problem of translation is also
reflected in Kuhlthaus (2004, p. 112) information search process (ISP) model. It suggests that
information types at varying levels of abstraction have differentiated interpretations, andthat
these interpretations can undergo change as the information -seeking process progresses. The
above accounts suggest that situational relevance of music information of various kinds may
vary in information seeking. When juxtaposing the above notion of music information with
previous research on relevance of music information, an anomaly becomes apparent. These
studieshave left open a significant question;what are the situational relevance typessuggested
by diverse modes of music information for performing musiciansinformation seeking?
Previous studies of music information retrieval (MIR) have approached relevance of
music information objects most often through matching string search queries with textual
metadata representations or through matching music similarity of audio data examining
rhythm and melodies humming (e.g. Casey et al., 2008; Kim, 2015). These approaches to
relevance are, by necessity, more system than user oriented and the contextual factors
affecting usersrelevance inferences regarding diverse modes of music information often
receive little attention within such studies. Studies describing and modeling information
seeking and needs of musicians and music scholars confirm that both groups have
information needs spanning to diverse information sources representing music information
at varying levels of abstraction (Brown, 2002; Hunter, 2006; Liew and Siong, 2006;
Kostagiolas et al., 2015; Lavranos et al., 2015; Lavranos et al., 2016). However, these studies
have not devoted due attention to the particular nature of these types of music information
and the ways in which performing musicians evaluate their situational relevance.
To elaborate the issues above, the present paper utilizes a novel music information
typology that encompasses broadly different music informationfacets by categorizing music
information sources ac cording to their lev el of abstraction. Th e term music information
moderefers to a set ofinformation sources that are seen to represent music information at a
certain level of abstraction. In other words, the concept of music informationmode is used to
group information sources based on their method of representation, be it gestural language,
non-conceptual aural experiences of music or symbolic written representations, for example.
The modes of music information were first presentedin our previous work (Rousi et al., 2016).
Six modes were identified: music makingas the first mode of enactive representations; music
listening as the second mode of enactive representations; iconic representations of music;
technological models of music as the first mode of symbolic representations; and ideological
models of music as the second mode of symbolic representations.
In general, studies on situational relevance examine the relationships between
information and the user´s information problem situation (Schamber, 1994, p. 8;
Saracevic, 2007a, p. 1930). The present paper approaches the situational relevance of the
modes of music information in relation to situational requirements of accomplishing a
dissertation on music task consisting of both a series of concerts and a written thesis.
Situational relevance types related to the modes of music information are identified through
the question of why Doctor of Music students consider the individual modes important to
their dissertations. Situational relevance types are thus the situational factors that make
above modes of music information relevant for the Doctor of Music students working on
their dissertations on music. The empirical material was collected in 2013 and 2014 by
interviewing Finnish doctoral students in the field of music performance.
Since the present study deals with sign systems other than written or spoken language,
the following clarification of terminology is needed. The grounding concept of the paper is
music-related information seeking, and it encompasses as object of seeking all music-related
information, be it in audible, written or notated form. When referring to the audible
non-conceptual information types of performing and listening to music, for example, the
concept of music per se is used.
1009
Doctor of
Music students

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