March 17, 2004
controlling? or chummy?
| ROB walks through the BUSTLE of 19th century St. Petersburg Russia, wearing a full-length FUR COAT, and the headphones of a WALKMAN RADIO. | ||
| I have a question for you about the audio work environment. Should I prescribe a soundtrack for my long-distance team?
Like many folks, I listen to music as I work. Now that I'm hooked up with a smokin'-fast internet connection, I listen to radio from around the world. One of the reasons I've always like radio is the communal aspect . . . the sense that others are listening to the same thing at the same time . . . sharing in some way. To listen to my own recorded music seems frighteningly isolated sometimes. |
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| ROB DIVES INTO A SNOWBANK to avoid being run down by a GALLOPING HORSE & SLEIGH. He brushes himself off and turns the corner into the tumult and chaos of Nevsky Prospekt. | ||
| Just as Dostoevsky was a devout Orthodox Christian solely because others believed in it, giving him a sense of connection to a community, I often want to listen to, say, corny Russo-Euro-pop from St. Petersburg in the mid-morning simply because people are listening in cabs and walkmen and kitchens as they get home from Russian rush hour.
So here's my question: I keep getting the impulse to require of my next long-distance-international work team to listen to the same radio station as they work. The choice of station could rotate among the group equitably day-by-day, or morning-and-afternoon, or even hour-by-hour as long as we share the same audio. Am I nuts? Is this controlling and obnoxious or is it good team-building? |
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Oh, and while you answer the question, listen to RUV RAS2 radio from Iceland why don't you? |