Sunday, February 28, 2010

typical cases

While waiting to get in touch with the people I need, I've been looking into what literature exist already...

I've noticed a couple major problems scenes of live music:

ONE: FROM MOSH PITS TO STAGE-DIVERS:
People sometimes do "stupid" stuff because it's "fun." People in charge don't want to limit "fun" too much because otherwise nobody would come and they wouldn't make $.
However, they don't want anyone to die other... so there are security folks. They catch crowdsurfers before they get on stage, and pull out the people up front that are getting smushed to death because they didn't know what they were getting themselves into.




TWO: CLUB SHOOTINGS
It happens; Famous incidents (Shyne/Puffy/Lopez) and locally.

Interestingly, at least in the Seattle scene recently, there's been quite a few. Most notable, those "club nights" that are 18+ and not only 21+. Why are these events the ones that are problematic? Gangs. By drawing 16+ or 18+, they are also drawing in a gang related crowd. We've seen this happen at Vera too. That's why we're not doing any dance events until we do a comprehensive re-evaluation of our capabilities and understand fully the scope of the problem we're dealing with.

article

FOR ME: Couldn't yet find any work published on the type of scene I'm leaning more towards, so this could be a very interesting space to produce some work on.

Tsunami problems

No progress due to tsunami in Hawaii. Yes really. That somebody I need to talk to about my project but couldn't talk to til Tuesday... well the tsunami is keeping him over in hawaii for a bit longer, so until then...

Monday, February 22, 2010

Abstract

It's looking pretty short, so if anybody has some feedback on it, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Security is ubiquitous in events and functions. Live music, is no exception. With a significant proportion of live music happening in venues prohibited to the underage crowd (most places that serve alcohol, such as bars and clubs) there becomes a clear difference between all-ages, predominately youth, events and non-all-ages/youth events. Despite the differences in the characteristics of all-ages, predominately youth crowds, the approach to security does not consider these differences. This research identifies several key aspects in which all-ages/youth events differ from non-all-ages/youth events, and the implications on security policy. This work can be used to inform future security policy regarding all-ages, predominately youth events.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Design + Business

I think I've always been struggling with trying to combine design & business into something I want to do.

I've already decided against being in-house designer. Then I've decided against traditional "doing" design. I thought about PM in ad agencies. I thought about brand strategy.

Now I'm thinking about consulting.

During my interview with Accenture, I was explaining how awesome design studies is, and talking about problem-solving vs. problem-finding, and how complicated questions have simple answers. The Sr. Manager said, "like 42?"

Yes. Exactly. Perfect analogy. Consultants get it too.

So there you have it, consultants are like DSers tackling business problems.

Narrowing down

1. type of event/crowd
Different age groups act differently.

4. intoxicated patrons
Drunk adults at least can legally be drunk, but what do you do with drunks under 21?
why not consider drug use too? if it's illegal, its illegal for both the over-21 and under-21 crowd-- no differences to be explored.

6. handling of physical disturbances
Ideally, issues would be handled before the become violent.

Protocol versus human morals:
teen getting beat up while 3 security men watch

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Things to consider in security policy

Not (yet) a comprehensive list, but it's a start:

1. type of event/crowd
2. number/positions of security personnel
3. unruly patrons
4. intoxicated patrons
5. when to involve police
6. handling of physical disturbances
7. prohibited items (and what isn't allow but can be check at front desk)
8. evacuation plan
9. Documentation/incident reports

Sunday, February 14, 2010

realization of limitations

So the estimated timeline on the security policy development of Vera with 206 Zulu is looking a bit out of scope for my project. It's expected to take about a year, and that doesn't even count the educational componets to be developed afterward.

TO DO:
talk to Josh some more about what and if there is something I can do for my capstone that would lend itself well into the larger picture....

Friday, February 12, 2010

procrastination

So rather than finishing up and publishing the blog post I have sitting in "draft" right now, I'm getting somewhere on my quest of developing a better articulation of myself.

I (funny enough, am actually at work, procrastinating on my project) and was doing a bit of reading into INTJs, and hoping to find strategies of putting my Myers-Briggs personality type to work for me in some productive manner.

Discovery: there's a term for my procrastination!

I am a structured procrastinator.
The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things, like gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganize their files when they get around to it. Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because they are a way of not doing something more important.
Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be by definition the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is a way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being.
This explains why I insist on "doing too much" and why I don't "do anything" between Thursday night and Sunday evening, yet pull all-nighters in the middle of the week.

Last thought on this topic:
As for life in general, I think my problem is that I tend to plan things out in my head too much so that by the time it comes to do something I can't be bothered doing it because I've over-thought it and am now bored of it, or I don't want to be disappointed with how the reality compares to the perfect image in my head. It's why I put off watching films that I'm really looking forward to and doing things that I really want to do. Reality is so much less perfect, much less controllable and certainly more hard work than life in my head.
SO TRUE. This is probably why I'm not really getting anywhere on my capstone yet, although I've thought about it a lot. And explains all these "somewhere topic related but not really and I'll admit it" blog posts I've been putting up over the last couple weeks...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

going forward from interim presentation

I proposed 4 directions:
1. paths of engagement at Vera
2. hosting dance events
3. making use of volunteers at AMP
4. all-ages music profitability

The two that resonated most were:
2. security, hosting dance events
ACTION: develop strategy for security management
- define something that can be scaled
- create something distributable
- through interviewing bouncers and professionals as well
CONSIDER: Adults going to events/venues merely get ids checked to prove they can be there, ie 21+. If they end up getting into a fight or what not, then its their problem. However, imagine the same thing, except instead of an adult, we have a 16 year old. Suddenly, the liability and blame if anything goes wrong is the responsibility of the venue.
ACTION: map differences and similarities of adult vs. youth relationship to venue(s)
- potential issues due to size
- differences in types, ie concerts vs. festivals
PROJECT POTENTIAL:
- models for how security issues arise due to various variables
- formalize categories


3. making use of volunteers at AMP

Monday, February 8, 2010

Case Study: The Capitol Hill Massacre

[wiki article here]

Who: 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff
What: shooting, killing six and wounding two
When: Saturday, March 25, 2006
Where: rave after party on Capitol Hill
Why: ?

Response:
The teen dance ordinance must be re-examined as our community takes a variety of necessary steps to better protect vulnerable teenagers and young adults.
[click here for editorial]

Counter-response:
"This is not about music, this is not about a party. This was about a guy who decided he was going to kill people and he had the firepower to do it," Nickels said.
[article here]


Take Aways:
  • People are quick to blame the law and regulation, or lack thereof, regardless of evidence
  • Once again, with the "vulnerable teenagers and young adults"... I discussed this topic in an earlier post.

Bit of History

The Teenage Dance Ordinate:
  • 1985-2002
  • Age limits: Underage dances (allowing those under 18 to attend) may only admit patrons age 15-20 unsupervised. Anyone younger would require a parent or guardian chaperone, anyone older would need to accompany a youth under 18.
  • Security requirement: Two off-duty officers were required on premises, with one off-duty officer outside to patrol the area.
  • Insurance: $1,000,000 in liability insurance;
Exemptions: Non-profits and schools were exempt from these restrictions.

Also, any event with dancing was considered a dance.

Justification:
Excluding adults from underage youth would create a "bubble of safety.



The "new" All Ages Dance Ordinate:
[click here for full text]
  • replaced the Teenage Dance Ordinate
  • a definition of a dance as an event where dancing is the primary activity intended
  • allowing all-ages events to occur absent any alcohol served
  • requiring only the requesting of off-duty officers at an event, to be granted by the Seattle Police Guild
  • elimination of the $1 million insurance requiremen


Better? Yes. Good enough? Nope.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Quotes



PDZ: Why is the underground so important to you?

Natron: Culturally speaking, it's the purest form of human creativity and perseverence. Once you start to grasp how far-reaching the 'underground' is and how many like-minded people there are out there doing really amazing things, ultimately similar things to what you are doing, you then realize just how important the underground scene is. It's like a comforting amoeba that's constantly being fed, and as a result things are always changing and fresh ideas are getting churned out in an almost cyclistic fashion. It's funny because as I type this, I hear an ad for the new John Mayer album playing on the TV in the background. There is a man that's coming from a world that is the exact polar opposite of what's happening in the DIY/underground scene right now here in America and around the world. Thinking about that, I can't help but wonder what kind of scene John Mayer came from.

Anyway, the DIY or 'underground' scene has pretty much changed my life, as well as changed my outlook on music, the industry, and so many other things. I believe that it's one of the most important things that we have in the world, culturally. I don't believe that the DIY approach to things will ever die, because it comes so natural to us. Humans will never lose their inate and instinctual thirst to create and construct. As long as we never lose that, the 'underground' will always live on.
Lastly, I truly believe that, in the end, it may just save us all.


When I first started doing this, it was simply for the love of music. Though it didn't take long for me to realize the positive impact we could have on the community, and I have always tried to make sure that we are constantly lifting up these amazing local institutions that are doing amazing things in the community, and really putting the spotlight on them. We are a CommUNITY, and the only way we are going to survive and get by is by taking care of each other.


House Of Zanzibar

Challenges of non-profits

1. Talent & Human Capital: a lot of the talent end up where the money is, and that is most definitely not at a non-profit.

2. Inadequate numbers of employees and volunteers

3. $

http://www.aicpa.org/Magazines+and+Newsletters/Newsletters/The+Practicing+CPA/September+2007/Challenges+Faced+by+Nonprofits.htm

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Only because you treat them as such

Early in the last century an idea was popularized: teens were classified as “adolescents,” not as adults, as had previously been the case. As Dr. Robert Epstein has shown, in his convincing book, The Case Against Adolescence, the result of this infantilization has been almost wholly negative. We segmented teens away from adults, meaning their socialization into the adult world is delayed by years. This age compartmentalization continues until they graduate college, or graduate school. Often this results in physically mature adults acting emotionally like children much of the time. Since their socialization was continually in the hands of their peers they didn’t experience anything else.

In the past, many teens entered the workforce and quickly interacted with adults of all ages and ranks. Instead of being surrounded by their peers they were surrounded by experienced adults who were capable, through instruction and example, to show them how responsible, mature adults behave. It doesn’t take much reading of history to discover that teens of previous centuries, who accomplished great things, never realized they were supposed to act just like “big children.”
http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2009/04/assault-of-law-on-teenages-today.html

Even now, in college, we are definitely allowed to get away with things that we really should not...For example, I'm sure you've heard...

"It's not alcoholism until you're out of college."
"It's ok to be broke because you're a college student."

Can we stop treating perfectly capable human beings like little kids now? Thanks.

Another article here.