Do Folk Music and Computers Mix?
by Phyllis Barney

The North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance is a fledgling
organization dedicated to five main goals:

1. To increase understanding of the rich variety, artistic value,
cultural and historical significance, and continuing relevance of
folk music and dance among educators, media and the general
public. (Education)

2. To provide a bridge to and from folk music and dance
organizations and needed resources, and to help those organizations
link with their constituencies. (Networking)

3. To influence decision makers and resource providers on the
national, state, provincial and local levels, insuring the growth of
folk music and dance. (Advocacy)

4. To support and encourage the development of new and existing
grass roots folk music and dance organizations. (Field Development)

5. To strengthen the effectiveness of folk music and dance
organizations by providing professional development opportunities.
(Professional Development)

The organization's goals and bylaws were voted on and accepted at a
meeting in Philadelphia January 25-28, 1990. Now comes the daunting task
of implementing the ideas represented by these goals. Telecommunications
can solve many of the organizational dilemmas facing this or any new
professional organization.

At every subunit session of the formational meeting, both regional and
professional subunits identified the need to be better in touch with
others in their area and in their "special interest groups". And nearly
every group reported back to the main session that computer bulletin
boards were discussed.

I hosted a session on the potential of an Alliance bulletin board. The
audience ranged from computing neophytes to those who'd obviously been
BBSing for years. With PAN (Performing Artists Network) as a model 3,3
network, we discussed the mechanics of computer conferencing and the
costs. With that framework, we then got into the exciting areas of what
they wanted computer networking to do for them. The array of ideas
included:

Agents wanted to be able to call a central locale to find out about
booking their artists for a regional tour.

Artists wanted to hear from venues interested in them. They have
already started a toll-free number service as a clearing house, but
computer conferencing would obviously be more efficient in
transmitting full information and maintaining records of transactions.

Festivals and presenters wanted to be able to contact agents about
their artists. They were receptive to the idea of block bookings to
fulfill the financial needs of the artists. They wanted easy access
to publicity information on artists they had booked.

Media people wanted information on venues and artists. The
information is sitting around on computer disks across the country,
but there is no easy mechanism right now for transmitting the
information around.

Access to the public is a side benefit of a conferencing system.
Everyone could have the opportunity to address and educate members
of the public about folk music, and to provide a calendar of events.

In terms of the Alliance, people wanted a place to conduct business
that would overcome the distances between the individuals of the
elected Board of Directors (their locations are across the U. S. and
Canada). They wanted an easy outlet for Alliance news, and to be
cost effective in transmitting that news. Networking is the obvious
goal being met by computer conferencing, but education, advocacy,
field and professional development can all be addressed by
telecommunications technology. Educational materials could be
developed and pooled. Resource information on grant processes,
legislative agendas, field development and archiving the field of
folk music could all be handled online.

It all adds up to computer conferencing. Two strategies emerged, one
being using a commercial service and the other running a dedicated
bulletin board system. The second seemed to be favored, mostly because it
was perceived that it was the way for the Alliance to have the most
control over the system. There would be costs associated, and time needed
to set up a single node or regional nodes to handle the information.

In the meantime the commercial option is one being utilized by a number
of Folk Alliance participants. The Point Information Network is hosting
several Alliance members, including one Board member, and already they
are seeing the benefits of computer conferencing. Recently one of the
agents booked an artist into a venue online, which is certainly a folk
music, if not telecommunications, first. The Point has afforded Alliance
members the opportunity to look toward teleconferencing, and the success
of the merger of folk music with computing is obvious.

Are there enough folk musicians with computers out there to make 3d3
telecommunications an option for the Folk Alliance? There certainly are.
Nearly every festival, folk society and venue has computers to hold their
mailing lists, budgets and to compose their mailings. Agents have their
records on disk, and many artists are becoming computer literate. The
media people do composition on their computers, and several list
commercial network ID's in their mastheads.

While the number of computers out there is large, generally only 20% of
those with computers have modems at the present time. But that's
changing, and the investment in a modem to move into teleconferencing is
small compared to the cost of the machines, let alone to the cost of a
year's mailing of materials that could be transmitted online. I expect
that 20% to grow over the next year.

The Telecommunications Committee of the Folk Alliance will be exploring
the options over the next year. To select and implement the correct
system to meet the diverse needs of the industry is a challenge, but the
benefits to the folk music community will be enormous.

Do folk music and computers mix? You ou bet they do!