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The Architect's Blog
March 16th, 2009

Think: Charts, Chats, and Forums

As I mentioned in previous posts, Music Projects really form the heart of what VRS is all about: Connecting people to make music. The Project details screen already has a lot of features that help collaborators that are geographically dispersed, easily manage each individual music project. But I felt there were other features I could still add that some collaborators might like to use.

The Internet has enabled some very cool communication tools. Some of these tools like IRC Chat and Discussion Forums have been around a long time, and continue to be used by a lot of people. I felt that, although these were not critical tools for collaborating on music projects, they would definitely be something that many Internet users were familiar with, and felt COMFORTABLE using. So I wanted to add them into VRS for those collaborators that liked using them.

Code

The first additional feature that I thought would really help collaborators was a project chord chart. Having shown up at a few gigs with players I have never met before - I found that a few hours of group practice, and a good chord chart were all I usually needed. So I created a simple screen for entering a chord chart for each project. The chart can only be edited by the producer, which I thought would make projects run smoother. The producer is the final arbiter of what chords will be used in the song.

The second feature I thought might be useful was an IRC chat screen. I did not code the IRC programs. Rather I used some great open source software, and simply integrated it into VRS. It is not a feature that is used a lot, but for those people that like IRC chat, it is a very cool capability.

The third feature I thought would be useful were Project Forums. Internet forums (Bulletin Boards) were one of the first collaboration tools, and they remain very popular. So I created a screen for Project Forums that is tightly integrated with each individual project. Only people that are members of a project can read or post on a project's forum (unless it is a public project), and the existing hierarchy of Producer, Mixer, Musician applies to each Project Forum. For example the Project Producer has the typical abilities associated with a forum moderator.

I felt that, although these capabilities were not critical for Music Collaboration in VRS, they were tools that many collaborators would immediately be comfortable with, and so it made sense to add them to VRS.

Repeat

VRS is continually moving more towards implementing more Social Networking features. Although the focus has always been on creating music, there is clearly a need for VRS to help more collaborators meet and connect. I have many more ideas on how to do this, but I feel like I have to always ask myself if each new feature will help collaborators make music. The question I ask myself is: Will creating more social networking features allow the community to make more music? And I believe the answer to that question is: Yes.

So look for some more new features in the future that will encourage the VRS community to connect, and collaborate even better.