glass engine
February 13, 2002
via i can't quite remember where, IBM is sponsoring the Glass Engine, a new experimental interface for browsing the works of Philip Glass. This is a nifty experiment allowing you to view, browse and sort/filter using various meta-data about Glass' work - e.g., title, chronology, length of work. Then within a particular sub-body of work (e.g., 1976), you can then sort and filter by an additional set of parameters - joy, sorrow, intensity, density, velocity - to winnow down to a few selections you might like. it's an interesting gimmick, though i wonder if the presentation of these particular parameters is perhaps a bit too proscriptive? why not just as well addaggio, allegro, lacrisimo, or perhaps loud, soft, slow or any other way i might choose to classify Glass' music. perhaps what's really called for is a more configurable set of parameters? not entirely user-defined, necessarily, but something with a few more choices to allow individual listeners' to adapt the program to their own tastes?
still and all, it's a nifty little experiment.
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