We’ve spent the past three years here on Che Underground: The Blog talking about the bands, people, places and shows that made our scene. Now here’s a way to connect them to each other — and to other scenes around the world.
San Diego is my musical home, and our musical history is precious to me … So this is the right place for the first real public launch of Sceneroller, a software platform that lets users connect bands, people, venues and gigs to write a shared history of local music scenes.
We’ve talked before here about creating a family tree of San Diego music connections. Sceneroller lets everybody contribute to a dynamic, growing version of that tree. Participation is the name of the game: Once you’re registered, you can add images, video or audio; add or edit content; or comment on anything you encounter along the way.
At the bottom of this post and every other on the blog, you’ll see a window that usually features one of the subjects of the post along with other names that are connected to that subject.
You’ll also see questions about the related bands, venues and the rest of the scene. Clicking on these things let you explore the connections; if you want to add or comment on them, you can use your Facebook login or register on Sceneroller.
You can also write yourself into history, even as an audience member: Once you’ve registered, click on the pencil tool on any gig page and add your name to the list of attendees. This isn’t just about the musicians; this is about everybody who contributed to the scene. (We’re going to keep improving the interface to put you in the center of the action.)
Basically, Sceneroller lets you do a whole lot of things the linear blog structure of this site hasn’t allowed:
- On a single page, you can look at all the stuff that’s been entered about different aspects of the scene.
- Older writing doesn’t scroll into obscurity as new content comes in.
- Everybody can (and should) keep the entries current. It’s not one blog boss (me) running the whole shebang. Sceneroller is DIY, Babyface!
- Every page shows connections to other aspects of the scene, which is impossible to do in this blog.
- Pages never need go stale. (It hurts me to look at pages on this blog like the flyer gallery; I just don’t have the bandwidth to keep that fresh. Every new entry in Sceneroller makes the picture more colorful and dynamically updates all related pages.)
Like the blog, it’s important that people are honest and thoughtful about shared history and each other. Check out the Welcome section of Sceneroller to review the rules of engagement.
And remember: This is beta software, and we expect there are a lot of features that are going to be confusing or capabilities you’d like to see that aren’t there now. We want to learn how to make Sceneroller work better. Please comment below or send us feedback to support@sceneroller.com.
this is SO COOL!
I’m curious, is it because I’m logged in that I see the Unknowns as a central node on the map? In other words if say Gary Heffern was logged in would he see the Pens as a main node or Ray Brandes, a TTH node?
>>I’m curious, is it because I’m logged in that I see the Unknowns as a central node on the map?
Dave: That would be cool as hell — and ultimately, we’re working toward an interface that will put the individual user at the center of a scene in which s/he participated. (Eventually, we’d love to let Dave Doyle set his controls for a time and place — San Diego, August 4, 1979, f’rinstance — and explore everything Dave Doyle would encounter in San Diego that day.)
This first-generation widget is a simpler animal: Sceneroller looks at the tags at the bottom of the Che Underground blog post, picks one at random and generates the “scenelet” network you see in the window, along with the related questions. You won’t get exactly the same view twice when you reload the page.
For posts that don’t have tags Sceneroller can match, we’ve randomized it more (keeping the focus on San Diego).
This is amazing software, Mr. Jobs (no insult intended). I’ll have to devote a few hours to it and try not to get sucked into a time warp.
>>This is amazing software, Mr. Jobs (no insult intended). I’ll have to devote a few hours to it and try not to get sucked into a time warp.
Paul: Thanks very much!!
Remember, everything in there can and should be handled, modified and commented on by registered users. This is all about participation — the fun is going to be see how everyone contributes. So yeah, let’s do the time warp again!! 🙂
Matt, This software has come far in a very short time. You should be very proud of it. Thanks for letting me in on the beta trails. Im looking forward to version 5.0 (lol). I’m also looking forward to all the music scene participants adding to this data. In true Punk tradition the music scene was always about the fans. They were the real “Rock Stars” of the scene it was them that generated the energy and exciment that brought everyone into the homes, halls and clubs to socialize and grow up together. Those times were great (Hell they still are!) and the real data is what comes from the fans and what they share with us! So come on everyone! Photo’s, flyers and your stories are needed! Jump on in and enjoy!
>>Matt, This software has come far in a very short time. You should be very proud of it. Thanks for letting me in on the beta trails.
Jim: Thank you for all the participation! You’ve done a lot to make this thing come to life, as have some other of our San Diego friends.
A fun aspect of the global scene: While some of us are stocking up Southern California punk and related genres, we’ve already been getting participants from other parts of the world … Our map of early ’80s anarcho-punk bands in Crass’ orbit has been growing rapidly, and the UK is actually pulling up to California as a center for Sceneroller activity. 🙂
A special request and a place people could really help out: There are more than 600 bands currently listed on this page that have no hometowns or information or multimedia.
One of the neat things about the software is it’s smart enough to create a new band page every time a band it’s never heard of is added to a gig … The downside is it creates a big backlog of bands that are just waiting for someone to fill in the blanks!
Anybody who can help do so for these bands will win a big Sceneroller thank-you!
Hey Mathew!
I just caught on to Sceneroller!
Dig!
Completely Fab and where it’s at!
I’ll help where I can…maybe when I am recovering next week i’ll tool around and check things out!
I’m still stuck on the following: Just who do you have to… Know around here to be considered “cool” enough to be listed on the ‘Blogroll?’
>>I’m still stuck on the following: Just who do you have to… Know around here to be considered “cool” enough to be listed on the ‘Blogroll?’
Lesha: Uhhhhhh … Just give me an online location the link can point to. That’s about it — it’ll take 90 seconds to add you. Is your Facebook page publicly accessible? Is there somewhere else you want the link to point?
This is great. I don’t know how I would ever have enough time to allocate the attention this deserves!
Appropos of nothing: Syd in ’65. With a Wolf.
“I stood very still, by the window sill”
Supercool San Diego Reader writeup from Bart Mendoza! It makes me very happy that our scene is the tip of the spear for this project. 🙂
Bart Mendoza’s “7 Degrees” article woll provide any novice some keen insight to the features and benefits of Sceneroller & The Che Underground websights. Mathew, I am glad you and your Sceneroller partners are getting the press you so richly deserve!I know I have been lagging, but now i am well enough (from surgery) to start working on my various band pages in Sceneroller, to help fill in some of the 50 years of SD musical history Sceneroller is designed to track for us. This is gonna be too cool for school, baby!
By the way…. I wouldn’t mind meeting up with Jason here in SF for a cup of coffee sometime, if he were up to it! Mathew…maybe you could send a message his way?? Meow. I mean that in a very professional way.
On a side note, I really admire Bart’s enthusiasm and his ongoing support of all things Che and Musical. Not only is he a great musician himself, but he is also very supportive of other bands and is an energetic promoter and journalist. He is a very generous person in that regard, and truly deserves a nod of recognition and thanks.
Thank you Bart! We appreciate you!
http://www.facebook.com/lishakrishna
Public as all get-out, often to my detriment.