Applications of Affinity Space Characteristics in Music Education
Abstract:
Affinity spaces are the physical, virtual, or combination of locations where people come together around a shared affinity (interest) (Duncan & Hayes, 2012). Online affinity spaces can act as a participatory hub for music making and learning through social networking and sharing. Although music affinity spaces exist in myriad informal spaces, little scholarship explores potential applications of affinity space characteristics within formalized learning spaces. This chapter introduces characteristics of an affinity space and questions the role of the framework in relation to another framework commonly used in online music-learning communities: communities of practice. This chapter concludes with a discussion on practical and theoretical applications of affinity space characteristics within formalized educational contexts.
Citation Information:
O’Leary, J. (2020). Applications of Affinity Space Characteristics in Music Education. In The Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning, edited by Janice Waldron, Stephanie Horsley, and Kari Veblen (pp.65-87). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Podcast Episode on This Chapter:
In this episode I unpack my (2020) publication titled “Applications of affinity space characteristics in music education,” which has twelve characteristics of informal learning spaces that I will discuss in relation to computer science education.
