It occurred to me today, following yesterday’s post, that if it was able to be constructed in a certain way, you could obtain an approximate pyschometric evaluation for an individual based upon the tracks that they assemble into a playlist.
Firstly, you would have to attribute emotional and psychological values to tracks in accordance with a combination of factors such as track name, lyrics and overall emotional feel. Then by running through a playlist, the scoring system could apportion scores to certain elements and attributes and, ultimately, derive an approximate psychological insight into the mood and emotional wellbeing of the person who created the playlist.
I also considered that, depending on the personal circumstances and emotional state of the playlist creator, certain playlists could be qualitatively measured as being more authentic than others. For example, if you asked a person who just just won a million in the lottery to prepare a depressed playlist of twenty songs, you’d likely get a markedly different outcome than if you asked someone else to do the same whilst they were in the middle of an emotional depression or who was in some other way either unsettled or unhappy. I also thought about the prospect that the compilation CD’s you used to see advertised on TV and which went along the lines of Greatest Love Songs Volume 8, Driving Rock, A Woman in Love etc., were possibly compiled by people who were completely emotionally detached from the emotive elements of the theme or subject matter. Like a guy just going through a messy divorce or breakup compiling the greatest love songs for women collection, or the Driving Rock CD being compiled by someone who couldn’t drive. And in this regard, it would seem sensible to believe that subjectivity would appear to be preferable to objectivity.
And so, I can imagine a whole genre of authentically themed playlists that are compiled by people who are provably qualified on the given subject matter or emotional state. Then, using a a highly complex collaborative filtering algorithm that, frankly, I’d detail here if I wasn’t in a such a hurry, people could then punch in their emotional state or even more simply tick some boxes that would characterise their personal emotional context or situation like: Messy Divorce, unemployment, etc. you could then be prescribed a cocktail of songs that would sort your head out.
Oh, what a bind it is to be so clever.
Firstly, you would have to attribute emotional and psychological values to tracks in accordance with a combination of factors such as track name, lyrics and overall emotional feel. Then by running through a playlist, the scoring system could apportion scores to certain elements and attributes and, ultimately, derive an approximate psychological insight into the mood and emotional wellbeing of the person who created the playlist.
I also considered that, depending on the personal circumstances and emotional state of the playlist creator, certain playlists could be qualitatively measured as being more authentic than others. For example, if you asked a person who just just won a million in the lottery to prepare a depressed playlist of twenty songs, you’d likely get a markedly different outcome than if you asked someone else to do the same whilst they were in the middle of an emotional depression or who was in some other way either unsettled or unhappy. I also thought about the prospect that the compilation CD’s you used to see advertised on TV and which went along the lines of Greatest Love Songs Volume 8, Driving Rock, A Woman in Love etc., were possibly compiled by people who were completely emotionally detached from the emotive elements of the theme or subject matter. Like a guy just going through a messy divorce or breakup compiling the greatest love songs for women collection, or the Driving Rock CD being compiled by someone who couldn’t drive. And in this regard, it would seem sensible to believe that subjectivity would appear to be preferable to objectivity.
And so, I can imagine a whole genre of authentically themed playlists that are compiled by people who are provably qualified on the given subject matter or emotional state. Then, using a a highly complex collaborative filtering algorithm that, frankly, I’d detail here if I wasn’t in a such a hurry, people could then punch in their emotional state or even more simply tick some boxes that would characterise their personal emotional context or situation like: Messy Divorce, unemployment, etc. you could then be prescribed a cocktail of songs that would sort your head out.
Oh, what a bind it is to be so clever.