One Day Seminar

The Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies has organised a one day seminar, co-ordinated by Giovanni Giuriati, on the bibliographic database of studies on popular music. For several years now it has been possible to consult the database on the Giorgio Cini Foundation website. A major resource for all those interested in research into popular music (i.e. the music of contemporary societies disseminated by the mass media), the database was designed by a leading expert in the fi eld, Philip Tagg from the University of Montreal.

In collaboration with the International Association for Popular Music Studies (IASPM), the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies (IISMC ) at the Giorgio Cini Foundation decided to host the database on the Foundation website. The database was not simply installed as such but was enhanced with an electronic procedure for continual updating through an innovative system enabling users to key in data, which are accepted after being checked by experts appointed by the IASPM. This procedure is already producing signifi cant results. In fact the database of over 9,500 bibliographical entries has been consulted by around 8,000 users a year and has become a key reference tool for students and researchers in this fast-developing fi eld of seminar.

The aim of the seminar, which will be attended by leading Italian and international experts, is not only to make the database better known and to reflect on its potential for research and on the innovative method for updating data, but also to encourage a greater involvement of the academic community in the project promoted and implemented by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies and intended to be further developed in future.

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
9 July 2010

Information
Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies
Giorgio Cini Foundation
Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
30124 Venice
tel. +39 041 5230555 – Fax +39 041 5238540
e-mail musica.comparata@cini.it