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A Case Study in Building Communities of Common Interest: How One Website Changed History

Stuart A. Varden [email protected] Information Technology Department Pace University 1 Martine Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606, USA

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a website project developed by a professor and students in a Web development class that has been in operation for nearly 13 years. It has provided a focal point around which a community of common interest has developed. The paper reviews this history of the website since its introduction and the critical success factors that have led to its success in meeting its original goals. The website provides students with a concrete ex- ample of how a Web presence can have an impact that goes well beyond what was originally planned.

Keywords: online communities, website case study, critical success factors, jazz

1. INTRODUCTION little interactivity there was tended to in- It has often been said that any new technol- volve input forms and CGI scripts in support ogical innovation is first applied to existing of e-commerce applications. Today’s Web tasks in place of an earlier technology, most- 2.0 and its range of applications were not ly because the new technology is cheaper, anticipated fifteen years ago. faster, or easier to learn. As the new tech- nology matures, however, it is often used in It was in this context that I began teaching a new ways that were never anticipated by its Web development course at Pace University original pioneers (Weizenbaum, 1976). in 1996. Besides topics such as HTML, the Many examples can be cited to support this client-server model, and principles of web- statement. A striking one is the use of radio site design, there was also an integrative frequency communications to replace cable- student team project. In many respects, I based telegraph systems. The thought of felt that I was learning along with my class, using radio frequency communications, orig- so I decided to undertake a project of my inally known as “wireless telegraph”, to own with the assistance of some of my stu- broadcast news, entertainment and live cov- dents. erage of sporting events was a good twenty years in the future. In order to help motivate me to do a good and thorough job, I decided to develop a Such has been the case with the Internet website around one of my favorite interests, and the World Wide Web. In the mid-1990s, namely jazz music. I had recently noticed there was much speculation about the Web that there was no website devoted to the life and what its true significance and range of and music of the great jazz trumpet player, applications might turn out to be. At the Fats Navarro. I thought it would be fun to time most websites were static and what do some research about him and perhaps

Proc ISECON 2009, v26 (Washington DC): §1555 (refereed) c 2009 EDSIG, page 1 Varden Thu, Nov 5, 2:30 - 2:55, Crystal 5 also locate a couple of photographs and and replaced with the Billy even some audio clips of his solos. My plan Eckstine big band during 1945-1946. was to incorporate these elements as part of the project. I thought that adding the ele- ments of graphics and sound in addition to text-based materials would be instructive to me and the class. Besides putting into prac- tice the principles and techniques of design- ing and implementing a website, my person- al objective for the project was to promote and enhance the legacy of Fats Navarro and his music.

After about three months work, the website debuted in the winter of 1997 as a subdirec- tory of my faculty website. This paper, however, is not about how the website was put together or what my students learned from the experience. Instead, it chronicles what has happened over the past twelve and a half years since it originally debuted on the web, and what lessons have come out of this experience. It has been a thoroughly fasci- Fats Navarro during a recording session in nating journey with many twists and turns September, 1947. that I never could have anticipated arising out of a rather modest website about a During the next three years, Navarro was largely unknown person who died nearly six- second only to Dizzy Gillespie among bop ty years ago. The paper also comments on trumpeters. Navarro recorded with Kenny the power of the Web as a vehicle in the Clarke's Be Bop Boys, , formation of communities of common inter- Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, , Dex- est and the development of more complete ter Gordon, and most significantly Tadd Da- information through collaborative communi- meron during 1947-1949. During this time cations. he had short stints with the big bands of

Lionel Hampton and , con- 2. WHO WAS THEODORE “FATS” tinued working with Dameron, made classic NAVARRO? recordings with (in a quintet with

a young ), and participated in Before I begin charting the effects of the the 1948 Metronome All-Stars recording ses- website on the jazz community, I would like sion. A few weeks short of his death in July, to give a brief background on the subject 1950 he appeared at Birdland, a famous jazz around which the project revolved. nightclub, in City with Charlie

Parker, Bud Powell and , which Theodore "Fats" Navarro (1923-50) is gen- was privately recorded. erally accepted by jazz critics and historians as being one of the greatest jazz trumpeters Navarro, however, was a heroin addict, an of all time. Navarro had a tragically brief all too common situation of jazz musicians of career, yet his influence is still being felt. His the period. This in combination with tuber- full sound, brilliant technical command, culosis led to his death at age 26. Sadly, his great articulation and overall creativity are potential was only partially realized. His the hallmarks of his style. playing is well documented during the years

1946-1949 and most of his output is cur- Originally from Key West, Florida, he began rently available on CD . playing piano and tenor sax before switching to trumpet when he was 13. He started gig- For purposes of this paper, the facts of his ging with dance bands when he was 17, life are not important, but are included for played with during 1943-1944, those who might be interested. It is enough

Proc ISECON 2009, v26 (Washington DC): §1555 (refereed) c 2009 EDSIG, page 2 Varden Thu, Nov 5, 2:30 - 2:55, Crystal 5 to say that he was a very substantial talent • Third, some messages offered en- and an important artistic contributor during tirely new information about his life one of the peak periods of creativity in jazz and music. Others offered to send history. me tapes of rare or even never be- fore released recording sessions. 3. NAVARRO WEBSITE DEBUTS ON Some others gave me rare photo- WEB graphs. Still others provided me with the addresses and phone num- One of the early decisions I made was to bers of musicians who were still liv- keep the website entirely non-commercial. ing who had played with Navarro. So, there are no solicitations to purchase This led to a series of phone inter- CDs and no links to record vendors. As views that brought out information mentioned before, the website debuted on that was not documented in the jazz the Web in the winter of 1997. At first noth- literature. ing happened. This was not a disappoint- • Fourth, several people have done ment, since I had no anticipation that any- scholarship on Navarro and asked if one would take notice. But as the months I would post their contribution. passed, the various search engines of the period (Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite, InfoSeek, As time went by, I began to notice that an Lycos, WebCrawler, etc.) found the website increasing number of other jazz or music and added it to their libraries of links. I be- sites had links to my Navarro website. This gan to notice that people were visiting the along with fairly frequent visits led to the website. Moreover, I began to receive email website being listed first or second on search from a wide variety of people including mu- engine queries for “Fats Navarro.” In short, sicians (usually trumpet players), jazz edu- this small place in cyberspace began to func- cators, jazz critics and historians, record tion as an unofficial clearinghouse of infor- company executives, radio disc jockeys, mation about Fats Navarro. As of this writ- people who had heard Navarro play in per- ing, it appears second on a Google search son, music school students, jazz record and after the Wikipedia entry on Navarro, and memorabilia collectors, and jazz enthusiasts the Wikipedia website includes a link back to just like me. Of particular interest to me my website. were emails from Navarro’s family members, including one of his sisters and his only Over the years I have discussed the case child, a daughter, Linda. These contacts study with students as a way of illustrating have taken place throughout the life of the the potential power of the Web. On occasion website. The volume of emails that I have interested students have added features to received has not been great, numbering the website, such as JavaScript code, to en- perhaps about 500 in all, but they are usual- hance the functionality of the website. ly interesting and informative. The interac- tions took a number of forms as follows: 4. THE RAISING PROJECT

• First, nearly every message has As the 50th anniversary of Navarro’s death been complimentary about the web- was approaching in 2000, I thought that it site including comments such as would be good to take a photograph of his “thanks for the overdue recognition burial site. Unfortunately, no one seemed to of a great trumpet player”, “very in- know exactly where this was other than formative”, “keep up the good “somewhere in New Jersey.” A year later, I work”, and so forth; eventually learned that he is laid to rest at • Second, many people have pointed the Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, NJ in what out errors in the details of his life turned out to be the “Negro section” of the and particularly his “discography”, cemetery. Apparently cemeteries were still which is the documentation of all the segregated in 1950, even in New Jersey. recorded work of a musician or mus- When I finally visited his grave site, I was ical group. This meant that over surprised to find that he was buried in an time, the quality of the content of unmarked grave. All that one could see was the website has been continually im- grass. How could this be, I thought? Here proving; lay one of the greats of jazz, America’s only

Proc ISECON 2009, v26 (Washington DC): §1555 (refereed) c 2009 EDSIG, page 3 Varden Thu, Nov 5, 2:30 - 2:55, Crystal 5 truly original art form, and his grave site through advocacy, education and research. was unmarked? This could not stand. Lending support to the project was consis- tent with their mission. I soon contacted Linda Navarro in Seattle, Washington. Upon discovering that she too JAI's response was not only to become in- did not know that her father’s grave site was volved with the headstone dedication cere- unmarked, we decided to join forces to seek mony, but also to establish a Fats Navarro funding for a proper headstone. I could Scholarship. The Fats Navarro Scholarship think of no better means than to use the pays tribute to Navarro’s Cuban heritage by website to solicit funds, so over the course recognizing and funding the education of of about six months, we raised a sum of exceptional young Cuban music students. $3,140 through donations ranging from $5 JAI also decided to sponsor a reception fol- to $500. Our original goal had been $2,500. lowing the dedication at Amici's Restaurant I maintained a small bar chart on the web- in Linden. site so that visitors could check the status of our fundraising efforts. We had the welcome This brought the Town Fathers of Linden and assistance of a third person – another avid Mayor John Gregorio to proclaim that Sep- Navarro fan – who lived in New Jersey not tember 24, 2002 would be “Fats Navarro too far from the cemetery. He worked with Day” in Linden. A bit later the Linden High the cemetery officials, got the appropriate School Madrigal Singers asked if they could permit forms, designed the headstone, made perform "Amazing Grace” as part of the de- arrangements with a Vermont-based head- dication ceremony. stone company, and in general handled all the local arrangements. Finally, to help raise funds in support of the Fats Navarro Scholarship, a Fats Navarro Our plan was to have a simple dedication of Tribute Concert in which today’s top jazz the new headstone attended by a handful of trumpet players would play at no charge people on September 24 th , 2002, which compositions either written by Navarro or would have been Navarro’s 79 th birthday. As closely associated with him. The concert we were moving forward with our fundrais- would take place at the Jazz Standard on ing efforts, however, the larger jazz commu- East 27th Street in Manhattan on the same nity and local Linden, NJ officials got wind of evening as the dedication ceremony. the coming dedication. Soon after that, the whole headstone and dedication project took Thus, our original plan of a quiet little dedi- on a life of its own. cation ceremony of half an hour at most had turned into nearly a full day of activities. 5. FATS NAVARRO DAY 6. THE BIG DAY ARRIVES In the spring of 2002, Maxine Gordon, wi- dow of tenor sax great who September 24, 2002 turned out to be a love- had played with Navarro, called Bruce Lund- ly early fall day with temperatures in the vall, President of and 70s. I arrived early for the dedication cere- Board Chairman of Jazz Alliance Internation- mony that was to start at noon. There were al (JAI), for help with the project. Navarro about forty folding chairs in place in front of had recorded for Blue Note on several occa- the headstone that had been provided by sions in the late 1940s, and being a sponsor the high school. As the gathering arrived, I of the event would also promote one of Blue met in person for the first time Navarro’s Note’s artists whose records continue to sell daughter, Linda, and Elizabeth Navarro Carr, to this day. Navarro’s younger sister, as well as many others whom I knew only by email. Alto- In addition, JAI, a subsidiary of the Interna- gether there would be about fifty in atten- tional Association of Jazz Educators, was dance, including Linden town officials, JAI approached by Lundvall to get involved. JAI board members, other Navarro relatives, the is dedicated to expanding the audience and famous jazz trumpeter players, Donald Byrd visibility of jazz by raising the profile of the and , my friend from Denmark, art form and by fostering better working re- members of the jazz press, and a collection lationships within the global jazz community of jazz fans. One fan flew in from Los An-

Proc ISECON 2009, v26 (Washington DC): §1555 (refereed) c 2009 EDSIG, page 4 Varden Thu, Nov 5, 2:30 - 2:55, Crystal 5 gles just for this occasion. The Linden High School Madrigal Singers performed "Amazing Grace” as planned and several people made remarks, including myself, about the legacy of Navarro’s music and life.

After the dedication program had concluded, the group went to the reception at Amici's

Fats Navarro Tribute Concert at the Jazz Standard

7. A FATS NAVARRO BIOGRAPHY

Perhaps the crowning outcome of this entire Fats Navarro website saga is the recent pub- Linden High School Madrigal Singers perform lication of the first full length biography on "Amazing Grace." Navarro. The authors, Leif Bo Petersen and Theo Rehak, were introduced to one another Restaurant. Later that afternoon there was through the Navarro website. Their biogra- a presentation at the high school auditorium phy, The Music and Life of Theodore "Fats" about the nature of jazz music and how it Navarro , published by Scarecrow Press, fully evolved. A six-piece jazz group gave dem- realizes the original objectives of the website onstrations of the jazz styles – ragtime, Di- project of promoting and enhancing the leg- xieland, swing, , afro-Cuban, fusion – acy of Fats Navarro and his music (Petersen before a receptive audience of several hun- & Rehak, 2009). dred students. While driving to Manhattan where the tribute concert would take place, I 8. WHAT MADE THE WEBSITE WORK listened to WBGO-FM radio, which has an AND WHERE DID IT FALL SHORT? all-jazz format. The station was playing Na- varro’s music and made frequent an- One could divide websites of communities of nouncements of the details regarding the common interest into two broad categories: concert. So, the media had become in- (1) websites whose primary objective is to volved as well. provide a forum for participants to learn, I won’t review further how the rest of the and share views and information about some day unfolded other than to say that it was a subject of interest to the participants, and beautifully realized day that met, and in (2) websites that are designed to motivate many ways exceeded, every expectation participants to some type of action that that I might have had. takes place outside of the context of the website. In the first case, the focus of ac- While attending the Fats Navarro Tribute tion is on what happens on the website it- Concert that evening, I could not help but self, while in the second case the focus of wonder how all this had happened. One action is what participants do in the “real thing, however, was clear; without the Na- world” that is related to the subject of com- varro website, none of the events of the day mon interest. An example of the first cate- would have taken place. A reporter from gory is a blog in which participants air their Down Beat was on hand to cover the event views on gossip, politics, or social issues of (Down Beat Magazine, 2002). the day. They “vent” as they see fit, but there is no particular expectation that they should do anything except return to the blog

Proc ISECON 2009, v26 (Washington DC): §1555 (refereed) c 2009 EDSIG, page 5 Varden Thu, Nov 5, 2:30 - 2:55, Crystal 5 the next day. This might be called a “web- I think that their ideas can readily be applied centric” website. An example of the second to them. category is a website that offers advice or a forum for participants to share informative 10. MCDERMOTT’S CRITICAL SUCCESS experiences that will lead other participants FACTORS IN BUILDING COMMUNITY to change their behavior in some way. Ex- amples range from websites about cooking, These ten factors are broken down into four gardening, parenting, prudent financial categories as shown below: management, how to select a good college that meets your needs, and so forth. This Management Challenges might be called a “practice-centric” website. 1. Focus on topics important to the business and community members. In the case study of the Fats Navarro web- 2. Find a well-respected community site, the original purpose falls into the first member to coordinate the communi- category, that is, to inform participants (visi- ty. tors to the website), and to be informed by 3. Make sure people have time and en- participants as well, regarding the music and couragement to participate. legacy of Fats Navarro. Thus, contributions 4. Build on the core values of the or- in the form of corrections to the Web con- ganization. tent, new information, critical analyses, musical transcriptions of Navarro solos de- Community Challenges signed for advanced students, and so forth 5. Get key thought leaders involved. were welcome, but nothing further was ex- 6. Build personal relationships among pected of website visitors. However, when a community members. need arose – the funding of the headstone 7. Develop an active passionate core project – the website changed temporarily group. its focus toward active support of the 8. Create forums for thinking together project. I see a connection between these as well as systems for sharing infor- two categories. The first focus, which was mation. successfully realized, helped set up the second focus of directed action. This conclu- Technical Challenge sion is in large part supported by the litera- 9. Make it easy to contribute and ac- ture on action-oriented community building. cess the community’s knowledge and At the same time, the literature also reveals practices. certain potential opportunities to strengthen community support that was not capitalized Personal Challenge upon by the Navarro website. 10. Create dialogue about cutting edge issues. 9. COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE 11. RELATING MCDERMOTT’S CRITICAL Wenger defines “communities of practice” as SUCCESS FACTORS TO THE WEBSITE groups of people who share information, in- PROJECT sights, experience, and tools about an area of common interest (Wenger, 1998). A Let’s briefly review these critical success fac- community’s focus could be on a profession- tors in relation to the website project and al discipline , such as reservoir engineering or see how they might apply or not apply. biology, a skill such as machine repair, or a topic such as a technology, an industry, or a Focus on topics important to the busi- segment of a production process. I argue ness and community members. that an artistic endeavor also falls well into this definition. Based in Wenger’s definition The first factor fits rather well as long as you and various empirical studies, McDermott substitute “business and community mem- has identified ten critical success factors in bers” with those who are interested in jazz building communities of practice (McDer- and Fats Navarro in particular. Without mott, 2000). Wenger and McDermott do not some strong focal point of interest to draw specifically address online communities, but participants, a community of common inter- est will not form.

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Build personal relationships among Find a well-respected community mem- community members. ber to coordinate the community. Sixth, several people were frequent contri- Second, I had no particular standing in the butors to the website and over time I com- jazz community as the website debuted in municated with them personally, including in 1997, but being a “professor” did lend a cer- person meetings. This was also the case tain authenticity to the website. Many visi- with several Navarro family members. In- tors assumed that my academic field was itially some family members were suspicious music or jazz studies. I also believe that the of my motives, particularly when I would ask non-commercial nature of the website made questions about Navarro family history and it more credible. There was and remains no early influences on Navarro during his for- financial motive to the website. As time mative years in Key West, FL. I was able to passed, the website – my alter-ego – gained overcome these suspicions to some degree, respect due to the polite and even-handed but not fully. There always seemed to be matter in which I interacted with members the lingering thought that I somehow was of the community. trying to capitalize financially on the legacy of their famous family member and that I Make sure people have time and encou- would cheat them out of their share. It was ragement to participate. understandable, but a bit disappointing. Three, being that this is a website, partici- pants have an unlimited time to read and Develop an active passionate core react to all of the Web content that is avail- group. able. The website continued to grow as Seventh, over most of the life of the web- more and more materials were contributed site, the core group has been the Navarro and added. Participants were encouraged to biographers, Navarro’s daughter Linda, and share experiences related to Fats Navarro me. We have worked together for years and and many contributions have been made have drawn in others where needed. The over the years. larger group that developed to put on the Fats Navarro Day event seemed to emerge Build on the core values of the on its own. Most everyone involved is pas- organization. sionate about the music and feels that it Fourth, although there was no stated set of should be more widely recognized and ap- “core values” for the website, it was clear preciated. what its purpose was and that there was a commitment to providing accurate and relia- Create forums for thinking together as ble information, and a willingness to correct well as systems for sharing information. and add new information when it became Eighth, here is an area where improvements available. might have brought more solidarity to the community. The website never had a dis- Get key thought leaders involved. cussion board or blog, so all interactions Fifth, when the time came for action, key with the website went through me. I in turn participants in leadership positions became would connect like-minded people to one involved to move the project forward as de- another when it seemed to make sense to scribed earlier. Included in this list were the do so. On the other hand, unpleasant com- President of Blue Note records, the Execu- ments and disagreements can occur in an tive Director of JAI, the mayor of Linden, NJ, unmediated discussion board that could un- the Linden High School music director, the dermine community solidarity. Perhaps a owners of the Jazz Standard Jazz Club who mediated discussion group would have been made the club available at no charge for the the best approach to foster a stronger sense tribute concert, and the major jazz perfor- of community. I did, however, maintain an mers who donated their time to help raise email address list of all those who sent me funds to start the Fats Navarro Scholarship. notes, and on occasion I would send a It would be interesting to do a stakeholder broadcast email to this core group to inform analysis of the key people and the motives them of some recent development. I refer behind their active participation, but I will to them as a code group since they took the leave that for another paper. time to send me an email note.

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Make it easy to contribute and access didn’t realize that there are so many like- the community’s knowledge and prac- minded people. tices. If this project were initiated today, it might Ninth, this was realized by encouraging con- take the form of a blog, a Facebook page, a tributions to the content of the website. I wiki, or some other Web 2.0 technology. estimate the size of the website has at least Still the principles and success factors identi- tripled since its debut as a result of all the fied in the paper would apply equally well additional content that has been contributed. today. And at least half of this is entirely new ma- 13. REFERENCES terial that had not come to light in the litera- ture. Down Beat Magazine, 2002, 69 (12) 18.

Create dialogue about cutting edge is- McDermott, R., Knowing in Community: 10 sues. Critical Success Factors in Building Tenth, I doubt that this success factor ap- Communities of Practice. IHRIM plies to the website project. There is noth- Journal, 2000, 4 (2) 24-29. ing that is “cutting edge” about it. Petersen, L. & Rehak, T., 2009, The Music 12. CONCLUSIONS and Life of Theodore "Fats" Navarro”: Infatuation: Lanham, MD, Scarecrow The experience of this case study that has turned into a 13 year saga is one of the Press. most satisfying to me at both a professional and personal level. I believe that it illu- Weizenbaum, J., 1976, Computer Power and strates beautifully the power of the Internet Human Reason: From Judgment to and the Web to foster and promote online Calculation. San Francisco: W. H. communities of common interest and to em- Freeman. power the community to take positive action in the real world. It helps to bring together Wenger, E., 1998, Communities of Practice. people from all over the world who were Cambridge: Cambridge University largely unaware of each other and who Press.

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