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UID:pretalx-wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026-RLTARY@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=KST:20260627T083000
DTEND;TZID=KST:20260627T085000
DESCRIPTION:In 2007 “Hatsune Miku\,” a virtual singer to be used within
  Vocaloid voce synthesis software was launched\, catalysing the developmen
 t software UTAU and Synthesizer V which alongside Vocaloid can be broadly 
 referred to as "vocal synth." Formed in the wake of the digitisation of Ja
 panese popular culture\, vocal synth engages with themes of globalisation 
 in two major aspects: the influence of "idol" entertainers in Japan's soft
  power strategy within East Asia (Iwabuchi 2002)\; and the internet as a n
 etworked space that crosses national boundaries.2 However\, as has been no
 ted by Galbraith (2018)\, idol discourse contributes to the inherently con
 tradictory paradigm of the global in which "Japan" means different things 
 to different people at different times\, undermining the status of both Ja
 pan and global. Similarly\, a global "world wide web" glosses over the ine
 qualities of access or choice of how to use the internet due to geographie
 s\, political oppression\, or financial autonomy\, among other reasons. In
  my paper\, I argue that vocal synth culture demonstrates the internet and
  its users as a digital diaspora\, as networked representations of identit
 y online materialise relations between dispersed communities. Using digita
 l ethnography to explore how vocal synth fans engage with online communiti
 es\, I show how it is a considered a fringe subculture inhabiting digital 
 locales whilst exerting transnational reach in both aesthetics and followi
 ng. By adopting the framework of diaspora\, I engage with broader conversa
 tions about the coloniality of digital space\, highlighting how grassroots
  creative practices in vocal synth contest a stable "global" identity.
DTSTAMP:20260412T123921Z
LOCATION:Room 105 (Seats 84)
SUMMARY:Vocal synth internet communities as digital diaspora - April Wei-We
 st
URL:https://pretalx.com/wha-annual-meeting-korea-2026/talk/RLTARY/
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