Event time: November 11, 2010 – 10:59 to 11:03, and November 11, 2011 – 10:59 to 11:03
Goals: To achieve an estimated 50% observance of silence for November 11, 2011 (next year being 11-11-11) at 11AM local time across Canada.
Every year on November 11, commonwealth states commemorate the sacrifices of war, but not all jurisdictions mark the day with a holiday to help people remember. Holiday or not, the one thing we can do to mark our observance is take a 2-minute break in the day-to-day bustle to observe silence. On November 11, 2009, I tried an experiment to see how many people would remember (and care) to observe a 2-minute silence by sounding the Last Post bugle call in Toronto. Those who heard stopped, or at least paused. It seems many do wish to remember, but just lose track of time. I recognized last year that people tend to remember more when there are more recent casualties, Afganistan being our contemporary conflict with casualties. Recent death should not be necessary to remember the lives upon which our freedom lay. Reverbrance aims to be a yearly convention.
The Reverbrance project is intended to increase awareness of this 2-minute silence by sounding an “alert” just prior to 11:00AM in each local timezone across Canada to remind people. This was much easier to do back when the church bells, canons and bugles of ceremonies could be heard across town; however today’s metropolis and working culture makes such tools effectively mute except for those who plan a deliberate effort to attend ceremonies away from work. Unfortunately, the sounds and ceremonies just are not heard when we’re busy working: Reverbrance aims to rectify that.
The idea is simple:
- 10:59 Sound Last Post for 1 minute to signal moment of silence
- 11:00 Moment of Silence
- 11:02 Sound Rouse for 20 seconds to mark end of silence
To maximize coverage, we will attempt several techniques:
- Volunteer buglers stationed publicly or privately who wish to perform Last Post and Rouse
- iPhone application distributed free, containing reminder alerts and 2 recordings – Essentially a coordinated “ring tone”
- Online Flash app along with opt-in reminders via twitter, email, or other social networks to remind people to open the app, which sounds last post
- Requests of public venues (Malls, schools, transit, etc…) to use PA systems to remind people, or even sound recordings
The name for the event, Reverbrance, is a portmanteau of Reverberance, Reverberant and Remembrance.
- Reverberance – having the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant
- Reverberant – having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected; “a reverberant room”; “the reverberant booms of cannon”
- Remembrance – something serving to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or event; a memorial.