Week 13

Monday 11-9

Today we took the next step in talking about the advancement of photography. With new technologies, comes new skepticism and controversy. Photo manipulation and photo ethics are no different.

This powerful tool can shape culture in a way that was previously unheard of. The female body image is a perfectly disgusting example of this extremely dangerous practice. Culture has this distorted image of what true beauty really is. Is it even humanly possible to look like the women we see through the media? The simple answer is no. Not even these women look as "perfect" as they appear.

National Geographic experienced a different harm in photo manipulation. After it was revealed that they altered one of their covers, readers lost trust in the entire magazine as a whole. In business, trust is everything, and if your customers lose trust and faith in your business, you are going to have a hard time succeeding.

Wednesday 11-11

Today we were graced with the presence of Michael Grillo. He laid out the opinion that new media is relative and he used his knowledge of art history to prove this point. Whenever there was a limitation or inadequacy in the culture of current art, new media would be used to enhance the profession and continue pushing forward.

The second key point he mentioned is that it is not just the intended consequences that make new media what it is... it is often the unintended consequences of our imaginations that shape culture in ways we never could have imagined.

Take for instance the internet. In no way could they have predicted it to be taken the direction it has come.

Friday 11-13

To finish off this week, we focused on sound. It is amazing to think of something as simple as sound having such an impact of our world. Imagine what it would be like to not have the bits and pieces of sound clips we have from the past.... imagine what it would be like to have sound bites from ancient times... When thought of this way, one can really understand the importance of this technology.

Even more than the word and image, sound conveys personality, and it is that personality that we do not know of the ancient Romans, of the Egyptians, the pilgrims...

When sound first became used as entertainment it allowed for people to escape their lives and their troubles. they could live in imagination more easily than ever before.


Readings

"Google Chrome Cloud Computing"- I'm not sure how I feel about the future in cloud computing. I guess it is just me being resistant to something I am comfortable with. i like the idea of my stuff being mine and i don't quite trust the Internet enough to rely on them for all of my file storage.

Often I have found that the Internet and WIFI are down here in Orono Maine. If I need an important file, I don't want to have to rely on this unreliable medium.

but I will not deny that it is a trend and that the future lies in it's hands. With picture storage, and file storage via email being relied on so frequently it is only inevitable that more is to come.


"Online Wiki Mapping"- this story reminds me of just about every other medium that has come and gone. Upon first implementation, only the professionals know how to access and use the technology.... but as information leaks and technological advancements are made, they become more available for the general public.

You name it, photography, film, the web, music... nearly everything that exists today is better off in the hands of the general public. We are smart, we are passionate, we care. it is not about money for us. We do it because we love to do it. that is the difference. That is why I too am a supporter of civic journalism and citizen media. Competition breeds excellence and it shows when one group is making products for the profit, and one is doing it for the love of the game... so to speak.