Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Is Digital Media Bad For Us?
Digital Media, like all other things, is great in moderation. The ability to instantly access information pertinent to us is a very useful one. As technology advances, though, we have to avoid becoming reliant on it. Unfortunately, with the new digital age, we are becoming progressively worse, or less receptive at least, to human interaction and face time. While chatting on Facebook with a friend halfway across the country is great, we have to also be able to go outside of our rooms and have conversations with people physically in front of us.
But don’t get me wrong, the advances in technology are great. In the film school alone, I get over 20 emails a day about meeting times, classes, shoot information, etc. Being able to quickly access this information is almost a necessity here. Plans change very quickly, and people need to be informed as quickly as they can be.
Overall, Digital Media is not a bad thing, if we keep in mind that we still need to talk to people in person.
Additional Examples of Art and Artists in the Digital Age
Issa
Issa is an interesting person. In theory, this concept for music distribution would work, but in reality, if every artist did this, I feel like it wouldn’t work. I definitely have bands who I buy every album, but there are also bands whose songs I find alright, so I download them for free.
Atomic Tom
Instruments don’t make the musician, but they definitely help. While I like the way that Atomic Tom has taken their misfortune and worked around it, I feel like they need to have that background on traditional instruments for it to work. If someone learns how to only play on an iPhone, I feel like it defeats the purpose.
The Story of Cosmetics
This is an interesting way in which to distribute lectures and make them interesting. Combining live action and animation helps to add a visual element to the lecture, which makes it much more interesting.
Wikipedia Remix
Oh Wikipedia, always helpful. Partially, I disagree with the reasons songs are remixed for. Sure, they're remixed to be given a second chance on the radio, but the real reason most of them are remixed are to give it a new identity as a song.
Fair Use
Like I've said before, copyrights are important for giving credit where credit is due.
Bound By Law
A unique way to visually show information about copyrights. Very useful and informative.
American Lawbreaking
Once again, showing the importance of copyrights.
Pogo
Pogo has been one of my favorite artists for awhile. Its interesting how he cannot release his Pirates of the Caribbean remix due to something like a copyright. In this case, I feel like it would give attention to movies that people have previously forgot about. For me, I went back and rewatched some of my old Disney VHS’ when I listened to him for the first time.
Creativity, Influence, Ownership, and Art in the Digital Age
What is Digital Media and Why Study It?
The main point I essentially got from this presentation was that Digital Media is discontinuous, while analog is continuous. I knew about most of the information presented, so the presentation wasn’t particularly interesting to me. I did help to refresh my memory about some of the topics presented.
Lev Manovich
An interesting point on what we perceive to be “new media”. I find it interesting that the format in which something is presented causes it to become a certain type of media. A picture on a computer is considered new media while a physical picture is old media. The fact that the Analytical Engine did not take off the same way that the daguerreotype did shows how long it can take for a new idea to take off.
The Ecstasy of Influence
Quotes are always an interesting thing. They are taken, misread, manipulated, and re-quoted back, incorrectly. There is a major difference between plagiarism and remixing. Lets be frank, especially in film, everything has been done already, to an extent. Everything now is how well you can remix something by using bits and pieces of previous movies. But, it all depends on how well you can do it. James Camerons Avatar, for example, remixed the story of Pocahontas. But, he did such a terrible job of concealing it that everyone instantly recognized it for what it was. Essentially he plagiarized the story. That’s just not acceptable. To do something right, it has to take parts from many different stories, not just one.
Lawrence Lessig
To an extent, a copyright is incredibly important. They allow for artists and inventors to protect their ideas from being plagiarized. They are very important for giving credit to where credit is due.
Girl Talk
Girl Talk is great. I love how he remixes songs using existing ones. I don’t really view his work as stealing, more as recreating.
Steve Dixon
While the concept of Digital Performance is interesting, I feel like it ruins the point of a stage performance. To me, a performance is something that you have worked on, trained for, and put your own blood and sweat into. I almost feel like a digital performance is a cop-out.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Project Brief
1. Food and how it ties into a culture have always been interesting to me. Having traveled out of the country a lot, I am always interested in what the local dishes are and how they are created. Food it truly a universal language which can be shared with anyone. I would like to explore into the Montagnard Dega ties between agriculture and food.
3)
4) Probably one of the best ways to learn of the food and how it ties into the culture would be to actually go and learn how to make it/have a meal.
5) This project can have a very broad range of people who could demonstrate it. Pretty much anyone from housewifes to the farmers could explain it.
Framing
Language is a powerful thing. As George Lakoff once said,
"Language always comes with what is called "framing." Every word is defined relative to a conceptual framework. If you have something like "revolt," that implies a population that is being ruled unfairly, or assumes it is being ruled unfairly, and that they are throwing off their rulers, which would be considered a good thing. That's a frame.
If you then add the word "voter" in front of "revolt," you get a metaphorical meaning saying that the voters are the oppressed people, the governor is the oppressive ruler, that they have ousted him and this is a good thing and all things are good now. All of that comes up when you see a headline like "voter revolt" - something that most people read and never notice."
If you then add the word "voter" in front of "revolt," you get a metaphorical meaning saying that the voters are the oppressed people, the governor is the oppressive ruler, that they have ousted him and this is a good thing and all things are good now. All of that comes up when you see a headline like "voter revolt" - something that most people read and never notice."
Our perception of what is and what isn’t can be easily changed, and it is, all the time. One of the greatest examples of this is in the news. Take an event, for example, the election of President Obama. Now, look at it from several different news sources. Depending on how they want the public to view it, they will use different language.
We are co-dependent on our technology. We rely on it for transportation, food processing, and even basic hygiene. We our reliant on the tools we have created. Our evolution has slowed because of it. Why would our bodies need to adapt while we can just create something to compensate for it? There is no need. This goes with the concept of material need. Why are we so inclined to have the newest technology? Why must we get the new iPhone the minute it hits the shelves? Because we are engrained from a young age that having the newest technology will make us the best. I believe that we change the framing of our minds to see that we don’t necessarily need the newest piece of technology. We need to look at something that will perform the function we need it to. Going back to the example of an Iphone. Do we truly need to be connected to Facebook and Youtube every minute of the day? Honestly, not really. If we break down what the basis of a cell phone is for, it devolves into 2 necessities (and not even at that), calling and texting. Everything else does not serve the intention of a cell phone, therefore, we don’t really need to have it, we’d just like it.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
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