Sunday 13 April 2014

End of Term

Thanks everyone for participating. It has been a delight seeing how you all took on the course content and the new digital platforms and tools and made it your own.

I hope you enjoyed the class and wish you luck with your other #MACT courses.


Friday 4 April 2014

Assignment #3 - eRevolution

When publishing changes, so does society. And nothing changed society more profoundly than the printing press. The invention of the printing press created a media revolution in the 1400’s. The technology behind moveable type led to mass production of books throughout Europe. It has only been until very recently that publishing has drastically changed and again society is changing with it.

This sound documentary will examine the impact of digital media and digital publishing on government agencies today and the effect it has on our country’s citizens.

For this sound piece I used Camtasia Studio to record the Internet sound clips included in this recording. I used the memo audio recording feature on my iphone to record my voice and I put all the audio clips together using Audacity.

The printer sound effect and the music at the conclusion of this sound file were taken from the Nova Scotia Queen's Printer Web site.






Resources:
E-Government Canada - 2005. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMv9KKUaU9w

Fry, S. (2013). Stephen Fry & The Machine That Made Us. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiamVHT2Hz4
Gordon-Murnane, L. (2002). Digital government: digital tools for the electronic dissemination of government information. Searcher, 10(2), 44-53 Mayer Schonberger, V.(2011).  How have advances in information technology transformed government? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-JyDO0vHs
Nova Scotia Queen's Printer Web Site http://novascotia.ca/cns/queens-printer.asp

Wikipedia. Printing Press. Information retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press

Assignment #3: The Interaction Between Digital Network Media, Publishing, & Society


By Jonathan Krywulak

 
The emergence of digital network media has transformed the 21st century society and its relationship with publishing institutions.   The expression and perception of social identities has been shaped by new forms of technology that spans cultural spheres and geographical boundaries allowing communication from many to many.  The increased speed, convenience and interactivity of new media have blurred the distinction between consumers and producers, providing people with the ability to be in control of their own media world.


 
References:

Benkler, Y. (2006). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and
freedom. Yale University Press.
 
Tubella, I. (2004). Television and internet in the construction of identity. The Network Society: A
Cross-Cultural Perspective. Cheltenham, UK & Northampton, MA: Edgard Elgar
Publishing Limited
 
Audio Clip #1:  Windows sounds mix by DJ Titon. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/cewQJFTolO0

Audio Clip #2:  Shirky, C. (2009) How social media can make history. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history

Audio Clip #3: Lessig, L. Crash course in the "read-write" internet. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nBL8eClYuU

Audio Clip #4: Lessig, L. Creativity.  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGWQVxrRXyU

Assignment #3: Old and New Media Power Struggle





We explore, through 2 interviews with Dr Henry Jenkins, how digital network media has shifted the power from traditional publishing institutions to society. News is no longer delivered only by newspapers. Rather, because of the internet, we are in a convergence culture where new media users participate and collaborate in creating news, or spreadable media, that moves from grass roots communication through out society.



Burnett, L. (2013, March 10). #SXLB: Henry Jenkins, Media Theorist, Author & Professor, Pt. 1: Grassroots. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from You Tube.

Dixon, A. (2012, 21). A Word From Henry Jenkins on Convergence. (Students Demonstrating Example of User Generated content) Retrieved April 3, 2014, from You Tube.

Edmonds, R.G. (2013, May 7). Newspapers: by the Numbers. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism: 

Laird, S. (2012, April 18). How Social Media Is Taking Over the News Industry [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from Mashable 

Sondeen, A.L. (2009). Building Blocks for Change Increasing Newspaper Readership in the Age of Electronic Media throu Innovations in Style and Approach. Senior Honors Theses, Easter Michigan University, DigitalCommons@EMU. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from  http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1192&context=honors

Assignment # 3 - Has Technology Killed Our Creative Instincts?

By: Lenie Lucci

I decided to tell a story with my photos. Showing that technology hasn't killed are creative instincts - despite being highly distracting. But really, everything is distracting for the easily distracted right? 

Throughout history, art and creativity have prevailed. Poverty, famine and wars didn't stop the inspired - so a little iPhone isn't going to cause worldwide creative ruin.

My thoughts are, like we saw with techno-biophilia, technology and art are more interrelated than you'd think. In fact, technology has helped create new kinds of creative expressions that have become staples of our time. Not to mention, the Internet and social media have opened the doors to collaboration giving artists access to creative ecologies and the opportunity to share their work - which is probably one of the most important factors in fostering creativity.

Flickr set link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/122323602@N02/sets/72157643421856534/


















This is what art used to look like. This is what it meant to be an artist.















Througout history, art has been used; to commemorate events,






















as social commentary,















for story-telling,





















and of course to depict beauty,

















In a world where technology is king and face-to-face interaction with anything is limited, have we lost our passion for art? More importantly, Does technology distract us all from finding our inner artist?

















No.
Actually technology has made it easier than ever to discover our inner artists.















Ok, yes technology is distracting and strong arguments exist that it makes us all passive viewers instead of active participants.





















iPhones are the heroine of the 21st century, addictive and distracting from the world around us.

















But creativity prevails for the inspired...
















Technology can actually bring us closer to art allowing us to constantly discover and re-disover.














We are re-interpreting art through our devices, giving them new life. This re-interpretation, is in itself a creative endeavour.














We are creating new genres of art - for example the "meme". Creativity in a mediated outlet, that reflects technology and the means of social commentary today.
















The canvass is different, but the desire to be creative remains. It's an evolution of the artistic mind-set, not a murdering of it.














We've explored the idea of techno-biophilia. We know that nature and technology and architecture work together. Well why can't technology work with art too?













Just because the way we paint is different...















doesn't mean the desire to paint is gone. In fact, technology brings creative ecologies to the forefront encouraging artistic work.













For those of us drawn to art, technology works to enhance our ability to be artists in a fast-paced environment. In fact, without technology, I'm doubtful that any of us would have time to be creative at all.













The open source nature of the internet means that we actually get to be closer to creative ideas - uninhibited by regulation and limited access. Also, making it easier to collaborate - which spurs creativity.















We can be our own publishers and get our work out there. Authors, artists and creatives alike have never had an easier time participating in creative ecologies. Sharing ideas.

Assignment #3 - Defending remix culture? Art history can help

By Andrea Soler

This visual essay will show how remix – in the sense of appropriation – has been present in art history for centuries. Through a combination of digitally-collaged images and quotes about remix, this series of images addresses the question: Is the remix culture fundamentally at odds with older media institutions and practices?

 The challenge of producing 20 images, instead of curating existing images, makes Gilberto Gil’s quote “Nobody creates in a vacuum” in RIP: A Remix Manifesto truly comprehensible. Taking, using and modifying existing content is now ingrained in our digital culture. Creating new content, even if it is a collage of existing one, could be daunting. However, this visual essay will illustrate how remix existed long before the advent digital media.

Flickr link to photo set:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78193356@N07/sets/72157643387323723/

1. The following images will show how the act of remixing in the sense of appropriating to create something different has been around for centuries. These series of images mainly focus in the visual arts, while touching on fashion, music, technology and TV.

 


2. The remix is “a conscious process used to innovate and create. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that the cut-‘n’-paste culture born out of sampling and remixing has revolutionized the way we interpret the world” (Mason, 2008, p. 71).



3. The word “remix” is no longer about music alone, it is a fluid movement that captures how society participates and creates. According to Guertin (2012) “reflexive remixing creates a unique and original work from pre-existing parts” (p. 120).
Girl Talk photo by Moses Namkung CC / Chef John Horne by photo by Renée Suen CC

 

 4. If “Remixing is about taking something that already exists and redefining it in your own personal creative space, reinterpreting someone else’s work your way” (Mason, 2008, p. 71), then remixing is present throughout history.
Food truck client: My father / Cropped gallery photo by Kyoss Magazin

 

 5. The history of art is full of examples of how remixing existed long before the digital era. Most art movements know as “isms” like Realism, Impressionism, pointillism and Modernism are reactions and reinterpretations of previous artistic movements.

 


 6. ...Impressionism was once controversial.




 7. Creative expressions and avant-garde movements as Cubism have been met with opposition before being accepted. With the benefit of time we begin to understand the context of why these artistic changes happened, what triggered them and most importantly what they set in motion.

 


 8. In 1913 Duchamp created the first ready-made by mounting a bicycle wheel on a stool, followed by the “Urinal” a few years later. Much like the remix, “ready-mades illustrate the proposition that the work of an artist consists essentially of the assembling of pre-existing materials” (Britt, 1989, p. 306).

 


 9. After Duchamp everything was possible, including movements like pop art, which in the sixties appropriated popular images of mass culture and transferred them to the art world. Warhol is a good example.



10. Even controversial artist Damien Hirst and his famous formaldehyde shark, used Duchamp’s conceptual remix (appropriation) of existing materials/works as a foundation for his work. A few years earlier Jeff Koons had a similar approach with his “Three Ball 50/50 Tank.” Shark photo by Gazanfarulla Khan C



11. In contemporary art almost everything is product of “spheres of influence across centuries of art history”(Guetin, 2012, p. 121). Contemporary art often refers to existing artwork to create a statement that is relevant to our time or to question previous beliefs. A creative spiral.



12. In a similar way that pop art appropriated images from mass culture and TV and brought them to the art world, so too we have seen how TV and movies have taken ideas and stories from books and comics.



13. This applies to arts, literature, music, theater, movies, TV and even fashion and media technology.



14. According to Mason (2008) fashion illustrates how encouraging remixing, copying, and reinventing can trigger creativity and innovation. “Without any intellectual property protection, a ferocious multibillion-dollar industry thrives and survives because designers share ideas and are free to remix the works of others (p. 96)



15. Says Gilberto Gil, Brazil’s former Minister of Culture during the RIP: A remix manifesto (2008).



16. Media technology is not an exception to this remix culture. In “Everything is a Remix – Case Study of the iPhone” (2014) Ferguson illustrates how despite iPhone’s innovation many of its initial functions purposely resembled other technologies (keyboard sounded like a typewriter, iBooks displayed on virtual shelves).



17. Ferguson (2014) says that as people got used to smartphone technology, Google’s Android operating system evolved Apple’s iPhone ideas moving away from resembling older technologies. In turn iPhones evolved Android’s ideas. According to Ferguson everything is remix.



18. Beyond technology’s fight for market share, remixing is about creating and participating for the joy of it. Guertin states “it is the experience of the act of sharing creation – the process of circulating – that has become the aesthetic of production for the multitude in a digital age”(2012, p. 124).



19. Creative Commons licenses are an option for creative people who like sharing their work and allowing others to make something different out of it. These licenses are meant to work alongside traditional copyright laws. Wonder what Warhol would have thought about it?



20. Can we say that the remix culture is fundamentally at odds with older media institutions and practices, when we have witnessed the presence of remix in centuries of art history and culture? Quoting Jean Luc Godard, Guertin (2012) highlights the essence of remix: it is were it takes us, its creative potential. Godard photo by Garry Stevens CC



References: Britt, D. (Ed.). (1989). Modern art: Impressionism to Post-Modernism. Spain: Bulfinch Press.

Ferguson, K. (2014). Everything is a remix – Case study of the iPhone [Video]. Retrieved from http://everythingisaremix.info/blog/everything-is-a-remix-case-study-the-iphone

Gaylor, B. (Director/Writer), EyeSteelFilm & National Film Board of Canada (Co-Producers). (2008). RIP: A remix manifesto. (Documentary). Canada.

Guertin, C. (2012). Digital prohibition: Piracy and authorship in new media art. New York, NY: Continuum International Pub.

Mason, M. (2008). The pirate’s dilemma: How youth culture is reinventing capitalism. New York, NY: Free Press.

Flickr link to photo set
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78193356@N07/sets/72157643387323723/


Wednesday 2 April 2014

Assignment 3: The Remix Culture: A Case Study Analysis of Mash-Up through a Radio Documentary

By: Mandeep Jawanda

The question I examined for this assignment was, “Remix culture is fundamentally at odds with older media institution and practises.” This question was answered through a sound piece which I created and produced using the platform SoundCloud. Moreover, in order to provide further clarity on the subject matter, I reviewed a case study by Michael Serazio (2008), “The Apolitical Irony of Generation Mash-Up: A Cultural Case Study in Popular Music.”
It was determined that remix can represent many different terms; therefore for this documentary I only looked at the mash-up, and its impact on the music industry. In particular, how the music industry personnel reacted to the infringement of their artist’s music. Furthermore, how mash-ups impacted society, and shaped our individual identities.

In the end through my analysis, it was determined that the mash-up is not something new, but has been present for a long time within our society. Technological innovations in the form of information technologies (IT) have made people more cognisant of these types of work. 

Click on this link to go to my Sound Piece located at SoundCloud.com

Serazio, M. (2008). The Apolitical Irony of Generation Mash-Up: A Cultural Case Study in Popular Music. Popular Music & Society, 31(1), 79-94. doi:10.1080/03007760701214815
First Audio Clip: We Love MashUp Feb 2013
Posted by user: PonTiR3c0rds
YouTube Link Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2VH08RLB24
Second Audio Clip: Steve Carell: NO GOD! NO GOD, PLEASE NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO (HD)
Posted by user: lNicrolax v.2
YouTube Link Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H07zYvkNYL8
Background Audio Music:  Free Background Music 12: Dreams (120 bpm)
Posted by user: music by longzijun
YouTube Link Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRtHl9n-G3o