Blog 8, Week 12: Mona Lisa Smiles :)

I never understood art. In fact I always hated art, for 2 reasons. Firstly I wish I could draw and never had that ability. Secondly, I never understood how someone could analyse a painting or sculpture from over a 100 years ago. Yet the world of art is changing and in a way that even I understand! Art has caught up with the 21^st century, and has now seen how technology can be a powerful artistic tool like a paintbrush. The most exciting thing for me in this aspect is how the public is coming to the same realisation!

At the same time though there is new media art out there that I have no idea how it could be called art. Unfourtantley this is where my artistic ignorance comes to play.  Looking at teamingvoid’s blog, I have no idea how his idea could be considered art. Ironically I think that I still am a little bit old fashioned where I believe there still has to be some type of effort seen in terms of brush to paper.

I personally see new media art as art that is created using both old school techniques such as brushes and paint and new technology such as computers and even apps on iPhones! I see new media art as a binary between the old and the new.  However the concept of art is developing at an ever alarming rate and it is extremely pleasing to see that it is staying in touch and in time with the changing social world and technology and not staying outdated and in the past. 

Blog 7, Week 11: Back to the future!!

I don’t believe anyone can predict the future. Nor do I believe that the future is set. If you’ve sent the film ‘Back to the Future’ it shows the future as ever changing with nothing set. I believe this is how it is. Yet what would we have said if we were asked to try and predict the future of media and communications 10 or 15 years ago? Would anyone believe that a whole civil war was started and fought through the use of social media?

If I was asked now to predict the future in terms of media and communications, I would say that we are almost there already. I would say that the future is aimed at reducing all types of boundaries that we may face in terms of communication and other aspects of media. I also believe that our lives and cultures will be 100% in sync and in tangent with social mediums and technology.

However this can also be a double-edged sword. When one speaks of people being completely reliant on technology you are bound to hear whispers of phrases such as Armageddon and judgment day. What if one day, electricity was to stop working when we are also reliant on technology in our day to day lives, even with simple things such as opening our front door. I don’t have an answer to this however I think we are basically there when I look at my house and see my fridge, the lights etc.

Looking at Jane McGonigal’s website, this line stuck out to me in her bio; “how games are transforming the way we lead our real lives, and how they can be used to increase our resilience and well-being”. I think of the game Wii Fit where people interact with their game console as if they were at the gym and supposed to get the same effect, or video games that are puzzle games there to sharpen the mind. I can only imagine what might be in store for us soon in terms of games benefiting our day-to-day lives. 

Blog 6, Week 10: To infinity and beyond!!

Obi Wan Kenobi, in the last Star Wars movie, said that everything is based on a point of view. This is how I have always see journalism and news articles. Someone’s point of view being told to us and it is up to us if we want to believe it, accept it or think differently. I believe that when the media is reporting on new facets such as science, technology or a new type of innovation, the media is merely informing us of something in their own point of view. They aren’t transforming it for us, it is how we see it and understand it that it becomes transformed into our own point of view.

I once heard that science is all about proving old theories wrong. This is the same thing that Kevin Kelly talks about in the Scientists when he says how “science is our most potent invention because it has given us a method to keep reinventing it”. He explains how science is all about evolution of technique, learning from the past and collating different types of data to get a new outcome of information. John Wilbanks says something similar in his article in Seed Magazine when he discusses how the scientific publishic industry has also gone through evolution in the way its used and articles are published. Wilbanks says how “The changes [are] wrought by digital networks”. New times have created a new platform and a need for adaptability.

The future is ever changing. New technology is coming around faster and faster and becomes more economically viable each time so that more families and people have access to it. Where it’s heading though is a completely different question. I personally believe that soon everything that we do on a day to day basis including household chores will be controlled from either a watch or a mobile phone. Mobility and ease is where the future is headed. The only question is, not how far away this is…but how soon this is!!

Blog 5, Week 9: power of the mob!

I have always believed that organization to be one of the key building blocks for success in anything you attempt. I also believe that new media has given people a lot more access and ease to become more organised and from this, it makes it easier to see all the networks and communities that have been formed around us. These communities and networks empower us, and give people more power as a group. This group can then take local issues to their local governments or the necessary body and have the power of the mob. I am reminded of the phrase; think globally, act locally. These groups can now start trying to improve their local ecologies and local network groups.

The Coalition of the Willing is an example of such a network. I use the word network instead of community because while I believe that they have very similar meanings, I believe that community is more of a group that was formed inevitably based on interests or location while a network is a group that has come together seeking those out who have a common goal or interest. Both networks and communities infer team effort and that is exactly what is written on the Wiki site of the Coalition of the Willing; “The greater part of the work takes place in teams”

I found Elinor Ostrom’s work to be very interesting and enlightening. I personally see her work more to do with communities, where people are forced to band together for survival and the greater good. Her wikipedia website says how “Ostrom's work emphasizes how humans interact with ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields”. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that people inevitably join together with a common purpose, however I see this as Darwinism and the survival instinct kicking in where people join as they see it puts them in a beter position then being alone.