NETWORKED MEDIA: W10 – Social Media Publication – Photo

NETWORKED MEDIA

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

Camera phones capture the everyday – they are highly portable, accessible and immediate and this is reflected in the approach toward authoring content and how these affordances affect the way they are used to record photos (32) e.g. “Snapshot aesthetics” (39) – Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image. University of San Diego, USA. (pp. 24-113, Parts 1-3, pages. Chose a part that interests you. ‘Part 1: Casual Photos’,‘Part Professional and Designed Photos’ and ‘Part 3: Instagramism.’)

For this weeks photo, I decided to post a set of three images, as one whole post. I wasn’t originally going to do this, but after taking these images, I felt they told a story put together. The story being that things can be a good design, before they become obsolete or need re-designing, connecting to our quote in focus from Donald Norman; “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” Camera phones do capture the everyday, without their portability and accessibility I wouldn’t have been able to author these photos, that capture the heart of the city (something we all see) – under construction.

Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
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.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
.
.
.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
.
.
.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Because of the constraints I had, being that I was in a moving car, I chose to use the camera app, on my iPhone 8Plus, before posting the set to Instagram. I was careful to use the square option, however, keeping in mind these were to be posted to Instagram and needed to fit their grid look on the platform. This was because (as previously mentioned) they were taken in a moving car, and it was an opportunistic moment. This is interesting when we look at Manovich’s quote from above, about camera phones capturing the everyday, due to their portability. After taking the images, I then moved to the Instagram platform to edit, publish and distribute. I’m not a huge fan of the limited filters that Instagram offer, so I try my best to achieve the best quality photo I can while taking it, in terms of composition, colour and light. Because of this, I try to keep constraints and limit myself to using only touch-up tools that alter the exposure, saturation, brightness and sharpness. This calls for a better look overall, when looking at my Instagram profile at a whole, as all the images will appear aesthetically similar. So for this set of images, I only brought up the brightness (ever so slightly), sharpened the image, and moved the exposure of the images up a little bit, so the shadows of the inside of the car were less visible.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Once I was happy with the images, and the set as a whole, I posted it with the caption Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988.

This was to help convey the story I was feeling from these images, as well as keeping to the theme of my overall feed, which is based on good and bad design and the quote in focus from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things (1988). Using the quote from the text, and the Hashtags, will assist in the distribution of my content and Instagram profile on the platform. Not only this, but I used the GeoTag Docklands, Victoria to also assist in the distribution process.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

I made use of the GeoTags and Hashtags, as previously mentioned in the publishing process, to distribute my content to the broader Instagram community. The GeoTag and Hashtags are used to collate images together that use the same tags, meaning my post will appear when users search the GeoTag Docklands, Victoria or the Hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988.

NETWORKED MEDIA: W9 – Social Media Authoring – Video

NETWORKED MEDIA

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

Good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible. Everyday items are so often invisible – but are well built and are simply something we cannot live without.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I chose the steam machine in my house as a subject for my video, as it was clean day in the house and took the opportunity to film a piece of well designed cleaning equipment.

Although I hated using the platform as a means to create video, I did author it directly within the Instagram app, on my iPhone 8Plus. About the only feature I enjoyed was the fact that you can pause and restart the filming process – but this was definitely useless considering it was too hard to trip sections out if you ruined one, and found myself deleting the whole video multiple times and reshooting. I was determined to stay on track with using the platform (This is interesting when we look to the focus of our quote, as I didn’t find the poor design within the subject of my film, but instead it revealed the poor design of Instagram). I then added the filter Valencia, and sharpened the film. While I’m not a huge fan of the filter, and prefer to try to capture beautiful light and colour when taking the image – it was a video of a dirty toilet, and I wished to disguise that part of it slightly, so the focus of the video doesn’t shift to the state of the toilet, rather than the subject of the video, which is the steamer.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I published the video directly to my Instagram account, after editing it, adding the description “Good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible. Everyday items are so often invisible – but are well built and are simply something we cannot live without.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988″.

I decided to use a caption that was related to the image itself, while also referencing the quote in focus and Donald Norman, and his text, itself. This was so I could assist in the distribution of my image, making use of GeoTags and Hashtags within the caption in relation to both the image and the quote in focus.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE VIDEO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

Once the video was published to my Instagram account, which is public and allows the entire world to view it, with the use of the GeoTag The Clean House and the hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings, it compiles my video with all other images and videos on the platform with the same GeoTags and Hashtags. This means its globally distributed on the SNS and allows my video to have better chances of being seen worldwide. To my surprise, I gained followers straight after the post, meaning that this is an effective means of distributing your content and gaining followers, globally, on the platform.

NETWORKED MEDIA: W9 – Social Media Authoring – Photo

NETWORKED MEDIA

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

“Daydreaming of being apart of the world, taking note of the good design in the home until…
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 “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I chose this LEGO helicopter that my brother built as the subject of my image, because it was the first obvious thing I could find in my home of ‘Good Design’, in relation to our quote in focus – “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” A quote from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things (1988).

I chose to take the image in front of a large window in my lounge room, as it was some of the best lighting I could find in my house. Because of this, I had the plane placed on my hand, which I tried my best to cut out of the image when taking the photo – This, explaining the reason behind the odd composition.

For this photo, I authored it directly in the Instagram app, on my iPhone 8Plus. The device features two back cameras, which was what I used to take the photograph, using the touch screen feature to control the exposure. After the shot was taken, I moved on to the editing section of the app, and brought the exposure all the way up to wash out any colour from behind the plane, to a very pale blue and to add a final touch – I brought the sharpness up all the way, and faded the image slightly, to attempt to give it a somewhat grainy look.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I published it after authoring it straight from the app, with the caption “Daydreaming of being apart of the world, taking note of the good design in the home until…

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. “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988″

While I added my own caption in relation to the image, I chose to obviously point out the quote that we are focusing on, enabling me to use hashtags in relation to Donald Norman, his book and the quote to help with distribution of the image. Although Norman states that good design can be a lot harder to notice than poor design, this LEGO plane is an obviously good design.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

Once the image was posted to my Instagram page, I made use of GeoTags and Hashtags, which are used to collate a feed of images and videos together that are all related to one another. This way, because my profile is on public for the entire world to see, if they search the GeoTag Somewhere Else But Here they will find my image among others. This would work the same way if they searched the hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings, my image will come up with any images or videos with those tags – making my work open to the entire world through the public Instagram platform.

NETWORKED MEDIA: ASSIGNMENT #2 – REVIEW

NETWORKED MEDIA
Jessie Caesar – S3787379
I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services
BLOG REFLECTIONS
Week 5 – Analogue Photography (Practice Analysis)
Week 6 – Analogue Video (Practice Analysis)
Week 7 – Networked Photography (Practice Analysis)
Week 8 – Networked Video (Practice Analysis)
REVIEW
This review responds directly to the following prompt: How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?
Titled: How has the the shift from ‘Analogue Media’ to ‘Networked Media’ had a direct impact on the authoring, publishing and distribution of media within the network? (Word Count: 1,183)

The term ‘Authoring’ refers to how a media practitioner produces their work. For example, if we were talking about how a photo on a 35mm camera is authored, we would be discussing the procedure of taking a 35mm photo – i.e., loading the 35mm with film, developing the image. The term ‘Publishing’ refers to where the media practitioner publishes or showcases their work. In the case of our previous example; a 35mm film photo might be ‘published’ to the family photo album. The term ‘Distributing’ refers to where and how the media practitioner distributes or shares their work to, or with. Say the image was taken by a professional Photographer, who has the intention to showcase their world worldwide, they may ‘distribute’ their work in various art galleries around the world.

“In analogue photography a picture was formed through transcription, in principle tracing or witnessing actual people, places and circumstances (pp.25-26, Wells, 2015)”. In ‘Analogue Photography’ a roll of film is placed in the camera, and the photographer had to direct and take the image exactly as they wanted it, with the people they wished to shoot, there. The photographic film is made up of layers of light-sensitive silver halide emulsion coated on a flexible base, and when the film is exposed to light in a camera, it creates a latent image, to then be developed. This didn’t mean that they weren’t able to select, crop and retouch, they were just rather tedious procedures to perform prior to digital capabilities, as they were processed and printed chemically. The film images were known as negatives, and the process of development involved where the image was first, chosen through a magnifying glass, ensuring dust is kept off the negative as it is placed within the enlarger; exposed onto photographic paper, which was then put through trays of developer, stop bath and fixer, before the negative image was printed, before being hung up to dry with pegs.

“Digital photography operates through a conversion whereby physical properties are symbolised through numerical coding (pp.25-26, Wells, 2015)”. Digital photography was the emergence of instant photography cameras (polaroid cameras) that lead to DSLR/SLR cameras, and many more digital cameras alike – eliminating film photography and chemically processed and printed images from the mainstream media practice. After some years of technological advancement within the digital world, “we have witnessed a number of convergences…between the camera, the internet and personal mobile media, notably the mobile telephone’ (pp. 13, Lister in Wells, 2015)”. This convergence between photography and digital technologies contributed to a mass change in the way that images are authored, published and distributed. This mass change referring to the emergence of the internet, SNSs and the ‘Network’. The affordances of these SNS platforms then contributed to another huge change within the way we author, publish and distribute, with the internet and the personal mobile becoming a camera, that continually develops, the ‘users’ are now able to author rather profound photographs, publish and distribute them to their Social Networking Sites (SNSs). “Camera phones represent something new in the history of photography, because they are capable not only of recording and displaying images but also instantly sharing them, via the Internet or messaging services. A photograph no longer moves in fixed and linear fashion from a capture device (camera) to a processor (darkroom or chemist) to a viewing context (family album) (pp. 245, Palmer, D. 2014)”. Therefore, ‘Networked Photography’ refers to this authoring, publishing and distributing of photographs on said SNSs within the ‘Network’.

‘Analogue Video’ began with the use of Reel-to-Reel film taping, where they used magnetic tape/film, which was then threaded through the reel-to-reel camera and onto an empty reel to be used to record. This kind of filming technique developed into newer technologies such as the cassette tapes and the VCR system, which allowed analogue film-makers to publish and distribute these films in a whole new means. Prior to these newer technologies, they were only able to send the one and only copy of the film reel around the world to view. They were now able to duplicate these films, to then distribute them to be screened and viewed, worldwide – changing the way that film-makers author, publish and distribute video content. “Analogue recording is a linear process involving the creation of variations in a recording medium that correspond to variations in the signal being captured… Analogue devices, such as VCRs, tape and record players, read analogue media by physically scanning these variations (NSW State Archives, 2020)”. These signals that were being captured in ‘Analogue Video’ were what the famous White and RGB (Red, Green, Blue) cables (or Composite Video Cables) were in the back of an Analogue TV were for. These picked up the audio and video signals that were captured within the recording of ‘Analogue Video’. While the introduction of ‘Analogue Video’ was a game changer for media practitioners worldwide – the way they author, publish and distribute video was about to develop and change again with the introduction of digital video, thus the ‘Networked Video’.

‘Networked Video’ is authored with digital devices, that use the digital binary code system, and can be read by computers and mobiles as well as TV/Cinema screens. It’s now the standard video method we use, that is non-linear – meaning we are able to edit and play-back at any point, as many times as we like, without damaging the quality of the film; Unlike ‘Analogue Film’, which degrades after use, destroying the quality of the film each time we play it back. “Digital devices such as CD recorders and camcorders convert the signal and turn it into digital information – a sequence of numbers – sampling at set intervals.(NSW State Archives, 2020)”. The higher this sampling rate is, the higher the quality of the video. When we look at defining the term ‘networked video’, we must look at the terms ‘network’ and ‘video’ separately, first. The term ‘Network’ refers to the internet, and the Social Networking Sites (SNSs) that users engage with to ‘Network’ with one-another. The ‘Video’, is considered an electronic medium, meaning that it’s authored/produced on digital cameras and are dependent on the the electronic transfer of signals – signals that are generated within a camera, that are constantly moving, and have the ability to circulate between recording and reproduction equipment. Video “makes use of one track for image and one for sound… The simultaneity of recording and reproduction differentiates video from the photo-chemical recording media, photography, and film (pp. 1, Spielman, Y., 2007)”. If we then look at these terms together, ‘Networked Video’ refers to video content that is published on the World Wide Web and are distributed throughout the ‘Network’.

Once we have considered all of this, it is clear to see how the shift from ‘Analogue Media’ to ‘Networked Media’ had a direct impact on the way media practitioners author, publish and distribute media. This is important to note, when moving towards unpacking the courses prompt of ‘How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

CITATIONS

NETWORKED MEDIA: W8 – Networked Video (Practice Analysis)

NETWORKED MEDIA

TASTY (BUZZFEED) – @buzzfeedtasty

“Instagram is more than one thing: it is an app; it is a series of programs and algorithms; it is a gigantic database of images, videos, captions, comments, geolocative tags, location tags, likes, emoji and more and more items over time; it is a collection of personal data (connected with similar sets of personal data after the purchase by Facebook); it is an application program interface (API) which enacts rules to allow different apps, platforms and partners to access, add or remove data from the Instagram database; it is a series of decisions and developments over time that create different versions of each of these things; and it also encapsulates various popular understandings of what Instagram ‘is’ to the more than a billion people who use it. In short, describing Instagram as a platform offers a continual reminder that Instagram is many different things, some at the same time, and some that have quite radically changed over time (Leaver, Tama, et al. 2020).” One of the most important features, the video, is used in many different ways within the network. “Online video has been transformed from an expensive to distribute mediaform to one which can be networked, shared, downloaded and re-used with ease. Digital videos, a kind of ‘vernacular avant-garde’, can now be found in a variety of short-form genres, from family videos to haul videos (documenting things people have bought) to unboxing videos (people opening the wrapper from their new purchases) and from a new type of YouTube celebrity to amusing ‘meme’ videos (Berry, T. B 2018).” This has changed the way photo and video practitioners share their work, opening a new way of monetising online, through clicks and views – with Instagram becoming one of the most popular avenues to do so. @buzzfeedtasty

When we look for an example of the online video being used this way on Instagram, we look to Buzzfeed Tasty, an Instagram account that is attached and apart of the original Buzzfeed blog-site; which has a main focus on short online video based content used to teach people ‘easy’ and ‘quick’ recipes, as well as promoting longer video content of theirs that can be found on IGTV or other SNS platforms such as YouTube.

An example of their work is this one-minute tutorial video on what they call “Hash-brown Waffles”, posted to their Instagram on 26th April, 2020. Buzzfeed work to strict time limits, with all of their tutorials hitting a rough one-minute mark. What’s interesting about Buzzfeed Tasty, is that they have a team of content creators that contribute to their page (which you can see in the referenced image above, just below their description box), as opposed to one person running the account alone.

This means that we can presume that the “Hash-brown Waffle” video, was authored by multiple content creators – the food created by one person, shot by another person, edited by someone else, and so on, so forth.

Published to the World Wide Web, on the SNS Instagram to be specific, well as being distributed on their other Tasty accounts on their original Buzzfeed blog-site and other SNS accounts such as Facebook and YouTube – With the intention to make money through clicks/views, and distribute their content as far around the world as they can, on as many platforms as they can, across the World Wide Web to do so.

CITATIONS

NETWORKED MEDIA: W7 – Networked Photography (Practice Analysis)

NETWORKED MEDIA

BRAD ELTERMAN (Born: 19 September 1956)

A conversation with 70s Iconic Photographer: Brad Elterman ...

ShootTokyo, 2020, A conversation with 70s Iconic Photographer: Brad Elterman — ShootTokyo, <https://shoottokyo.com/blog/conversation-70s-iconic-photographer-brad-elterman> [Accessed 18 April 2020].

“Camera phones represent something new in the history of photography, because they are capable not only of recording and displaying images but also instantly sharing them, via the Internet or messaging services. A photograph no longer moves in fixed and linear fashion from a capture device (camera) to a processor (darkroom or chemist) to a viewing context (family album) – camera has itself become a viewing device and a mass communication platform. As a result, images are in constant circulation, endlessly multiplying (Palmer, D. 2014)”. This paved the way for many online platforms to showcase images, making it a simple as a few taps away for media practitioners to share their work with the including; including the SNS Instagram.

An example of a photography/media practitioner, who has make the switch from Analogue Photography to Networked Photography across his career, we look to Photographer Brad Elterman. “Originally from the San Fernando Valley, Elterman rose to acclaim early, managing to save enough from the proceeds of his photo sales to German and Japanese magazines Music Life, Rock Show and Freizeit to land his own West Hollywood apartment while still in his teens. Ingratiating himself as the go-to biographer of the Sunset ‘in’ crowd, the young photographer soon gained access to the kind of Hollywood inner-sanctums unthinkable now in an era where even the youngest stars’ careers are micro-managed by publicists, managers and social media gurus (Elterman, B. 2020)”. “In a time when most photographers decided to portray these artists performing on stage under the glitz and spectacle of the limelight, Elterman decided to point his camera in the opposite direction…He portrayed these idols in their downtime, presenting them as normal people that watched TV, ate fries and played soccer. Curiously, while he renders these superstars as vulnerable human beings, he does it with such taste and respect, it actually exalts them… His work has been published almost everywhere, from NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, and the National Enquirer, to now extinct magazines like Popcorn in Germany, Pop Foto in Amsterdam, and Rock Show in Tokyo (Feature Shoot, 2020)”. Elterman, making his career in the 70’s, physically went through the shift from Analogue Media to Networked Media himself – now taking to Instagram to showcase both his analogue works from the past, as well as images taken from his phone and shared to the platform as it happens; Making use of the platforms algorithm in two ways, promotionally (in the way he promotes his own image and showcases his work) and in the way that he uses its ability to instantaneously connect with the world.

“I have been so blessed to have had the most incredible talent in front of my camera during the 70’s and today.”

“I cut the Cymbidiums today. #cymbidium”

We can look to two examples of this when we take a deeper observation of his profile. The first image we look at is a photograph from the Analogue Photography era, reposted and repurposed on his Instagram page. Here we see one of the many images of Joan Jett that Elterman took in the 1970’s. Elterman has posted it to his Instagram with the intention to promote his self-image through highlighting and   showcasing his prior works. Then when   we look to the second image (posted   April 9, 2020) from his Instagram profile,   we see that he has posted a photograph,   clearly taken from his mobile phone (we   can presume, for this examination, he   owns an iPhone – one of the most   popular mobile/camera phones on the   market), and posted to his Instagram   profile with the intention to use its platform to connect with the world in real time.

The first image of Joan Jett was taken in the 70’s, meaning that it was created using Analogue Photographic methods. Due to the fact that he was a young teen when beginning his photography journey, and the fact that the image was authored in the 70’s, we can presume Elterman used a 35mm Point-and-shoot camera – camera’s, that were popular at the time. We then can assume he then would have had chosen his negatives through a magnifying glass, ensuring he kept dust off the negative as he placed it in the enlarger; exposed onto photographic paper; the photographic paper was then put through trays of developer, stop bath and fixer and the printed photo was hung up to dry with pegs.

While the second image was published directly to Instagram, and distributed no further, some people may repurpose this in posting the image to their own SNS profiles (i.e. Fan profiles). However, the first image of Joan Jett was taken as one of many images that Elterman took of Jett during their private time spent together over the 70’s, and Jett being one of pop musics biggest icons – the images were (and still continue to be) published and distributed in magazines, and now online on websites all over the world wide web. An example of this is, is presented in an article published by Vice Magazine, where the author discusses the exact photos of Joan Jett with Elterman, and what exactly happened to the negatives in terms of publishing and distributing, stating “Back in the 70s, when I was super prolific with my camera, I would mail my color slides and black-and-white prints to magazines all over the world—I did keep and file my black-and-white negatives. A few years ago, I was in Tokyo and went back to Shinko Music, which published the glossy Music Life and Rock Show magazines. They published everything I sent them, and I became their Los Angeles correspondent. When I got there, everyone was gone except for an elderly security guard who told me that everyone left years ago and that he had no idea what happened to their archives. This wasn’t an isolated phenomenon. Every single one of the publications I had sent to in the 70s folded, and their archives vanished. Thousands of analog photos were tossed and left for dumpster divers.”

CITATIONS

NETWORKED MEDIA: W6 – Analogue Video (Practice Analysis)

NETWORKED MEDIA

NAM JUNE PAIK (1932-2006)

Nam June Paik (The Art Story, 2020)

Nam June Paik was a Korean/American artist, born in   Gyeongseong (Seoul during the period of Japanese occupation in   1910-1945) on the 20th of July 1932. Paik was known as the   “father of video art (The Art Story, 2020)”, who   experimented with   analogue video, “is one of the most manifold media artists when it   comes to his selection of material, constant readiness to test the   implementation of new technologies and cross-boundary activities   (Holling, 2013)” who’s “revolutionary practice laid the groundwork   for today’s   artists working in ned media art (The Art Story, 2020)”.   Paik created different works throughout his entire life, up until his   death in 2006, and lived and practiced through various periods, with his art falling into Neo-Dada, Modern Art and Fluxus art periods. “Paik’s early training in classical music combined with his interest in utilizing sound elements from real life, inspired by artist John Cage, positioned his career early as a member of the Fluxus movement. His passion for combining audio, visual, and electronic elements was formed there (The Art Story, 2020)”. Paik was a pioneer, who predicted many of the things we see today such as social media and internet – “writing about his desire for a ‘video common market’ that would allow for the free dissemination of not only artwork, but also education, collaboration, and dialogue on an international scale. His ideas have come full circle with the advent of today’s Facebooks and Youtubes (The Art Story, 2020)”, and even coining the term “‘electronic superhighway’ to denote what he saw as a future in which technology would allow for boundary-less connection between people on a global scale. His term might be considered the first mention of the concept that would eventually become manifest in the Internet, and is in fact, the term used universally today (The Art Story, 2020)”. This is particularly interesting when we look back to our courses prompt, How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network? One could argue that Paik was the reason the Internet, and subsequently SNS’s such as Instagram, came to the fore. Nam June Paik began authoring, publishing and distributing photos and videos long before Instagram was even a thing.

An example of his work is his 1995 piece, Megatron/Matrix. Megatron/Matrix was one of Nam June Paik’s final works, before a heart attack left him paralysed until his death. Made of 215 monitors, it represents a flashing billboard of sorts that consists of two sections.

Video/Installation Art from Nam June Paik – “Megatron/Matrix”

 “The Megatron is a massive grid of monitors placed side by side in straight rows and columns. The screens show smaller clips in an array of disparate real world images from the Seoul Olympics to Korean folk rituals to modern dance. On the boundaries between screens, larger, animated images emerge, demonstrating the idea of a world without borders in the electronic age. If the Megatron conveys the vast reach of media culture, the smaller section, the Matrix, emphasizes its impact on each of us. In Matrix, the monitors are arranged in a way that the images seem to spiral inward around a lone, central screen showing two partially nude women. The artist may be suggesting that our bodies are our primal connection to the world, but like the lone screen we are surrounded by “too much information” – The Art Story, 2020. Nam June Paik Art, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory

Megatron/Matrix is a symbolisation of Nam June Paik’s awareness of the power of video technology and how it should be realised in the new millennium. Because this piece is an installation, one would presume that the authorisation of this piece would involve the setting up of the monitors on a wall with enough power points for them all. Paik then would have carefully chosen what part of the image/video that would be on each monitor, that would then make sense once put all together. It was then purchased by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. for display – however, an image is available to view on their website.

CITATIONS

NETWORKED MEDIA: W5 – Analogue Photography (Practice Analysis)

NETWORKED MEDIA
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON (1908-2004)

Martine Franck and Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French born photographer – born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne in 1908. Cartier-Bresson developed a love with surrealism and painting early on, with his creative passions turning to the camera in 1932, after he had spent a year in the Ivory Coast and discovering “the Leica – his camera of choice after that moment – and began a life-long passion for photography (Magnum Photos, Unknown)“. Cartier-Bresson’s surrealistic, artistic abilities translated into his later photography work, with some arguing that he approaches photography like an artist, being interested in the structure, the composition, the relationship between shapes in the image before anything else and focuses on: storytelling, portraiture, environment, intimacy, trust, the time needed to take a picture of a person or activity, the instinct needed to capture the right moment quickly without hesitation and sensitivity in relation to observing things and working with people. Cartier-Bresson had his first exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York, paving the way for a long and successful career, with about: 10 awards; 31 exhibitions; 15 collections; 38 books and 7 films under his belt – as well as being the co-founder for Magnum Photos. “He explained his approach to photography in these terms, ‘”For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression”… “From 1968, he began to curtail his photographic activities, preferring to concentrate on drawing and painting. In 2003, with his wife and daughter, he created the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris for the preservation of his work…He died at his home in Provence on 3 August 2004, a few weeks short of his 96th birthday (Magnum Photos, Unknown)“.

Henri Cartier Bresson – Kyoto, Japan, 1965

 Looking to some of his works to analyse, I have   chosen his 1965 piece Kyoto, Japan, from his   JAPAN collection.

 Henri Cartier-Bresson was known for using only   one camera and lens for almost all of his work –     a Leica rangefinder and a 50mm. We can   therefore assume that this picture was originally   authored by said Leica rangefinder and 50mm.   He then would have had chosen his negatives   through a magnifying glass, ensuring he kept   dust off the negative as he placed it in the   enlarger; exposed onto photographic paper; the   photographic paper was then put through trays   of developer, stop bath and fixer and the printed   photo was hung up to dry with pegs. Cartier-   Bresson presents a beautiful shot, that follows   the photography rule of thirds.

Kyoto, Japan was published as a part of a collection called JAPAN in 1965 as a gelatin silver print. While it’s now available to purchase online and through auctions, it once wouldn’t have been so simple to view or purchase, due to its publish year of 1965, and the internet not even having made way yet. The publishing process also would not have been so simple, as everything was still analogue.

The photo collection was originally exhibited in museums around the world, and is now offered to view and purchase through Magnum Photos and other art retailers – giving the collection and piece a global platform.

CITATIONS

REAL TO REEL – W4 : ETHICS CHARTER

REAL TO REEL
  1. Turn the camera off at the request of the participant (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
  2. Show the participant the finished film before the public (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
  3. Love the people that you film. (Rachel Boynton, DOC NYC, 2018).
  4. Respect the participants wishes at all times, it’s important to have a positive relationship with the participant – and that they don’t walk away disappointed or unhappy with you
  5. Always offer the participant food or beverage if the participants are in your space.
  6. Ensure their facilities (i.e. Toilets, Change-rooms etc.) are acceptable if the participant is in your space.

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REFERENCES:

 

DOC NYC PRO: Casting Case Studies 2016, streaming video, DOC NYC, New York, viewed INSERT DATE HERE 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bndwq27kkjc>.

 

NETWORKED MEDIA: ASSIGNMENT #1 – ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

NETWORKED MEDIA
Jessie Caesar
S3787379
The assessment declaration. [I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services (Links to an external site.)]
WEEK ONE
WEEK TWO
WEEK THREE
WEEK FOUR
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (word count: 1,786)
SELECTED TEXT ONE:
Norman, D 1999, ‘Affordance, conventions and design (Part 2)’, Nielsen Norman Group, viewed 11 March 2020, http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/affordance_conv.html

This article explores the concepts of ‘affordances’, ‘constraints’ and ‘conceptual models’ – and is particularly concerned with attempting “to understand how we managed in a world of tens of thousands of objects, many of which we would encounter only once”. The article provides us with an insight into Norman’s concepts ‘affordances’ (which “was invented by the perceptual psychologist J. J. Gibson (1977, 1979) to refer to the actionable properties between the world and an actor (a person or animal). To Gibson, affordances are relationships. They exist naturally: they do not have to be visible, known, or desirable.”); ‘perceived affordances’ (“which are not at all the same as real ones…The designer cares more about what actions the user perceives to be possible than what is true. Moreover, affordances, both real and perceived, play very different roles in physical products than they do in the world of screen-based products…In product design, where one deals with real, physical objects, there can be both real and perceived affordance”); ‘conventions’ (“A convention is a constraint in that it prohibits some activities and encourages others. Physical constraints make some actions impossible: there is no way to ignore them. “) and ‘constraints’ (which can be broken into three types, Physical (“Physical constraints are closely related to real affordances: For example, it is not possible to move the cursor outside the screen: this is a physical constraint. “); Logical (“Logical constraints use reasoning to determine the alternatives. Thus, if we ask the user to click on five locations and only four are immediately visible, the person knows, logically, that there is one location off the screen. Logical constraints are valuable in guiding behavior.”) and Cultural (“Cultural constraints are conventions shared by a cultural group. The fact that the graphic on the right-hand side of a display is a “scroll bar” and that one should move the cursor to it, hold down a mouse button, and “drag” it downward in order to see objects located below the current visible set (thus causing the image itself to appear to move upwards) is a cultural, learned convention.”). Furthermore, the article discusses that “understanding how to operate a novel device had [has] three major dimensions: conceptual models, constraints, and affordances” arguing that the “most important part of a successful design is the underlying conceptual model“. The article states that the ‘conceptual model’ “is the hard part of design: formulating an appropriate conceptual model and then assuring that everything else be consistent with it…The power of constraints has largely been ignored.”

This article is posted to a website, in a blog-type format, making the information within the article extremely condensed, yet packed full with content and concepts, making it extremely accessible to readers. The article is published to Don Norman’s (the author and professors) website, making the information within reliable. The article makes no mention of SNSs due to both its publication date, and that it is more interested with the foundational concepts of affordances, conventions and constraints, which enable us to understand and analyse the difference between good and poorly made products and software – which we can then apply to softwares such as Instagram, itself.

While the article makes no reference to Instagram or any other SNS, it regardless provides us with the foundations required to understand and respond to the courses prompt – How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published, and distributed in the network?

SELECTED TEXT TWO:
Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, New York. (Sections: Networks, Users and Economics pp 163-169; Wiki Worlds and Web 2.0 pp 204-209; The Long Tail pp 197-200; User-generated content, we are all fans now pp 221-232.)

This text is an introduction to ‘new media’ (which “actually refers to a wide range of changes in media production, distribution and use. These are changes that are technological, textual, conventional and cultural… a number of concepts have come to the fore which offer to define the key characteristics of the field of new media as a whole…These are: digital, interactive, hypertexual, virtual, networked, and simulated.) and technology, presenting us with the “conceptual frameworks for thinking through a range of key issues which have arisen over two decades of speculation on the cultural implications of new media” and the “questions, the ideas and debates – the critical issues – that the emergence of new media technologies have given rise to”. The selected chapters within this text take an exploration into the concepts ‘Web.1.0’ (the original and first form of the internet created by DARPA); ‘Web2.0’ (“is allegedly characterised by co-creativity, participation and openness, represented by softwares that support, for example, wiki based ways of creating and accessing knowledge, social networking sites, blogging, tagging and ‘mash ups’”); ‘Networks’ (“Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US, and it was this Pentagon-funded agency that eventually developed the protocols…in order to allow computers to form networks that could send small packets of data to one another.”); ‘The Long Tail’ (“the economic basis of production is changing in ways that unlock market diversity on an unprecedented scale.”); ‘Users’ (“this shift from ‘audience’ to ‘user’ in media studies…it also brings within our reach the possibility of becoming producers in our own right.”) and ‘User-generated content’ (e.g. “every SNS post, or conversation in a chat room, every home page and downloaded MP3 playlist facilitates the individual communicating in a pseudo public mode of address. What is clear is that a great deal of web use facilitates a feeling of participation in media space”) and presents us with the theory and definition behind these concepts as a means to evaluate how technology has developed over time, and the way it may continue to develop in the future. Authors place more importance on the Web2.0, rather than the Web1.0 and are particularly concerned with “the ways in which the desire for communication and the pressures of commercialisation have interacted to bring us Web 2.0 and its expression in the form of social networking sites (SNS)”. To understand these concepts, authors break down the information into easily accessible chapters with in depth summaries of each chapter provided at the introduction of the text.

This second edition text, due to the aforementioned summaries of each chapter above, the text itself is not only highly accessible, but reliable. It’s written in clear and concise language, that’s easy to understand, and is a guide/introduction to ‘new media’ studies for students – meaning it was written in a way that is easier to digest. Not only this, but the text provides an explanation for almost all concepts, bringing in the explanation of each concept in the order that they appear in web history or as they are brought up in previous explanations, and provides us with a quiet up-to-date analysis of ‘new media’ concepts and the technology that surrounds them. While the text does make some analysis of SNSs (such as Flickr), its release date was prior to the release of Instagram, thus no mention of that social networking site is made. However, the theories presented in the text can be applied to Instagram and other newer SNSs, as the author does does make note that the studies presented within the text can be used in future as a means of understanding newer technologies, if used with other newer resources that make in-depth research of the platform (Instagram) itself.

Despite the text not making reference to Instagram, it does offer a plethora of information that’s relative to the concepts that are presented in the course, as well as the courses prompt – How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published, and distributed in the network? With selected chapters ‘Networks, Users and Economics’; ‘Wiki Worlds and Web 2.0’ and ‘User-generated content, we are all fans now’ in specific providing plentiful amounts of information and discussions relative to the courses prompt and concepts. This, paired with its easily accessible chapters and chapter guides at the beginning of the text, makes for a great starting point when commencing further research into the courses prompt.

SELECTED TEXT THREE:
Hinton, S & Hjorth L 2013, Understanding Social Media. Sage Publications, London 2013. (Section: pp. 1-31).

This text provides an exploration of the concepts ‘new media’ and ‘social media’ in relation to the relationship between technology and society and economics. The text is particularly concerned with how social media arose, whilst considering ‘new media’; how social media can re-define our idea of what ‘social’ is; “the commercialisation of the web… marked by this change in attitude, which is described in business literature as the emergence of Web2.0(“Web 2.0 doesn’t refer to any changes in the internet’s architecture. Rather, it refers to the types of software employed and changes at the level of user practices”)” and questioning the “changing nature of what is public and what is private, and where work ends and life begins, as social media infiltrates every facet of everyday life”. To do this, the authors take a look into ‘Web1.0′(nobody talked about Web1.0 until the term Web2.0 emerged. The tag ‘2.0’ evokes the idea of software versioning and its associated marketings, and so suggests that Web1.0 was less evolved, less sophisticated and less refined”), ‘Web2.0’, ‘new media’, ‘social networking sites (SNSs)’, how technology continues “to move into mainstream everyday life in many urban settings globally” and how “SNSs evolve, the term ‘social media’ (“social media bleeds across platforms (desktop computers, mobile phones, tablets and on modern network-capable televisions) across social and media contexts, and creates various forms of presence”) is developing to encompass the growing and often unwieldy sphere of contemporary online media practice”.

While this text is mildly clunky, as the information you are looking for is embedded among other related, but not necessary information. The text itself, however, is presented neatly, and into chapters that attempt to make it easier to find the information you are looking for (i.e. ‘Web2.0’ on pp. 16), making it quiet accessible to the reader. The information presented is up-to-date and applicable to the courses prompt, as the publication date supersedes the launch of Instagram in 2010. It is also a reliable source as the text is a first edition book through a publication, written by a lecturer and a professor from the universities – University of Canberra and RMIT University.

Authors makes reference to many new SNSs including Google and Facebook but makes no reference to Instagram. It does, however, provide us with critical information regarding social media and gives a great foundational point for us to commence further research on the platform. The text explores concepts that are directly related to the courses content and prompt – How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published, and distributed in the network? Despite the text making no reference to the SNS in question, it does explore concepts such as ‘new media’, ‘web1.0’, ‘web2.0’ and even the acronym SNS itself, that are vital to understanding the courses core concepts – especially those related to the course prompt.