Assignment 2- Review
Name: Ellie Rowe s3829473
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 Word Count: 1094
How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?
a. Provide a definition for ‘analogue photography’.
Analogue photography refers to photography using an analogue camera and film, in which light interacts with the chemicals in the film and an image is recorded. Analogue quite simply means the information it handles doesn’t involve passing numbers over electronically, it isn’t digital. Photography was once only accessible to the few (Kamila and Zylinska, 2016) and practitioners from this era enjoyed photography and saw it as a form of art. “Photography was celebrated for its putative ability to produce accurate images of what was in front of its lens.” (Wells, 2015, p.14).
b. Provide a definition for ‘analogue video’.
Analogue video uses analogue signals produced when light hits a light sensitive surface. Spielmann (2007) argues, video shares the automatic registering of rays of light onto a surface, and it contains multiple audio-visual possibilities for transforming audio and visual signals collectively. This is something video-art practitioners adapted to create their art, developing new forms of video and visionaries. “These traditional mass media took the form of industrially mass-produced physical artefacts which circulated the world as copies and commodities.” (Lister, 2009, p.17 ). Therefore, with the distribution of broadcast media such as television, analogue video became a major technological advancement.
c. Provide a definition for ‘networked photography’.
“The networked image goes beyond looking at a photograph as a discrete object to consider it as part of the interconnected and constantly changing media ecology.” (Kamila and Zylinska, 2016, p. 15). Networked photography is referred to when a digital camera is used to capture a photograph that is then uploaded through a digital device onto a shared network, such as social media sites, travelling as data. Photographs are no longer processed in a linear fashion. Through the development of the smartphone, networked photography made it accessible for anyone to become a photographer. “No phone today is complete without a camera, the quality of which has continued to improve as sales of traditional cameras have simultaneously shrunk” (Palmer, 2014, p. 245), implying analogue photography is now out-dated as emerging technology’s succeed it.
d. Provide a definition for ‘networked video’.
Networked video is when a video is recorded through a digital device, and uploaded to a shared network, travelling as data. Authoring, publishing and distributing networked video has never been more accessible than it is in the 21st century for users. Through the development of video-sharing websites such as: TikTok and YouTube, users can share videos to a global audience who are captivated to listen and watch endless content.
e. Provide definitions for the terms ‘authoring’, ‘publishing’ and ‘distributing’.
Authoring means someone is the original creator of something. In terms of media practise, authoring is the process of someone creating original media content to be used how they like, whether that includes editing the content produced. For example, with networked photography, authoring is who created that photograph and with what digital devices did they use to capture and edit it.
Publishing is to make content available to an audience. It is the process of making said media content into a medium, that can be reached by the audience and interpreted by them, through the medium.
Distribution is to spread something over a wide area. It is the process of spreading media content to a wider audience by as many means possible. This can include: over the Internet, through messaging, through social media websites and through magazines.
f. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way analogue and networked photos are authored, published and distributed?
Authoring:
Analogue photography involves using an analogue camera by exposing photographic film to light, as discussed in week 5. This is similar to the photograph explored in week 7, as a physical camera was used to author that photograph too. However, arguably, the rise of networked photography is due to the accessibility of a camera, most likely in an individual’s smartphone. Smartphones are not only capable of taking, editing and storing photos, but of uploading these to the internet (Palmer, 2014, p. 245). However, with analogue photography, the photographs can have unpredictable meanings, using unusual shapes, seen with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work. With networked photography, the meaning is mostly clear, with Emma Connolly’s photograph meaning to promote her brand campaign.
Publishing:
In analogue photography, hard copies were used to publish work. These were in the forms of galleries and books. However, with networked photography, social media platforms such as Instagram provide an online gallery for an individual’s work, comparable to a digital portfolio that is aesthetically appealing. This is due to the second aim of these apps: “to facilitate the the distribution or publication of photography.” (Palmer, 2014, p. 248). Therefore, enabling users to distribute their content at any time as it is easily accessible 24/7/365.
Distributing:
Print media was arguably the most significant aspect of the distribution of analogue photography. Being distributed into books and galleries etc, photography was exclusive and reached by far less people than it is today. The growth of online social media platforms aids photography to be distributed instantly via online galleries. With the help of hashtags and geo-locations, networked photography is enabled to reach more users than the intended reach.
g. What differences and similarities did you discover between the way analogue and networked videos are authored, published and distributed?
Authoring:
With analogue video, there is a significant focus on physical objects, with Nam June Paik using videotapes and television sets. However with networked video, the process is online, there is no dependence on physical objects, making it easier to author through different platforms, such as Instagram.
Publishing:
Publishing is instantaneous for networked video. Users have the opportunity to publish their content anytime of any day and it still reach an audience, due to the algorithms social media apps have. However, with analogue video, it was an expensive medium, meaning publishing was very limited for creative artists as only a select few could publish their content if they had the means to. With the example I explored in Week 8, the author published her networked video to IGTV, similar to the example in Week 6 as the author published his analogue creation through a public TV Channel. Therefore, media has done a full circle of publishing videos publicly, while introducing digital technology.
Distributing:
Arguably, distribution provided the biggest difference between the two. With networked media, author’s intentions are unclear. Whilst with analogue, being an author meant being a creative artist, and creating art you wanted to, expressing your ideas through digital labs etc. Being an author in networked media means sometimes the agenda is for a capitalist one. Palmer (2014, p. 248) argues, a main purpose of apps such as Instagram is to have pictures that are more artistic and aesthetically appealing content, meaning authors tailor their content to fit their feed’s, often being a chore not artistic expression. Leaver et al (2020, p.33) states, “Instagram became home for a less official economy in the form of sponsored, promoted and paid messages delivered by Influencers”, thus blurring the lines between original artistic expression and paid content.
References:
Kamila K and Zylinska J. (2016) Photomediations: A Reader. pp.7-16. Open Humanities Press. Available from: <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/photomediations/> [Accessed 29/04/2020].
Leaver, T., Highfield, T., Abidin, C. (2020) Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom. p. 1-38. Available from: <https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1d27kpc/RMIT_ALMA51238311040001341> [Accessed 29/04/2020].
Lister, M et al. (2009) New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, New York. Section: 1.2.1 Digital pp. 16-21.
Palmer, D. (2014) ‘Mobile Media Photography’, in The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media. Routledge, New York pp. 249–55.
Spielmann, Y. (2007) Video: The Reflexive Medium, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 1-6.
Wells, L. (2015) Photography: A Critical Introduction. 5th ed., Routledge, New York. pp. 9-27. Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now.