Legacy Video – TV Garden by Nam June Paik

Posted on August 23, 2018 by jamesbowman under Legacy Video, Reflections

After looking at legacy video this week, I was inspired to look into one of Nam June Paiks signature art installations – TV Garden, which now lives in the Guggenheim Museum, New York.

On the link below there is a picture of the installation that Guggenheim have put up, however there are many more photos to be found on Google.

Who is the practitioner (what is their name?) and when were they practicing?
Nam June Paik. He rose to prominence in the early 1960s, but remained so until the 90s as he produced a great number of works. He’s widely considered to be the father of TV art, or at the very least a highly influential pioneer of it.

With the photo or video you are examining when was it produced (date)?
It was originally produced in 1974, before being moved or recreated many times around the world.

How was the photo or video authored and published?
TV Garden is an arrangement of live plants with video monitors of all different sizes scattered throughout. Every TV is playing Paik’s Global Groove (1973) on repeat. Global Groove features montages of performers dancing to musically funky and visually eye-catching mix. The installation allows viewers to immerse themselves in the piece by walking around and alongside the plants and TV screens. The original was featured at Documenta 6, an art exhibition in Kassel, Germany.

How was the photo or video distributed?
While the instalment was originally published to the public at an art exhibition in Germany, it has been shown and recreated at many different museums and galleries around the world since. Each of these times Paik’s estate would have received royalties from those showcasing the piece and would have required in the past either himself (he is now deceased so he is no longer able to) or a representative to ensure the recreation was in line with his original vision. For example, Tate Modern Museum in London is already advertising their exhibition in October 2019 that will feature TV Garden (see here). Interestingly, the photo shown on the advertising page is of TV garden when it was featured in a museum in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2002. TV Garden sure has bounced around.

I like the installation because of its ambiguity, and whether it’s commenting on how nature and technology are now forming some sort of symbiosis, or whether technology is as chaotic and structureless as ‘the jungle’ or nature can be.

See you next week!

Legacy Photography – Starving Child and Vulture by Kevin Carter

Posted on August 18, 2018 by jamesbowman under Legacy Photography, Reflections

The image being referred to can be found on this link:
http://100photos.time.com/photos/kevin-carter-starving-child-vulture

Kevin Carter took “Starving Child and Vulture” in 1993 when he was in famine-ravaged Sudan. He started working as a photographer in 1983 and worked until he took his life in 1994.

While I’m not sure what camera was used to produce the photo other than that it would have been an analog camera, it was published less than a month later by The New York Times. It’s unclear whether he had the photos developed before sending them to the US or whether he just sent film rolls. Regardless, the fact that it was published so quickly by the New York Times after being taken in remote Sudan shows how keen the Times were to get it out. In terms of framing Carter apparently took a few photos of the child and the vulture, this one ended up framing both subjects in a way that tells a haunting narrative of the vulture waiting for the child to die.

Being the New York Times in 1993 meant that the picture was published in print. One main difference between such a photo being published in 1993 compared to modern times is that there was relatively low information surrounding the photo when it was published, as the photographer had sold it to a publication in another country. Furthermore the fact that Carter could not explain or defend the action of taking the photos and not directly helping the child meant that he received severe public backlash after the photo was taken. After the event Carter did explain that he chased the bird away and waited for sometime hoping that the child would make it to the food centre, and that he was instructed not to touch any of the children because he could contract infectious diseases. Nowadays, people can publish photos anywhere and on their own terms, explaining and justifying the reasons and background behind them when publishing, rather than having to explain after the event.

The fact that the New York Times, one of, if not the world’s biggest print news publications published the photo means that it gained worldwide notoriety, much more so than if it was published by a newspaper in his native South Africa per say. While Carter did receive plenty of backlash, he also received significant support – particularly in the form of winning a Pulitzer Prize for the picture.

The Times is an extremely highly regarded news source that markets itself on reliability and demonstrating journalistic pride and integrity. As such Carters’ photo fits the Times’ general style and was taken by its readers very seriously. However it could be worth noting that Carter, who was from South Africa, may have had more knowledge about the political and social context in Sudan as he was geographically closer to the country than The New York Times’ main audience in the US. They may have potentially had less knowledge about the condition of life in Sudan and the complexities of disease and famine, as well as the difficult circumstance Carter found himself in. This may help to explain some of the backlash he received from many New York Times readers. It’s an example of what Zylinska (2016) talks about how photography used to be: “photojournalists dispatched to the world’s remote corners that few of us could regularly access” and “advertisers trying to sell us chunks of that world”. How things have changed.

Assignment 1 – Annotated Bibliographies

Posted on August 12, 2018 by jamesbowman under Assignments

James Bowman
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I Declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understand 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 1: Blogs

Week 2: Affordances

Week 3: Networks

Week 4: Social Media

Annotated Bibliography

Selected Text 1 – Blogs

(word count – 602)

Miles, A 2006, Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning, Screen Education, (43), pp. 66-69

The magazine article explores the various benefits educational blogs can provide when used effectively. The article suggests that these benefits are not just limited to the students but states that educational blogs are just as relevant to teachers. The author also argues that the usefulness of blogs is such that using them as a media teaching tool will provide benefits both educationally but also “for the collateral outcomes that blogging achieves” (69), putting forward the idea that blogs are a meaningful way for both students and teachers to become familiar with the network but also to contribute to it.

The main arguments the author puts forward are to do with the users of educational blogs learning to become part of the broader network, but also to create a ‘rich, communicative environment’ (p. 68) within the class network. The reason for this is because, according to the article, blogs offer different opportunities and tools for students to use as opposed to other writing forms like journaling or writing in a diary. While there are many differences between these forms, the author places particular emphasis on blogs being a “public document” (p. 67), meaning that others can freely read, interact and give feedback to each other’s entries. This can then also evolve into user collaboration. This, according to the author, is what creates the unique community that only blogs provide.

The author’s research and theories are based on personal experience, as is mentioned at the beginning of the article, Miles is an experienced university media teacher and most of his ideas have come from his practical experience in this position using blogs as a teaching method. While there is no statistical research used to support the contention of the article, it can still be considered reliable based on the teaching experience of the author, who has “maintained and educational blog since 2000” (p. 66) but more importantly he has personally been involved in implementing an educational blog program at a university. The author also makes sure to mention that these blogs need to be carefully implemented and curated by the teachers, and the tasks assigned need to well thought through, therefore not overstating the potential of educational blogging.

This article provides a straightforward and for the most part useful rationale behind the overall usefulness of educational blogs in media classes. The author gives an in-depth explanation to what blogs actually are and why they can be used as an important tool to keep up with the ever-evolving network that is the internet. The article also provides practical information for teachers, recounting the step by step way in which the author has implemented the educational blogs in the past.

One potential weakness in this articles’ usefulness is that it is now 12 years old, and the “paradigm shift” (p. 69) of the internet that the author mentions has now again shifted. In particular, social media was nothing like it is today in 2006 when this article was written, and this may in turn impact the usefulness of educational blogs slightly as users will most likely already be part of the network in some form. However, it could then be argued that right now is more important than ever both properly understand the network and to become an active participant in it is imperative. While students these days may have a limited understanding or participation in the network, the benefits of educational blogging outlined in this article are still for the most part relevant as overall it provides a more full, conceptual and practical understanding of the network if implemented in the ways that Miles outlined.

Selected Text 2 – Networks

(word count – 550)

Miles, A 2012, ‘Soft Cinematic Hypertext (Other Literacies)’, PhD thesis, RMIT University, Melbourne.

(Section: Network Literacy: The Path to New Knowledge p. 201-208)

This article explores the idea of network literacy and what it means to be a member of the network. The author firstly explains what traditional print literacy is, stating that all the conventions of behaviour, protocols and understanding of the ‘print defined and governed information economy” (p. 201) is what makes someone print literate, rather than just being able to read or write. Using this explanation as a base, the author uses it to suggest that being network literate requires just as much understanding, but in particular requires users to be able to participate as a peer within the network.

The author contends that to be network literate “is to contribute as much as it is to consume”, and that this is what is the biggest difference between print and network literacy. According to the article, print literacy, while requiring some understanding of how to be a peer, does not involve the level of interaction and communication that network literacy demands.

The article also explores the idea of “sharing and naming” (p. 204) by looking at RSS, XML and tagging. His contention is that these are very important tools that foster the interaction between users that network literacy demands; these are the tools that allow users to find, mix, generate and ‘weave’ together all the various parts of information that is available to us on the network.

The author most often uses his examples of print literacy to articulate the differences and similarities to network literacy. In a sense he uses the old to explain the new in this way. While not having much statistical research to back up what he’s saying, the author uses his own experience to justify the relevance of the topic, particularly when talking about what his day-to-day experience is like right now as a media lecturer. The article also relies heavily on illustrating its relevance through personal anecdotes or examples he may experience in his line of work, such as his references to ‘CiteULike’ and so on. Overall the article aims to convince its reader that right now network literacy has become just as, if not more, important than print literacy. As such the author is trying to dispel any preconceived ideas that network literacy might be something that future generations will learn, but instead highlights its relevance to current society.

While being eleven years old now, the article provides a practical understanding of what network literacy actually is, breaking it down to make it easy to understand and even pointing out subconscious parts of print literacy that readers will already know. Despite its age and how the network has evolved since being written, the article maintains its relevance through the network still being reliant on user participation and collaboration. The idea that network literacy requires just as much user contribution as it does consumption of information is useful in understanding how the network functions as a whole. Moreover, the pieces’ suggestion that writing in the network is now done with the awareness that anyone may read it is as relevant as ever. The article also provides useful information on the concept behind tagging, subscribing and archiving and using these functions to collaborate and weave together different parts of the network as understanding these gives a clearer picture as to what the network actually is.

Selected Text 3 – Social Media

(Word count – 544)

Siapera, E 2013, Understanding New Media, London, SAGE Publications, pp.1-16.

This chapter of Understanding New Media (Siapera, 2013) attempts to develop the idea of “new media” and look into what that actually means. The author validates their reason for exploring the concept by stating that humanity and media are fully linked, and “understanding media therefore means understanding humanity” (p. 2). The chapter also explains why the author chose the title of the book “Understanding New Media” rather than “Understanding Digital Media” or “Understanding Online Media”, then unpacking each of those terms and explaining why they aren’t suitable titles for such a broad subject, while admitting that the term ‘new media’ still has its flaws. The third part of the chapter is then devoted to exploring the reasons why we should study media and technology, again reiterating that to understand humanity properly, the human relationship with media and technology must also therefore be understand. This part of the chapter however is then broken into summarising and explaining the theories of four different “thinkers”: McLuhan, Kittler, Stiegler and Castells.

Put simply, McLuhan’s theory on the relationship between humanity and media and technology is summarised by the statement: “the medium is the message” (p. 7). It essentially suggests that the importance of media should not be placed on the content but how the content is being broadcast. Kittlers theory, while similar to McLuhans’, places a bigger influence on interpreting how the development of technology is very structured and “reveal the operation of power” (p. 9). Stieglers’ theory differs from both. Rather it suggests that media and humanity are “inextricably bound” (p. 11), and that the evolution of both should be studied without prioritising either one as they “co-determine each other” (p. 9). Castells’ point of view is the most different however, as he theorises that “new technologies are associated with a new form of social network” (p. 14). In this way the author interprets Castells’ theory as one based around the idea of the network.

This chapter overall offers a useful discussion around what new media is and why it’s so important. The research is quite extensive, and most points are validated by other works of thinkers like McLuhan, Kittler, Stiegler and Castells, but also many more. It is a useful introduction to the exploration of new media and would be particularly useful for someone who had little prior knowledge on the topic. The authors’ offering of different counter points on the topic allows the reader to understand the conflict within trying to understand and define new media and the relationship between it and humanity, however only through the lens of her summations. One weakness of this piece may be that some of the concepts are touched on and not fully explained (this is because it’s the opening chapter of a whole book on new media), and as such is most useful as an overview on the broad topic of defining new media and its relationship with humanity rather than an in-depth look at one aspect of new media in particular. However, all in all the piece serves its purpose effectively as it presents a brief explanation as to why new media is bigger than just online media or digital media, but more significantly why new media should be studied to better understand the evolution of society.

Week 4 Reflection – Social Media

Posted on August 8, 2018 by jamesbowman under Reflections

This blog post will look at the following reading as well as the basic concept of ‘new media’, ‘social media’, and how they fit into Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.

Siapera, E. (2013). Understanding New Media. London: SAGE Publications, pp.1-16.

This week we’ve taken a look into how the World Wide Web is, like all “new media”, is evolving and becoming the Web 3.0. Looking at this through the lense of Norman (1988), the new web is all about the ‘constraints’ of controlling the user, the ‘affordances’ of user freedom, and the ‘mapping’ of the illusion of user control.

Current social media networks (like Instagram) that work are the ones that feel that they are both easy to use and are personalised to the user. For example, when you search for certain users or pages on Instagram, this will inform the algorithm for suggested pages to follow or photos that pop up on your ‘explore page’. The same applies for when a user searches for certain things (think fashion, cars, special interests etc.) on the network that may even be separate to Instagram. Instagram then collects the metadata and advertises or ‘sponsors’ posts for you to see based on your previous searches, hoping that this fits within your interests and then leads to you spending your money on these products/services advertised (see images below). This is how Instagram has created a direct way of monetising their product through collaboration with business partners that want to advertise on their platform, and it is Web 3.0 exemplified.

Instagram knows that in the last few weeks I have: searched international flights, watched movie trailers and booked an Oktoberfest ticket. It then advertises accordingly – leaving me a prisoner of my own searches.

As long as this creates user satisfaction and convenience, it is an example of getting the mapping right. But every so often these suggestions seem too keen, and sometimes after just one search of a certain thing that user is now held captive by it; surrounded by suggested pages or products that the algorithm believes they will be interested in. This is where the constraints in this particular example lay. If the user no longer feels that what is being suggested for them is actually personalised and instead just regular advertising – the purpose is defeated.

Going back to the prompt, ‘how do the affordances of Instagram impact the way affect the way photos and videos are being authored, produced and distributed in the network?’, I now see what McLuhan and Kittler are talking about (see reading) in relation to user behaviour being determined by technology, rather than the other way around. While I’m not sure if I agree that this is the case with all technology, it does seem to make sense in the case of Instagram – that our user habits are shaped more by the changes the creators make than

they are by natural user evolution. However there has to be some level of user influence on the direction of Instagram or any successful app so as to not put too many constraints in place, and I think that’s what Stiegler (1994) is trying to say in that in almost every case technology and humans are bound together.

Overall I’ve found the idea of Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 a really interesting topic and I’m looking forward to exploring this further in relation to both Instagram and in the other topics coming up in the next few weeks.

Week 3 Reflection – Network

Posted on August 4, 2018 by jamesbowman under Reflections

This blog post will look at the following reading on network literacy.

Miles, Adrian. Soft Cinematic Hypertext (Other Literacies). RMIT University, 2012. (Network Literacy: The New Path to Knowledge 201-208).

Before this week I’d never considered the other aspects of being “print literat” (201) other than the simple aspects of being able to read and write, which is just simply being literat. In this reading Miles points out the many different skills and the deeper level of understanding required of someone to be actually print literat, whether it being able to mark a page, finding the publisher of a book, using the table of contents or being able to look for books in a library. He then uses this concept to explore the idea of “network litaracy” (201) and the ways in which it greatly differs from print literacy, as well as its importance to everyone on the network.

Network literacy, at the most basic level requires the knowledge and understanding that content is “distributed across the network” (203) and is then readily available to everyone else on the network. Moreover, being network literat means that the user understands that they can consume other users content as much as it is the other way around. According to Miles, “…to be ‘good’ at network literacies is to contribute as much as it is to consume.” (204)

I now want to take a quick look, like I have in the past couple of weeks here and here, at how this reading relates back to the prompt ‘How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are being authored, produced and distributed in the network?’. As well as this, what network literacy skills are required to be able to use Instagram at the optimum level?

Well firstly, as mentioned earlier, Miles’ idea on a user being network literat requires them to understand that their content is shared with everyone on the network and visa versa (204). Instagram is a social network specifically designed for users to be able to share their own content and engage with the content of others – specifically in the photos and videos. Thus using instagram requires the knowledge that the app is not a photo storage device, or a memory bank or a private photo album like some may use on their phone or laptop, but instead is designed for content that is suitable or even enjoyable for others to consume. Therefore the majority of users like to keep their Instagram content light, funny, happy, cool, attractive or at the very least attention grabbing. Otherwise there seems to be no point in sharing the content in the first place, as it is meant to be for other users viewing pleasure. This means that someone who is network literat understands that very private material or explicit content that does not fit into the general framework and atmosphere of Instagram should not be posted for other viewers to see. While some may, they are outliers, and Instagram monitors and filters out these users and posts constantly. Therefore in relation to being network literat, users who are should understand what is suitable content for Instagram, and how the content that people share on Instagram and the general tone of the app and it’s users differs from other network apps or websites – where the content may be of a different nature.

Finally, being network literat on Instagram means users understand that the app is designed for users to share their own content. While it allows you to share other people’s content for your own followers to also see, it does it in a way that still credits the original user. While some users may use other apps or websites on the network to find photos to share on their instagram (see every ‘wanderlust’ photo of a random girl on a beach in fiji and you’ll know those kind of googled images), it is a far minority who do this. Instagram also have put in place measures to protect intellectual property, and reserve the right to remove users or content that they see to violate their rules. Therefore network literat users understand that at it’s core Instagram is designed for users to share their own personal stories and experiences to then engage with others’ content as well. While they may not always use the app in this way and may share content that is not original, the users still understand that this is the basic purpose of the Instagram network.

I’m looking forward to next week’s topic ‘social media’ and unpacking that in relation to our prompt once again.