Bloggy Blog Blog

A place to write my hopes and dreams for people who probably don't really care. #hopeful #dontletyourdreamsbedreams

[lisa42k]

Art is Dead?

I have never really paid attention to art before. I did not enjoy going to museums or looking at artifacts because I would rather learn about these things from someone or from a book rather than reading a tiny plaque. Things that can’t be explained and must be viewed abstractly confuse me. Art has never been something I talked about or willingly went out of my way to look at. Social media on the other hand is something that I truly embrace in my every day life. Social media is all anyone talks about these days, what is going to be the new Facebook? How do you market products using social media? How can you use social media for personal branding? These are just some of the questions one would ask in regards to social media.

I recently read an article written by Ben Davis entitled, ‘”Social Media Art” in the Expanded Field’ which he wrote to try to explain the effect of social media on art and the emergence of a new artistic category, ‘Social Media Art’. Davis liked to use the word faddish obsession when describing social media. When you think of the word fad, it means something that is popular now but will fade in popularity, essentially it’s a short-lived craze. I don’t think social media is just a fad, it won’t be leaving us any time soon. It’s here to stay and we just need to learn to adapt with it, just like other emerging technology. By describing media platforms as new-fangled technology, it seems like he isn’t a huge fan of technology in general. It’s like old-speak when he uses the word new-fangled, something that is too new for him to adapt to. 

He has a patronizing idea of what art is as he describes it as being “the products of the traditional, professional art world”. I disagree with this statement because art is always evolving with the times just like how social media has been affecting us individually throughout the years. He believes that all art are visual art. But I think that art can be anything that can stir emotions in people. I know, it’s a pretty abstract idea and I mentioned how I don’t like art because it can be too abstract but like Davis, I was speaking about visual art. I do acknowledge however, that art can be more than just a painting on a wall. 

Davis believes that art is “exclusive” and “closed-in”, however, there have been efforts made to make art less ‘exclusive’ and ‘closed-in’, the social media craze has made art more open to the public. If art is exclusive and closed-in, social media is inclusive and open. He does not think that the two can merge because they are polar opposites. Art isn’t just an intellectual pursuit that only a select few can view and pursue, it is a creative pursuit that is open and inviting to anyone who wants to know. Even though he acknowledges that he is being biased and elitist, he still wrote this article.

In class, it was mentioned that Davis said only special people can be called artists. I believe that anyone can make art, whether it is a drawing, a written piece, a spoken word, a photograph... Art can be in the form of many things and created by any kind of person. There isn’t just one kind of people who can create art. By utilizing social media, artists can exchange ideas and thoughts on a global scale and improve the development of art. Art isn’t supposed to be limiting, in my opinion, art is supposed to be limitless.

[lisa42k]

Hello, it’s me.

Source: http://luvinlifefitness.com/2014/04/30/human-disconnection-the-unseen-energy-string-that-connects-person-to-person-broken-and-restrung/

I had a discussion with one of my friends the other day and we were talking about the days when we didn’t own a cell phone. I bought my first cell phone when I first arrived in university back in 2012. I didn’t feel the need to have a cell phone in high school because I lived in such a small town and landlines were still being used. When I think to years past, I remember the days when I had all my friends’ phone numbers memorized and had a mini phonebook at hand for the ones I didn’t know. The yellow pages book that was delivered annually to my house was often used when I needed to look someone up or find information on a certain business. It took longer this way but there was a kind of satisfaction in knowing my best friend’s phone number, communicating with their parents when they weren’t home, and planning things in advance. Technology has made things very convenient for people nowadays. There are certainly benefits and disadvantages for it’s use but it’s hard to stay away when you’re used to a certain way of living. I have my phone on me all the time, I use it for everything from texting to searching for answers to watching videos on YouTube. I also use it to interact with other technology such as Chromecasting on my TV or playing a game with consoles. It hasn’t been long since the change from memorizing my friend’s phone numbers to having to find them on my contacts list on my phone. I still remember my home phone landline in Sudbury, the sad thing is that that is the only number I remember other than my own.

Last week’s class focused on people’s connection with each other and how technology can either be tearing us apart or a new way to bring us together. We watched a TEDTalk featuring Sherry Turkle, an American professor in Sociology called, “Connected, but alone?” Turkle said that too many texts can be a problem and that devices change who we are by allowing people to deny each other’s being. She states that we are getting used to being "alone, together". With technology, we have the ability to customize our lives and take control over where we want to put our attention to. This results in people hiding from each other even though they are connected to each other. 

Nathan Jergenson, a social media theorist disagrees with Turkle’s statements where she believes we can't separate the online and offline world anymore. In other words, the idea of cyberspace as if it is a separate thing cannot be done. Turkle believes in something that Jergenson has coined as digital dualism which is a trade-off where you can't just have more than one, you're either online or offline, you can't be both. Jurgenson wrote in his academic blog post from The New Inquiry, “The IRL Fetish” that reality and online life is the opposite, that it is so completely intertwined with technology that it borders on absurdity to think otherwise. Maybe the actual problem is how we obsess over how connected we are. We have a sort of elitist privilege over people who can't disconnect. The benefits of interacting through technology is that it is something you can control. The use of technology and social media allows people to present who they want to be because you can post whatever you want, you can edit text, tweak images, and you can look over what you send. There are more options for us now and people choose to use technology in every day life. It is so prevalent in our society that separating from it is difficult. It is especially difficult to disconnect when everyone else is connected. Turkle believes that we expect more from technology and less from each other. Technology appeals to us most when we're most vulnerable. Those moments of loneliness and belonging tend to make us gravitate towards our cell phone, tablet, or computer. In a way, I believe that is true because that’s what I do. When I don’t have anyone around, it’s easy to pick up a device and start a conversation. But communication is 90% non-verbal communication and it is near impossible to receive that when replies are text-based. You can’t see the sender’s body language, facial expressions, or emotions. Without that, you’re only getting part of the message that the sender is sending. However, it is better than nothing and that’s what brings us together. Technology brings people together, being online grows a new kind of community. For some people like Turkle, it might not be the kind of community she wants but it is moving towards that direction of a mixture of online and offline life and I don’t think we can stop it. The only thing can do is go with the flow and try to make the most out of it.

[lisa42k]

I, Human

Source: http://www.fox.co.uk/i-robot

Sometimes, it’s hard to distinguish what is real and what is not. Especially when you’re trying to do that with yourself. Is it really you or is it someone you’re trying to be? Is it a mixture of both? Your own portrayal of yourself in an online setting may not be as authentic as you think it would be.

I am currently using Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat daily. It is a part of my life where I am constantly online, looking at pictures, reading articles, watching cooking tutorials, and viewing another person's life. That's the key statement in this beginning paragraph, viewing another person's life. It's like social media has given me a special telescope so that I may glimpse into another person's life at my bidding. When you look at it in a different perspective, other people are able to get a glimpse of my life through my use of social media as well. It goes both ways and I admit, I am guilty of updating my friends on what is going on in my life through one of the three above outlets. I try to present myself as a creative, food-loving, comedic person. In a way, I portray that (or at least I try to) outside of the online world. I try to be as real as I possibly can online because, in a way, I'm creating my own online autobiography for the world to see!

In Smith and Watson’s reading, “Virtually Me: A Toolbox of Online Preservation” they describe the use of "I" as a version of the author's self, it is a version of yourself that you're willing to put out there. However, it is not completely authentic. Contexts can change and things you write about yourself can change. All the things that make up you when you put it into writing turns out different. If you're thinking about a social media you use (like Facebook) and you're writing a status update, it's not as simple as it being you writing a status for yourself. Your social media profile is still you, as a character analyzer, they would say that the person you portray online might not be the real you. I could be anyone I want to be online but using specific social media outlets such as Facebook where the people who can view my profile have met me at least once in their lives know that I can't just portray anyone. I am whoever I portrayed myself to be when I met them in reality, what I do online should reflect that.

An interesting thing that I noted from Tuesday’s class was that Facebook doesn't allow a lot of configuration, most Facebook profiles look the same. I never really thought of that before. It’s the same for Twitter, Snapchat, even Instagram. You can’t really personalize the settings or the layout. You have control over what can be posted but the look and feel of the posts are controlled by the company that owns these pages. Not every social media page looks identical just like people are not identical. I mean, people can look identical but personality-wise, everyone’s is unique. Even the you that is online and the you in real-life. In a way, everyone has their own alter-ego (or Clark Kent) and it’s hard to distinguish between the two sometimes. But it’s there, and it’s good that we can open our eyes to see it every now and then.

[hipster-and-thoughts]

[lisa42k]

I want. Gimme.

[sizvideos]

This is what happen when you put the racist glasses on - Full video

[lisa42k]

On the Line

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUztQc3TTA

There were television shows and movies that showed what the future could be like with the increasing advancement of technology. I admit, I believed that we would be hovercrafting to work in the future, dress ourselves using funky gadgets, own robot butlers and maids to cook and clean... Life would be easy and human beings would have control over all of it! I wasn’t the only one who thought that this would happen. 20 years seemed so long and within those 20 years, there was a belief that we would have the technology to do anything we wanted to do. There was no limitation to the creative juices that flowed in each and every one of us. The possibilities were endless and we could create a utopia, or an ideal world where boundaries no longer existed. 

The perfect world. The perfect life. 

We created something that was close to doing just that. The Internet. A way to connect to billions of people where anything was possible. I remember those days when computers and the Internet were not a part of my life. I didn’t own a computer until around 2004 and I was content enough to play made-up games with my brother and watch Wheel of Fortune on the TV. The world seemed so small to me, like I was living in a bubble that I couldn’t escape. If I wanted to immerse myself in something different it would have been through books, movies, and my favourite Teletoon TV shows. If I didn’t know something, I would have had to ask someone rather than use a search engine. Now that I think about, I don’t know how I lived without the Internet! It seems like such a distant past but when I really think about it, it wasn’t that long ago. 

Rather than living in a virtual dream, we are merging virtual reality with real life experiences. Video chat applications like Google Hangout and Skype is a combination of the virtual and the real, social media happens in real-time, touch-screen maps are easily available for when you need it. This is something that Professor Beth Coleman would call, “X-Reality” where things can happen at the same time in the same place in reality and virtually. Many things that you need are located in real places and virtual places. Instead of separating virtual reality and reality, they co-exist together. The binary between online and offline is not as clear cut as it used to be.

In the online world, you can be whoever you want to be. You can create an entirely new identity and do anything you want. There are many outlets where you can interact with other people, either through online gaming communities, blogging, online support groups, etc... There are thousands of possibilities and the sky’s the limit. Sometimes, the anonymity can be good for those who might seek comfort in another person but would prefer the privacy of their own identity. Of course, there are negatives to online identities as well such as the fact that there may be people with nefarious plans who may seek to harm others by using anonymous identities to their advantage. But that is a risk that people have to take if they want to keep using this technology. It is within this magical sphere of being online that opens up bridges for people to connect in real-time virtually. I find myself creating more and more online profiles for websites and programs that I don’t even use sometimes. I use my real name and enter real information and I think that it is the norm for people due to websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where the more real you portray yourself, the safer you would seem to another person. I don’t consider myself a dangerous person but someone who read my online profile and has never met me before would not know that. What I can do is try to make my profile in a way that expresses my identity in an honest manner so that I don’t seem hostile or fake. I use real photos of myself and share my contact information as well. Your identity online does not define you as a person but it is indeed a stepping stone to finding out who you are.