CCT Blog Wrap up: New media, new reality, new ethical quandaries
Posted in The Gnovis Blog
Here at home on Gnovis:
Post thesis, Brad fills his extra time contemplating trends on Photoshop Disaster discussion board. Leading to come interesting conclusions including this comment:
Namely, now that anything can be “‘shopped” (ie, altered with Photoshop), there is no longer any excuse for a less than perfect final image, even if the original photo has problems or limitations. The distinction between a bad photograph and a bad photoshop job is collapsing into a singularity: bad image.
In response to this, Ashley connects Brad’s argument to an undergrad assignment that I found insightful.
I did an art project where I took a photo of myself in my undies (tasteful undies) standing like a Barbie doll and then photoshoped my proportions into the Barbie shape and into a Maxim photo spread. The project’s prompt was to create a “modern day monster” using Photoshop.
Jason vents frustration regarding recent sensational media coverage of violence.
You’ll often here the media argue that crime coverage is a deterrent and fosters awareness. I’d argue that law enforcement and jails do that. Beyond fear and false perceptions of reality, what is sensational crime coverage fostering?
Around CCT-ville
Brad kicks his intellectual tiers around some ideas that arose during his thesis defense.
I was asked about points where my analysis might be able to creep out of “software development” and into more generalizable areas. The specific example was Yahoo Pipes, but it was really a question about mashups, life-hacking, and DIY culture, particularly online.
Ashley happily announces that she had a completed thesis. Check out her Power point presentation to get an overview of all the hard work she’s done this semester.
After completing Dr. Garcia’s Networked Economy seminar, several of her students reflect on some ‘big picture’ take aways. I especially notice
I hope that by applying Beinhocker, and showing the historical perspective of economic and social changes, my grandchild will find some peace in that change is inevitable, but that with attentive flexibility they (like their grandmother) can weather any storm.
Christina Politi who admonishes,
View challenges as opportunities. ALWAYS question your ideas and come up with better ways of doing things. Innovation is part science, part trial and error. Most importantly, engage actively in everything you do, dream big, and never fear failure. ¡Buena Suerte!
Around the interdisciplinary neighborhood:
David Campbell considers the discourse that led to Danish photojournalist Klavs Bo Christensen’s photographs removal from the Photo of the Year competition for color manipulation.
“We cannot justify documentary status through conventional understandings based on a mythical understanding of photography’s history and a supposedly secure analogue past. Photojournalism, as I’ve written elsewhere, as to learn to live with tensions and contradictions as it searches for a better foundation in our digital world.”
One of my favorite Op Ed Columnist Maureen Dowd conducts a truly odd yet intriguing interview with Twitter founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams
ME: Was there anything in your childhood that led you to want to destroy civilization as we know it?
BIZ: You mean enhance civilization, make it even better?
ME: I would rather be tied up to stakes in the Kalahari Desert, have honey poured over me and red ants eat out my eyes than open a Twitter account. Is there anything you can say to change my mind?
BIZ: Well, when you do find yourself in that position, you’re gonna want Twitter. You might want to type out the message “Help.”