Art is Art

Art is Art. It doesn't matter if its been painted, sculpted, molded, chalked, or even colored.

And, in the last class, we discussed whether digital art should be accepted into a category of high standards in this topic.

My answer: yes

When watching those videos posted for us, all I could think about was how well they were done. How much detail was put in them. It is most definitely a group effort. It is not just solely one person when it comes to some digital art. It's a collaborative team, that's what makes it so neat.

The final product can be molded and manipulated many times through digital art, mistakes taken out - when in painting, you have to start all over.

It really shows me how far we have come in technology. That video games are so realistic, and people actually go attend concerts with computerized stars.

I wonder what's next?....   I personally like digital photography! and cant wait to see what the future holds for it, and the masterpieces created.

 

 

Weinberger Leadership Presentation

During our group discussion regarding fun activities the class would enjoy participating in, we came up with this idea of, let's call it, "getting lost within the internet". On a regular basis people can average probably visiting over 10 connecting websites via hyperlinks from a sole page. What would happen if you kept clicking hyperlinks from every page that you came across during a random trip through the net?

Our plan: to have the whole class all start on one website (a few to choose from of course), make them click at least ten to fifteen hyperlinks, and see where they would end up. Then, of course - write about it and explain their experience.

*sort of like the Wikipedia game mentioned in class, only bigger

...................................so, I tried it...............................

I went from a respectable news site to an actors self page of promotion after only 5 clicks. Amazing, the ground you can cover via the net is pretty much immeasurable.

That being said: I do agree with Weinberger's point of " the Internet is a distracting and ‘dizzying’ place that can often lead us to unexpected places". I, myself, was getting dizzy by all the side bars, ads, and the amount of hyperlinks shown. Distractions are behind every click, which in turn, gets users off their initial searches the majority of the time.

There's no way I or anyone else have the time or the energy to see everything on the internet. The amount of information that is made available to us through the World Wide Web is immense. Yes, its free flowing, which, I guess is a plus, but there's no barriers. It's a never ending track that we all keep running. There is no end, like a book or article. There's always a point, an opinion, an argument being made, a different side being shown, an ad to click, or a picture to see on the internet.

If you get bored...

Ever since we watched that stupid "chicken on a raft" video in class awhile back I've been wondering what other kind of pointless sites are out there. What makes sites like the one above entertaining enough to watch for more than a few minutes? What signals are sent to our brains to keep our attention?

If you ever get bored in a class, check these pointless websites out:

1) "I love you like a fat lady loves apples"
All you have to do is use your mouse to move the arm of the woman to pick up the apple and eat it. After, you do it again, and again, and again...fascinating, but addicting. I don't know what's better, the drawing of the woman or the piano background music?
http://www.iloveyoulikeafatladylovesapples.com/

2) "The secret Door"
Pretty self explanatory: you push the door and see where it takes you. Wherever you end up, you get a 360 degree tour (like Google maps).  Oh, and the best part is that every time the door is open, the different destination point. Go explore!
http://www.safestyle-windows.co.uk/secret-door/

3) "Hue Color"
How well can you really see color?
 http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

4) "Sinuous"
Avoid The Dots! (This one is an actual game and is pretty fun)
http://www.sinuousgame.com/

5) "Forestation"
Build your own forest at the click of a button. Have fun planting different trees and placing them where ever you want on screen.
http://www.forestation.com/trees.asp

Personally, I think we keep watching or playing in hopes that the sites will change, that they will do or reveal something different than their norm.We cant understand the simplicity to them, so we complicate the situation by trying to grasp that there has to be more to the site than shown - when really there isn't.

That, or we all really do enjoy playing mindless games, and watching pointless things....

Nahhh - we all must just be really un-interested in lectures.

Average Room, Little People, Huge Connection

"The Smartest Person In The Room, Is The Room"

 

In his book "Too Big To Know" technologist David Weinberger describes how the internet is changing our concept of knowledge. Instead of relying simply on books or articles to look up information, our knowledge has become networked. Any person can now connect socially through the net and relay their own information about a subject. It is no longer only renowned experts or degree-holding doctorates information that can be published . It is changing both what we know, and how we know.

 

"Old knowledge institutions like newspapers, encyclopedias, and textbooks got much of their authority from the fact that they filtered information for the rest of us. If our social networks are our new filters, then authority is shifting from experts in faraway offices to the network of people we know, like, and respect."

 

So, about that saying up top... As the internet evolves and more information is flooded into it, the amount of knowledge available is becoming too large for any one person to understand. The net has surpassed us in comprehending. Therefore, the room, (or network) acts as a connection between those who are hosted within it, their thought and thesis's, and connects them to every other room along side it.

 

"As knowledge becomes networked, the smartest person in the room isn’t the person standing at the front lecturing us, and isn’t the collective wisdom of those in the room. The smartest person in the room is the room itself: the network that joins the people and ideas in the room, and connects to those outside of it"

 

It is this vast connection that is changing our concept of knowledge. Every aspect of life can be mentioned or at least shown on the net. Our realm of learning has become much bigger in the last few decades, that we are going to continue to have problems of clarifications or questions regarding facts. The net, along with technology is constantly evolving, and in turn, so will our knowledge. Do we know what's next, no. I think the question is do we really want to find out?

 

"It’s the connecting of knowledge—the networking—that is changing our oldest, most basic strategy of knowing. Rather than knowing-by-reducing to what fits in a library or a scientific journal, we are now knowing-by-including every draft of every idea in vast, loosely connected webs. And that means knowledge is not the same as it was. Not for science, not for business, not for education, not for government, not for any of us"