I am a "Blogger"....

I have to admit I am not what you would consider a very "technological person", I don't even own an iPod. But what this assignement has shown me is that i can be one. Technology is not just for those geeks that talk in their own technological language, it is also for the ordinary person. Technology can be incorporated into our lives not to confuse or control us, like some us thought, but rather to aid us and enhance our lives.

As I discussed in my earlier posts iPods are crossing the different spheres that make up our lives. We take our iPods from our private sphere, at home, to our public sphere, catching the tram. To many people, myself included, I saw this constant presence of technology as something to avoid. I viewed technology as a phenomenon that was introduced to control us and turn us into vegetables. All this time I chose to ignore technology rather than embrace it.

Through this blogging assignment I feel I have to some extent come to terms with the devoplements of new technology. I may not be one of those people who would rather communicate online, or sit on Mxit all day but I have become open to the infinite possibilities new technology provides. I do believe that a balance needs to be found for each individual, where they can use technology and all its advantages to aid them and enhance their lives but at the same time not let this technology control them. In this case iPods have opened many new doors but I think we need to be careful in becoming too dependent on them in that we feel "naked" if we don't have our iPod in our pocket and the earphones in our ears.

Everyone will approach technology in a different way and who are we to say what is right or wrong. The important thing is that we use technology to enhance our lives and improve our quality of life. I may not be the most technological person but I'm learning how I want to use technology to enhance my life and i can now officially call myself a BLOGGER!!!!!

faster than you can blink

Throughout this blogging process a bizarre new world has opened up to me. It is dynamic and full of mystery, intriguing yet at the same time indicative of controversy. It is not a phenomenon that is without cause for concern. The new media environment has an anomalous effect on humanity. The machine entity; the inert thing is somehow given life through virtual processing and technological malleability. Entropy seems to be becoming an inhabitable space; a new frontier. Being a cyborg is in a way inescapable because today our lives are so deeply interpenetrated with technology that it has become part of our human function that is in turn part of our cyborg system function. Does this mean we are losing physical presence and therefore suffering a depletion of autonomy and primary agency? It is a subtle subject at the moment but one that can not be ignored as we are faced with a rate of change that seems to happen faster than we can blink. In a photographic sense everything today can be automated. Skill can be debased down to simply pushing one button. Susan Sontag, an author and critic of photography said this: "Ours is a culture of excess, of over-production; the result is a steady loss of sharpness in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life- it's sheer overcrowdedness- conjoin to dull our sensory faculties." But we have machines to replace our normal sense things that make hyper sense. The world we live in is changing on a multitude of levels. So stay sharp. Stay alert. Stay alive. Thanks for reading if you did.

means & market

Pictures; the technology to take them and the ends they themselves serve are many. From family snaps to high art to top secret intelligence the photograph is more than just a social record. It is a cultural commodity, an art form, an extension of language, an interactive tool, a source of power and therefore has an active and important role in the discourse of the new media. As I said in my earlier posts the camera is an agent of virtuality. The author Susan Sontag said that it made 'everyone a tourist in other peoples reality and eventually in one's own.' This is true when one considers how common picture taking has become. We are surrounded by framed representations of our own and others' experiences. It helps construct our lives' story; support its ideology and we enjoy it. We pay money for it. We spend time consuming it. It has become a techno-imperialist blanket that society uses continually to cover time and space. An objective representation of humanity. It is good for the virtual collective as it allows communication that transcends linguistic limitations; through pictures it provides patches for the quilt. However, this lasts only as long as one remains tucked up under it in bed with the scientific method looking up at the mirror on the ceiling saying how much they enjoy not having to go outdoors. Outside the narcissistic box many people still live without the use of the quilt as a myriad patchwork of constructed symbolic interface. It maintains virtual communication. Nor the mirror, a metaphor for the screening/ lensing process that is much like a portal between the real and the represented worlds. They speak with their mouths, face to face. Though they may understand images subconsciously they do not rely on them for agency in a cultural consensus nor do they possess the means to utilize them. But nowadays such people are either labelled traditionalist freaks, savages or tramps. Once again we are faced with division; two modes of existence/ activity. The virtual agent suffers a loss of core experience as they engage with the new media. Then there is the human being, who doesn't get to experience the joys of split realities and virtual interface because of limited access. Developments in the traditional machinery however, through digitalisation, micro-circuitry and super plastics are succeeding in closing this gap. One only has to look at photography embedded in cellphone usage as a phenomenon that is fast expanding virtual practice thus connecting everyone with a phone to the digital image world. In some places cellphone ownership exceeds 100 percent making it very hard to escape the social and technological-cultural transformations heralded by such signs. We are all in a sense doomed to activate this process just by looking at a billboard. Virtuality relies on the image and in the new media visuality is at a premium. So what? So read my next post to find out.

Going The Distance....

iPods are undoubtably bringing us closer to our favourite songs and muscians but in retrospect they are distancing us from each other. iPods are filling the space where interpersonal relationships and communication used to be. The emotions we experiance can now be shared with a "piece" of technology we hold in our hands. If we are feeling sad who better to share it with than a song that gets to the depth to our saddness. If we are feeling happy there is nothing better than the latest pop song. And of course there are those moments when you literally could kill because you are so angry and who better to listen to then Metallica, they really understand what anger means! With all these understanding songs that don't judge why do you need to interact with other people?

This loss of interaction can also be seen in many day-to-day activities. In the past people would get together at the end of the day and enjoy their evening exercise with a festive group of runners, which made running more social and enjoyable. Nowadays people run with their iPod. People argue that running with their iPod gives them "me" time but infact it gives them time with their the new best friend. Why would anyone want to run with people and hear about their lives when they could run with their iPods and be totally focussed on themselves? iPodslisten and understand far better than an actual person and of course they will never tell you that you are wrong or judge you in any way.

This separation of people can also be seen when people travel on the tubes. Thousands of people a day are sitting in close proximity to each other and yet they know nothing about each other. They may catch eye contact but thats as far as it gets as they quickly turn their attention to their iPods put on their music and sit in their own world for the reaminder of the journey. iPods in this sense are distancing people not in literally but metaphorically.

Although iPods have transformed how we listen to music at the same time they also are affecting how we interact with each other, or should i say how we don't interact with each other!

so what

Since culture and communication began humans have expressed themselves through pictures. Whether it is on a cave wall or a computer screen an image is able to relay information in the most literal sense. The gift of sight allows people to observe space and the unfolding of time as a continuous whole. The photograph is able to dissect that continuity and preserve a section of it within a static frame. It is this characteristic that makes the photograph a perfect metaphor for the concept of virtuality. The term virtual implies existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact. A picture can only ever record, no matter how realistic and entire it seems, a proportional fraction of the real event via a process of chemical reaction. Thus a photographic subject is never more than a virtual representation of the actual object. It is like stealing time and locking it in a special chamber keeping it there to serve the needs of testament, communication and memory; of experience. This notion adds to the controversy surrounding the increasing digital application, hyper-reality and the concurrent media glut. Are we inadvertently stealing time from ourselves? Maybe we are by adopting more and more a culture of secondary technological mediation; by distancing ourselves from the level of primary engagement. Our realities become confused with the electric, the mechanical- becoming ever more synthetic. Perhaps human experience in this way, as a form of expendable energy isolating itself from reality within virtuality, is acting as an agent of entropy, evolving so that we may inhabit entropy. As time and space degrade virtual interface is normalized bringing us closer to an ultimate state of inert uniformity. This however, can only be quantified against an understanding of entropy and the role virtuality plays in its expansion. That is of yet uncertain though it continues to provoke questions. Like access and exclusion: if everybody on the in side of the digital divide is evolving to suit entropy what about those on the other side? Could the human race be experiencing sub division as a direct result of circumstantial transformation and evolution? Could all this be creating a platform for things we once considered science fiction i.e. a quantum leap? Science fiction, yes that’s more like media but perhaps the distinctions are no longer so clear between my ex- girlfriend’s quantum physics paper and my latest new media assignment. So what? So I don't know. There’s entropy and virtuality. What do you think?

culture vulture

As digitalization expounds itself with such terminal velocity into history it causes ripples in humanity's psycho-social space time continuum. Before long these ripples become waves - waves that are undoubtedly rocking the proverbial boat. Now the ocean can be called progress, the boat can be named culture and the only thing that is for certain in this new media whirlpool is that it is a long way away from the quiet coasts of tradition and conservatism. Digitalization is a radical force. To illustrate just how radical it is take the process of image capturing. Compare the early photographic techniques to the new. Once upon a time it took an eighteen wheel truck to carry a camera on an expedition to snap a few happy scenes of the local countryside. Today an entire fully edited feature length movie can be captured on a device no bigger than a matchbox. I hope the contrast in this image gives a clear enough indication of how radical the transformative power of the digital machine really is. Albeit that the two examples are situated more than a century apart they are nonetheless situated in a category of the new. Much like driving, flying and antiseptics photography is a modern phenomenon. Progress it seems waits for nothing as even the term modern is relegated to file named traditional relics as we move rapidly into the world of the post-post. Like the camera's ability to compress time and space into a single frame so too is digitalization shrinking context. In viewing photography as a cultural product from a new media perspective the implications are varied and the values ambiguous. Singularity can not hold fast its each man for himself.

iTunes Music Store to the rescue!

The idea is to sell songs in digital format for less than a dollar and let buyers play them whenever and wherever they like—as long as it's on an Apple iPod. This truly magnificent invention has found a middle ground between the foot-dragging record labels and the free-for-all digital pirates and for creating a bandwagon onto which its competitors have immediately jumped! iTunes software has become a gateway to the Music Store, where you can easily find and save music to your hard drive, CD or iPod music player—no subscription necessary, just 99¢ per song, or $9.99 for an album. The Windows crowd can get iTunes free, and it offers almost all the same functionality as the paid versions of MusicMatch and Real One, two PC-based rivals. But iTunes is the only music application that will work with the iPod, and it has features—like its powerful search function—that are unrivaled. This program is by far the most easiest and cheapest way to get music onto your ipod...The guilt of illegal downloads and pirating of cd's dissappear, and at 99c, nobody can complain about the price. It gives Apple iPod users unlimited access to all different types of music and works like a music store, but is virtual, where you search and buy tracks online. It truly is a plus to be the owner of an Apple iPod! It allows you the greatest access to all types of music, for a fraction of the price!

The death of the cd store...

The apple ipod and other mp3 devices have made it easier to access music. The painless efforts of driving out to your nearest music store and buying a complete album of an artist, when you really only wanted one of their songs, are over. People are now able to download music from their computers, and transfer it directly to their mp3 players. They can control what songs they want on, and this process is relatively cheaper than buying a cd from a record store. This digital music takes up less physical space in your home...The storing of cd's takes up space, and in addition, the risk of them getting scratched or broken is high. Thousands of songs can be stored on an ipod and accessed at one click of a button.

So why then should people still visit music stores?

Most aspects of our lives have become digitalised...We communicate via long distances and the nonverbal cues of an individual seem to dissappear...A relatively large amount of music is stolen off the internet. Piracy is still rife. Out of respect of the relevant artists and record companies, it is a good idea to engage in the purchase of cd's. There are also online cd stores where you can order a cd, pay for it via your credit card, and they will deliver it to your doorstep in a few days time. A perfect example of the increasing and utter laziness of society. In my eyes, nothing is better than popping into a music store when at the mall, taking my time browsing through all the different genres of music, having a little listen to chosen songs, and really engaging in the art of music that surrounds me. There is no greater feeling than coming home with a brand new cd of your favourite artist, as it is tangible and creates much more excitement than listening to an intangible track on your ipod.

An iTem of Clothing.

In today's world you no longer think of music you think of iPods. They are an extension of our bodies and people rarely leave their houses without their iPods in their pocket and their earphones in their ears. It is as though they are an item of clothing that people put on in the morning to create who they are, their identity, and how they see the world, their subjectivity.

Embodiment refers to our bodies being the most important aspect in our existence in the world. Without our bodies we are nothing. With the new media how we view our bodies has changed and transformed. For iPod users their iPods are as imporatnt to their existence as their bodies. Their iPods have become an extension of their body that allows them to exist in the world. Just as we can dress our bodies in clothing that suits our image and lifestyle so we use iPods as an "item of clothing" that can enhance our identity and not only affect how others see us, but how we see ourselves as well as how we see the world.

For example when we are walking down the street listening to a particular song on our iPod this can affect our mood and therefore how we relate to our environemnt around us. iPods have become such a large part of our lives that they ultimatelly play a part in who we are. People define themselves by the type of music they like and what image is associated with that music. iPods play such an influential part in our daily lives from the morning, travelling to work, to the evening, going for a run, and therefore it is justified to say that they have become an extension of our bodies and therefore affect how we exist in the world today.

Consuming the "lime"...

It has been an ongoing online debate as to whether the file sharing program, "Limewire", has been that of an illegal downloading website. My argument is that firstly, why should it be if no one has shut it down by now. Secondly, the only recorded incident of it being an illegal threat is the case against someone accused of using file-sharing computer programs to commit identity theft who used LimeWire to search other people's computers for inadvertently shared financial information and then using it to obtain credit cards for an online shopping spree. This is somewhat a mild case when taking into consideration the many other scandals taking place online on a wide internet scale. The true beauty of Limewire lies in its ability to access us everyday internet users to an entire world of music and artists. By typing in a simple keyword, connects us to our desired music tastes where we are able to access them and save them onto our computer systems for our enjoyment...The mp3 files can then be efficiently and swiftly added to our mp3 collection on our iPods so to have 24 hour access to our favourite "tunes." With my experience of Limewire, I have had no encounters with viruses or any other bugs for that matter. In addition, Limewire is FREE!!! Some people may perceive this to be illegal as there are no royalties paid to the concerned artists when songs are downloaded. However, only the simple Limewire program is free limiting us to our access, thereby controlling what we download, enhancing Limewires legal ability. It encourages the user to pay a fee, which will then give the user access to LimeWire PRO which gives the user greater access to items that were previously unattainable. Recently Limewire came out with its own store. In this respect, I dont see how Limewire can be an illegal tool. It is mild compared to the way that the file-sharing program, Napster, used to operate. It gives us everyday individuals a chance to share our music experiences, whilst providing more advanced usage of the system at a very reasonable cost...I think Limewire has caused a music revolution!!!Limewire, I solute you!xxx

Through the lens

I would like to use this, my first virtual post, to highlight the motivating forces behind my discussion. My arch-topic is photography and the discussion revolves around various cultural, political and economic implications that the new media phenomenon heralds for the development of this art/technology. I have decided to focus my research under four major headings: Culture, Virtuality and Market are the first three (the fourth will be touched upon later in this post). Here I will try to provide a small history and transformations of the cultural form, its development and practices. Then, in light of the new media context, the concept of virtuality will be discussed i.e. what it means and what impact it has on photographic culture. As an off shoot of the cultural discussion branching away from the phenomenologist perspective I would like to bring the discussion into a more market based light. Here attention will be paid to the political economy of the industry, products and applications as well as the effects all this has on the working photographer. The end goal of my discussion however, remains somewhere in the realm of mystery as the heading may evoke a tone of science fiction and obscure late night programming. It is the topic of cybernetics and it is actually not as out there as it may first seem. I would like to use the initial discussion as a platform to jump into a more futuristic prediction/ discussion of where the world is, and where it is going, in terms of a cybernetic meta-synthesis of man and machine. So if you have a camera, take pictures or even like to look at them you are the perfect candidate to comment on my blog post. Whatever you have to say I'm sure it will be useful to the discussion in some way or the other. Thanks for reading and I hope you will continue to do so as the nebulous realm of the i-world is explored.

The iPod: A love story between man and machine

If a song represents a memory in your head, then you listen to your life's memories -- faster than a mixed CD, definitely faster than a mixed tape -- as you listen to your iPod. It becomes an extension of you. It's like a window to your soul. Everywhere, at all times, it's with you, this personal narrative of who you are and what you've been.Everywhere, at all times, it's with you, this personal narrative of who you are and what you've been. While shopping for Coco Pops at Pick 'n Pay. While dozing off on an SAA flight. While doing leg extensions at Virgin Active Gym. It takes you back to that first dance ("Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls) at your matric dance; that birthday party where you sang like Rick James so loudly ("Superfreak! Superfreak!") that the neighbors almost called the cops; that Alanis Morrisette breakup anthem that reminds you of you-know-who over and over again. It's an obsession, an addiction, a love affair, really, between a man and a machine. To the iPodders around the world, the irresistible, indispensable, irreplaceable iPod is a personal memory bank. The iPod is a very powerful identity technology. The iPod is just one more technology that uses the computer as the second self -- a reflection of who we are as people, a way of seeing ourselves in the mirror of the machine. Your taste in music is something very personal, very emotional. So when you have an iPod and you've got all your music on it, you're trying to say something about yourself. The big thing about the iPod, is the way in which it forces you to listen to your life in a different way.

Images at the click of the wheel

iPods have become so iconic and well-known that having one not only gives you access to the newest songs it gives you access to a new image. The associations linked with having an iPod can change and transform your image and identity especially if you have the latest iPod that can hold the most music, videos and photos. It makes you the "cool" one the group that is the most "technological". iPods are not only transforming how we listen to music they are transforming how we see ourselves as well as how others see us! As iPods continue to transform and improve so people are given the oppurtunity to construct new images of themselves.

Its not just the type of iPod that you have its also the type or genre of music you listen to. People tend to immitate their music icons style and mannerisms in order to create an image they see as worthwhile. People's images are being constructed through mediums of the media. This raises the issue of true identities. Have iPods and the access they give to unlimited music given people the ability to construct their identity not on their true self but on their mediated self which is modelled on their music icons? This can cause major concern as scholars are easily influenced and what if they are modelling their image and behaviour on a music icon like Britney Spears. Next thing you know they are shaving their heads and flashing everyone. Although it is important for people to be able to create their own image, it is a concern when access to iPods for example has provided access to music icons images that people then model their own image and behavior on instead of discovering who they really are!

When apples where things we ate?

In my lifetime how we listen to music has been revolutionised. I remember the days of walkmans and tapes and then came discmans and CD's and now we can fit thousands of songs in the palm of our hand. iPods have changed how we listen to music, how we gain access to music and the cost of music. iPods have the ability to carry around your entire collection of music, videos and photos in your pocket. Long gone are the days of scratched CD's that cost a fortune and your entire wall filled with rack after rack of CD's. iPods have opened so many doors that allow for infinite possiblities. iPods give the ordinary person access to any song they want. In the past if you wanted a specific song you would either have to wait for hours for it to come onto the radio and then quickly record it onto tapes or you would have to buy a whole CD for one song. iPods are taking us into the future, they save us time, space and money. Who knows with this revolutionary development what other doors will open. Maybe older forms of media, like the radio will become unnecessary as people move into a world dominated by iPods?

Music at our fingertips???

iTunes have made it possible for our infinitive access to the world of music...Every company possible has asssociated itself with iTunes in one way or another giving us maximum exposure to endless audio material... This access has brought us closer to the world of music, encouraging us to increase our knowledge on such a topic. The advantages, well, music knowledge television shows such as "Noot Vir Noot" have become a piece of cake, however, what about the detrimental effects this endless access to music has on our youth of today. With this freedom of music dowloads etc...comes the inability to monitor what sort of music your children are listening to...Artists such as Eminem or Korn...hmmm...well would anyone want their child to be exposed to "burn my dog and kill my cat" type of music? Remember, a childs brain is like a sponge...absorbing everything he or she encounters...Where is the limit if there is endless access to itunes???