In-Class Assignment: Delicate

3/2 Reading Response

The final reading, by Kylie Peppler, highlights the nuances of my final learning objective, 

Think with a critical awareness of the different avenues new media provides.

This is my most ambiguous learning objective, but it is purposeful.  I mean specifically that I want to find ways to incorporate new media into the daily lives of my students and my practice, no matter what either one may be.  Currently, my students are from high-risk and disadvantaged backgrounds.  Peppler takes special care to touch on this.  She talks about students who have been "left behind," and how new media can be the tool for effective change and access for these students. 

Peppler sites that new media has the ability to inspire and speak to children who already know the language through social media and internet culture. It also empowers students to be aware of the ways visual conversations speak with us.  More to the point, students are already rigorous creators and controllers of their own visual media.  Peppler shows an exciting number of students already actively engaged in online creation, and that number is growing.  I am excited to harness this creativity and use it as a method to grow the classroom.  Peppler was able to put into words and data what I felt but could not quite prove: that new media can be critical for having a relevant classroom for all types of students. 

3/1 Digital Collage

In this piece, I hope to start a conversation. I began with the knowledge that Photoshop is great for pasting and cutting and pasting again, which lends itself well to obsessive imagery.  Out of this, I asked myself when I felt that way, "obsessive" or "obsessed with" in my real life and experiences.

I have always worn school uniforms.  It was only when I became older, however, that I realized the sexual undertones pasted over an innocent body.  In school we were asked to wear shorts under the skirt, even in stifling weather.  We were constantly policed to make sure we did not "distract the boys." Why is this ok?  Some children wear uniforms in pre-K!  I used the Photoshop medium to highlight the discomfort of obsessing over young women.  With open-source imagery, I made ample use of the clone stamp, feathering techniques to make hazy selections, and brush sampling from the image directly.

2/3 On/Off Experiment Part 2

                  



I wrote out what I wanted so badly to text my mom.

Hopefully she'll get it in time?

2/2 On/Off Experiment Part 1

For the entirety of this weekend, I unplugged, disconnected, and disengaged digitally.  Before you commend me for my valor (and my dedication to this assignment), know that it was completely beyond my control.  I was in a friend's wedding, nestled away in the most scenic and grid-adverse portion of Mashpee, Massachusetts.  This is wild, uncharted, nature-preserved Cape Cod.  My bars and battery were entirely depleted.

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popponesset_Beach,_Popponesset_MA.jpg



source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod_National_Seashore

I would like to say I handled the art of unplugging artfully.  I *was* entirely more present, although painfully more so.  There were moments when a room full of girls could find nothing more interesting to talk about than the time the flower girl would arrive (her family got lost in the attempt to find us).  I had knee-jerk cravings to hop on Facebook and post pictures of our makeup and hair.  I wanted likes, even if there were plenty of IRL- sorry, "in real life"- likes to go around.  I found that real compliments meant less to me than the digital affirmation.  There were less superficial problems, too- a phone interview call dropped.  My parents had no idea how to pick me up Monday morning.  I had Very Important Emails that went unanswered.  It would be nice to disconnect deliberately and entirely for an extended period of time, but the consequences greatly outweigh the benefits.

2/1 eEtiquette

We are so anxious to put our best selves out there on the internet.  This is one easy way to help alleviate that anxiety.



We suffer from too many pictures of babies, and too few meaningful conversations.



Digital presence can separate people, but it can help bring us back together again.  You need only be aware of your missed connections.

1/4 Response to PROGRAM OR BE PROGRAMMED: Ten Commands for a Digital Age by Douglas Rushkoff

I did the bulk of my reading of PROGRAM OR BE PROGRAMMED by Douglas Rushkoff in the backyard of a coffee shop.  Reading Chapter 2, Live in Person, I became acutely aware of how many Gina’s were in my life.  This is my first takeaway from the reading.  Rushkoff hooks us in with the story of Gina, a high school student who is always on her phone.  Rushkoff says, “Gina is the girl who is everywhere at once, yet— ultimately—nowhere at all…[technology] has not only removed her from linear time, however, but also from physical place.”  The handful of people around me at the coffee shop were all on their phones- except for the mother struggling with a baby carriage.  The irony was not lost on me, however, since I was reading the chapter on my phone as well.  The weekend before I had felt isolated at a table of friends, because we were all on our phones, and we were all looking for something better to do.  If digital media exists in a world that is inherently dislocated, why do we try to locate it?  Why do we choose to live dislocated lives and ignore the people in front of us?  The “always on” culture that Rushkoff describes is definite and unavoidable.  I have lost friendships over avoiding a Facebook message thread for longer than a few days.  I have felt the pressure to respond to a comprehensive email within the first half hour of receiving it.  I do not think I will see any change unless I choose to stay fully present, although I am unwilling to handle the consequences. 

My second takeaway is that I am pleased to see Rushkoff finding the positivity in this culture of dislocation bias.  Rushkoff states: “It allows an entire nation to rally around an issue or idea, forces everyone to notice an injustice that might be happening far away, and even shows how all people are on some level the same.”  Think of the most recent social media movements regarding racial equality.  That education is on such a deeper level than reading a paragraph about Martin Luther King, Jr. in high school.  We are more sensitive today, yes, but we have a hugely expanded world to explore and engage in.  I am able to keep in touch with Japanese students I met 5 years ago, and instant translations allow us to communicate even more thoroughly.  Whether we like it or not, living in a decentralized manner has affected us deeply as a society.  I would love to see more support for local businesses, but I know that I would not have heard about that awesome barbeque spot without Google Maps.  I firmly believe we can make the best of this technology-laden situation by staying informed and aware, and turning off the phone more often.            

1/3 A Museum in Technology: The Museum of the Moving Image

            The Museum of the Moving Image, located in my neighborhood in Astoria, Queens, is so much more than a film repository.  It is a true hybrid museum, highlighting the relationships of media through art, cult popularity, design, and historical context.  It also has a very important focus on personalized creativity.  Visitors can view a screening of a classic film, and then go upstairs to make their own.  They can spin their own Thaumatrope (the flashing card with two alternating images) and then create a series of stop motion videos.  The Museum of the Moving Image makes a point to connect past methods of filmmaking with their modern counterparts, and makes the experience meaningful by empowering visitors to become artists. 

      The Museum of the Moving Image is best known for its exploration of “big screen” film, but it also handles television, computer generated graphics, and video games.  Keeping in line with their interactive mission, their exhibition titled “Arcade Classics: Video Games from the Collection” is a series of playable arcade games.  The information about their technical creation and popularity looms on the wall behind each station.  In “Computer Films of the 1960s”, viewers are met with a composite film of experimental computer illustrations and audio.  Visitors who are more interested in audio can use the sound room to record their own scripts of classic films, and edit the soundtracks or sound effects.  The clips are automatically edited over the appropriate footage on screen, and the results are often humorous.

This playful museum is both exploratory and informative, and they have big plans to expand their reach.  Their online initiative, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org, compiles presidential commercial campaigns since 1952, and it has millions of visitors.  They have an active curriculum for middle and high school students, and an ongoing rotation of screenings and events.  The value of the Museum of the Moving Image is their ability to transform conventional knowledge of moving media.  You may leave the museum with more questions than when you entered.            

1/2 An Artist in Technology: Luke Twyman

Luke Twyman is an unceremonious artist, of sorts.  He is the man behind WhiteVinyl, an interactive illustration site.  After introducing himself as a graphic designer, he quickly points out that he is not interested in working for big corporations.  What fascinates him, and what fascinates me about him, is his interest in science and education on the internet.  Working out of Brighton, UK, he has smartly navigated various social media platforms such as Reddit and Gizmodo to promote what he makes, and what he makes is totally engrossing.  Mr. Twyman marries atmospheric synth sounds to interaction, science, and aestheticism.  For example, in his work Solarbeat, he codes a visual of all the planets orbiting around the sun, creating a beat with each orbit.  Web visitors can see how all the planets move in tandem, and they have the ability to play around with the type of sound output, transpose the key, slow down or speed up the process, and in effect, to make their own “solar song.”  NASA has even mentioned this work in their publications!  In other works, such as BlokDust, users can create their own musical experiments by linking vibrant blocks of color, making both song and image.  Mr. Twyman’s keen interest in empowering web surfers to learn and create is refreshing and exciting to experience.