List Of Illustrations
Figure One – Wired, Editor unknown, Issue number unknown
Figure Two – Wild Planet- The B-25’s, Designed by Robert Waldrop, 1980
Figure Three – Zoo, Editor- Damien McSorley, Annie Kilner, 21.02.14
Figure Four – Social Networking Sights, Google Images, 03.03.14
Figure Two – Wild Planet- The B-25’s, Designed by Robert Waldrop, 1980
Figure Three – Zoo, Editor- Damien McSorley, Annie Kilner, 21.02.14
Figure Four – Social Networking Sights, Google Images, 03.03.14
Visual Culture Essay
This essay will be discussing the social and cultural impact of digital technology of the production and consumption of visual communication from the 1980s to the present day. It will explore the development of digital equipment becoming more accessible and easier for the general public to use, such as computers and design programs like Photoshop and Light room. It will then discuss how this has affected the work of certain professions and why? Not forgetting the creation of a vast range of social media websites such as Facebook and how they can affect people in both good and bad ways.
The computer was a big part of the creation of digital technology it wasn’t so much what they could do with it at the time, as all you could really do was write letters, even then you could not do anything with them. It was what was going to be invented for computers that have changed the world. It was the birth of the Internet that was the huge revelation, and has shaped the way we live today. Before the Internet was about the way to get information out would by printing it on newsletters, posters and newspapers, these are still around today but the Internet has become for convenient for people to use, the Internet can be seen as a highly sophisticated printing press
Tim Berners-lee was the man behind the Internet who launched it just 25 years ago. His intention of creation the Internet was that every one could connect and share information for free. But he is now worried that larger corporations are going to go to far with how they can misuse the Internet. ‘I believe the future of the web is under threat from some governments that may abuse their powers, some businesses that may try to undermined the open market, and form criminal activity.’ It is exiting but also worrying at the same time to think how advanced the Internet is going to be in the future.
The Internet plays a huge part in our society; it is just an endless net of possibilities that is getting added to every single day. When the Internet was launched it is odd to think that there was only a couple of pages that had been made, this was a huge revelation for the computer. It could now be used for more than just writing letter, you could now send them thanks to the invention of email. But in today’s society it is used for absolutely everything such as advertisement, contacting, gaming, gambling and it even goes as far as people researching self-diagnoses. This could be where people go to far with the use of researching and end up scaring themselves.
The list is endless but one of the main things the Internet is used for would definitely be social media websites. And the list of social networking sites is also becoming endless. There is nearly a social network site for sharing everything such as videos, conversations, pictures, music and profiles.
This image is just a small insight to how many social media websites there are out their available sharing billions of photos and comments.
There are so many now that it is hard to believe that they once didn’t exist, this has definitely had a social impact on the way we live our lives today. It has become so easy to talk and see people; you can even keep in touch with friend, family or anyone in another country with no issues. Before the Internet you would have to make expensive phone calls without getting to see anyone, in addition to this you might only have had a conversation overseas once a month rather to whenever you might like. But now you can Skype and Google plus anybody, any time. It’s even used for business meetings so you can make money across the world without even going to that specific country that you might be working with.
‘Digital technologies help people to be more productive and successful. Nearly everyone agrees that technology has raised the standards of living and will continue to provide increased benefits’
But on the other hand the Internet has its downsides, like the dangers of children on social media websites talking to strangers and being exploited. The Internet has become easier for bad people come together and work with each other to come up with ideas and tips for how to get about grooming children on social networking sights. As a resort of children spending more of there time online they might consider it a bit of fun talking to someone new unknowing that they might have created a fake profile and be the complete opposite of who they might say they are. This is now a problem that is happening so often, that there is even a TV program called ‘Catfish’. This is a program where two men investigate people’s individual cases to find out if whom they are talking to is who they say they are.
Most of all the amount of bulling that happens on them would be too hard to avoid, if you are signed up to a lot of sights. Unlike before when they didn’t exist the bulling would stop outside your home. But by being connected to the world via Internet you can then bring the bulling into your house. But you would think the bullied would delete their accounts but social media websites are addictive and people need to see what is happening in the world and with other people’s lives. The most substantial issue to young people spending so much time on social media websites and the internet is that instead of making up their own games and playing with friends in real life and learning general childlike understandings. They are playing on computers in their houses and not connecting to real life people. This could have knock on affects like social anxiety when they are older, they might find what we would call normal situation awkward and uncomfortable to deal with. There is also the problem that it may be easier to earn and spend money on the internet but by having all your private information on there, it is not as secure as keeping it to yourself. There are all sorts of different viruses being created to target people using online shopping and banking and it is just another way to get scammed online. The use of fake websites has increased and they are another way of scamming you online, especially ticket websites such as sports and music events, as you cannot really tell if the website is legitimate or not. But there is guidance for things like this that is given when purchasing tickets online. There are usually a list of recommended links that are safe to use and as long as you follow the advice that is given it is usually okay. But it is still not as safe as purchasing things face to face, like it used to be before the Internet.
Another downside to social networking sights would be the impact it is having on small businesses. For example photography, you would have had to employ a photographer to take good quality photos. But now there is a wide variety of picture sharing on social networking sights such as Flicker, Tumblr and Instagram. This means that people can steel photos really easily from a number of websites, rather than paying for a photographer. ‘The advent of digital cameras brought on a new era in photography and it's a prolific one. The number of photos we take each year has sky rocketed. In fact, in a recent presentation by Yahoo!, it was claimed that as many as 880 BILLION photos will be taken in 2014 if we continue on the current trend.’
Another key factor of the development of digital technology would be creations like Photoshop and image manipulation programs. Before they were invented the way that artist use to create new works of art was to produce a new style of manipulating images. This was pretty much cutting and sticking images in different positions layering up different pictures to create one work of art, this started to create a pop art affect, witch became really popular with musicians and their album covers.
But now there is a range of image manipulation programs that are able to do just about anything to an image that you can visualize. It is a great invention for the likes of artists, graphic designers and photographers. It allows them to be more creative and produce modern and unique work. But now it is accessible to anyone this has had an impact on the industry of creative designers. As anyone one can now use these programs more work is being produced without the right knowledge on how to use it properly. The people using it might think that what they are doing looks good but a lot of work now that is being produced looks scruffy and unprofessional. This could reflect on professionals pricing, as they would have to put up their rates because of the increasing competitive market. Then again if these armatures are producing work that is too good that is equally as bad, as in they can take an average photo and by manipulating it with new technology such as the development of smart phones that also has an impact on the photography industry.
Yet again there is the question on what image manipulation is doing to the minds of the younger generation. In magazines, posters and films it is mostly flawless young women with airbrushed skin and perfect bodies that get showed. This is moulding the minds of young girls and putting pressure on them and making them think this is the right way they should look, or aim to look. And for young men this is what they might start to expect what women should look like. It would be really hard to make young people to think differently as the images that they are seeing everyday in magazines and the Internet aren’t even true. They have been worked on and manipulated to look desirable, and then you start to become envious of the look that is being shown.
This essay has talked about how the use of digital technology has changed the way we have started to live in the last 25 years. In addition to how the use of the Internet is everywhere and influencing our lives everyday with the use of pictures and videos everywhere we look. And due to the fact we are connected with the rest of the world all the time as there is network and wifi connections everywhere we can access the extortionate amount of web pages available to us all the time.
It has also touched upon the impact that the development of image manipulation programs has changed the way we can loose sight of what is true and what is not. Also what affect it can have on the younger generation who have been bought up with being fed fake images, and what imprint it might leave on them being able to judge for themselves what is acceptably right without the influence of the media. But in addition it has come on a long way and has allowed artist to create anything they could visually imagine compared to the photomontage technique that was used in the earlier days.
The last point that was discussed was what effects the developments of digital technology has had on the likes of freelance photographers or graphic designers. It has mentioned that with the abilities to use the wide variety of digital cameras whether it be your phone camera or a DSLR with the combination with image manipulation anyone can produce work that shows skills and this has created a really competitive market for both industries. This is only going to keep happening as new programs will be invented and will get even easier to use in the future.
Bibliography
1 Succeeding with Technology, By Kenneth Baldauf, Ralph Stair, Page 42
2 Tim Berners-Lee, By Tim Berners-Lee , The Wired
3 Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication, Ann Marie Barry, SUNY Press, 1997
4 Zoo, Editor- Damien McSorley, Annie Kilner, 21.02.14
5 Wild Planet – The B-52’s, Designed be Robert Waldrop, Photographed by Lynn Goldsmith, 1980, From This Aint No Disco
6 Wired, Editor unknown, Issue number unknown, 26.02.14
7 Social Networking Sights, Google Images, 03.03.14
8 Digital Youth: The Role Of Media in Development, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, David Smahel 06.03.14
9 Social Media: Usage and Impact, Hana S. Noor Al-Deen, John Allen Hendicks, Lexington Books, 2012
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