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Blog Post #3 via Colosseo, Roma

Posted on January 29, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog Post #3 via Colosseo, Roma

colosseum romaColosseo

@YakustaLeader4

With regards to Walter Benjamin’s “The Work or Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, the images above both represent perception and aura. For perception, first look at the bottom photo, then look at the top one. In the bottom picture there is not much to perceive by because there is not any distortions or anything weird about it. But, when you look at the top picture, then the perception gets all weird and distorted. The Colosseum in both pictures is very visible and recognizable. However, everthing around it is very distorted in the top picture, where as the bottom picture, nearlly everything is visible.

For the aura of this piece, it works very well for the pictures referencing something historical. In the bottom picture, it has a very calm aura; not many clouds, sunny, probably cool. For the top picture, it is very focused on the Colosseum as the center piece, with its surroundings having a distorted aura. But, like the bottom picture, the top also is on a sunny day, with no clouds at all. Also, there is tradition within these pictures as well. For the Colosseum, it was very popular during the Roman Era, with its chariot races and gladiators.

With all that in mind, the pictures above very well represent Walter Benjamin’s concept of art and some of the meanings behind certain pieces.

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Blog 3: Google Map Image and Walter Benjamin

Posted on January 29, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog 3: Google Map Image and Walter Benjamin

snow

@PerrinKyla

In Walter Benjamin’s article, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” he describes that man made artifacts could always be imitated (Pg. 2). This is a Google map image of Kelso Valley Road in Weldon, California. This picture can probably be imitated in many different cities around the world. It’s seen that there is a small road that probably doesn’t get much traffic. There is snow all over the ground and rocks surrounding the small road. Benjamin’s article states that “works of art are received and valued on different planes.” (Pg. 5). The value of this photograph could be seen as nothing but in my personal opinion it is beautiful. Before photography there was lithography which enabled art to illustrate everyday life but I’m not sure that lithography could have produced a photograph like this as well as the technology we have today for photography does. Some could say that the “aura” of this photograph is peaceful and calming, while others could say that this picture’s “aura” is gloomy or cold. This piece could be seen as art due to the scenery aspect of the photo but most of the time the artistic performance is portrayed by the cameraman or photographer. “Man can represent his environment” (pg.11), Walter Benjamin may have been talking about film but this statement can apply to the perspectives seen in this photograph by the observers. It is important that people become more open minded in order to see meanings behind modern art or even to create their own meanings of what the scenery’s aura could be.

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Blog Post 3: Auras

Posted on January 29, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog Post 3: Auras

Here’s the picture and here is the permalink to the picture if you want to see a larger image.

Larger Image Here

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This post will center focus on Walter Benjamin’s idea of the aura with relation to the image attached to this post. Benjamin’s idea of the aura is “the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be” (4). He further goes on to say that this aura decays as it progresses. This is what I am aiming to represent in my image. Looking at it from left to right or top to bottom, one can see on the left the green tree with life; however, as it moves towards the right, this decay of death is seen through the tree on the left. This tree looks rather dead. This is also depicted in the image from top to bottom. The blue symbolizes life and moving down it gets cloudier until the plants are shown rather dead as well. The idea that auras degenerate over time is stated by Benjamin as well by stating that the masses remove the uniqueness of an item by having it constantly reproduced (4). This means that as more and more of the same reproductions come into availability, the item loses it’s value. I once read a book called The Cave by Jose Saramago who was a potter. He usually sells his items to a mall which would then sell his wares to buyers; however, this one day, his work is refused due to the reason that the bowls he makes out of ceramic have no more value or use because of the new plastic bowls that can be made and bought for cheaper for more profit.

 

 

 

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Week 4 Google image

Posted on January 28, 2013 by | Comments Off on Week 4 Google image

greece@CailinJohnson

My image shows a chapel somewhere along the coast in Greece. The chapel is white with a blue door, with multiple people surrounding it. It also looks like there is a town on the other side of the water across from the chapel.

I believe that this image represents what Benjamin’s article was describing because instead of art being something that is produced from traditions, religions, and mythologies you can take a screenshot from Google images and it can be art. The idea of what is considered art has changed. “The uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being imbedded in the fabric of tradition.”(Page IV).  I believe that what Benjamin is describing is that because works like the image I took can be reproduced to easily that the uniqueness that was associated with art has gone away. Now instead of a painting or sculpture taking years to create you can press a button on your laptop and have a work of art that can be reproduced over and over again. Another one of Benjamin’s ideas was that mechanical reproduction has changed how art can be reproduced. “Mechanical reproduction of a work of art, however, represents something new.” (Page I).  Mechanical reproduction is what has made it so easy to reproduce art in mass quantities. With the advancement of technology new ways to reproduce and create your own art are invented. For example that camera which allowed this picture to be taken by Google in the first place gives the everyday person a chance to produce art.

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Blog 2

Posted on January 24, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog 2

After reading, watching and studying the required materials you will feel almost confused. Humans that have interacted with the computer can be either confused or content. Watching the Matrix video you will see some kind of foreign characters streaming down the screen into nothing, the average person would become confused simply because they know nothing about what the raining code, or what binary codes are. For a simple fact that I thought I was pretty good with computers except I just learned what those terms really mean. Human interaction with the computer and information is bare to none understanding. I think us humans get intimated by the amount of information we find and simply don’t always know what to do with it. Or we just consume ourselves with it and don’t attempt even trying to produce anything with it. Though when humans do need to solve some kind of equations or something that may be difficult we reside to the computer for lessons, or depend on the computer to figure the problem out. Like Vannevar Bush had said in “As we may think” that, the computer technology will soon take over the world. I am a high believer in this for the simple fact that the Memex  was just the beginning of what we have today. For instance we use our computers that link up to internet that keeps our “trails” of what we have done, or how we have touch smart phone and tablets that allow us to be mobile so we can get the information that we need just as we need it. #DTCV #WSUCOUGS #Computerstakingover #rainingcode

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Relationship of humans and Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relationship of humans and Technology

@KatieGullans

The famous image from the film, The Matrix, and the video clip that experiments with recreating the “raining code” concept from the film relates to humans because humans had to create it. Technological things are made to make things easier for humans as the world becomes more complicated and advanced. For example, in the memex, it shows a person taking notes on one screen, then reference material comes up on the other one. The people in the image with all the coding, show they are the one behind making this technology.

In a way, I think the image relates to showing that it’s not just math and numbers. There are people in the picture too. In “As We May Think,” Vannevar Bush explains that “If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world.”(42) Humans have a whole mind to put into new inventions. To invent something, they have to know how the human works to make it actually useful. The game of poker can’t be based entirely on the use of the mathematics of probability. There may be some logical in trying to read what other people might be thinking.

People have different approaches to looking at technology too. The physician, the chemist, and the historian all bring in something different. Information is passed on to newer generations and more things are made. I think the raining code seems like unlimited information already here and more of it to come. But the human mind will think of it, create it, and invent it. Machines are nothing without the human behind them. If humans were to vanish from the earth one day, machines would rot eventually and not be of any use anymore.

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Humans&Computers

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Humans&Computers

@ohheyitshonor

“A record, if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be consulted.”  Vannevar Bush, author of  “As We May Think,” states at the beginning of chapter two. The Matrix, a film released in 1999, full represents what Bush is alluding  in his work. The film was released at the turn of the century, when Digital Media was first taking it’s hold on society. Not only were computers a relatively new technology for the average person, but they also represented the vast amount of knowledge that we as humans could never hope to retain and understand. This is the reason computers have integrated into many people’s lifestyles so well.

When particularly examining the Matrix “Dream Sequence” Bush’s idea of continuously extended and stored data shines through. The scene displays of a stream of seemingly random letters falling from the computer screen, as if the information stored was pouring out. This visually represents what humans seek to find in technologies like computers, an infinante ‘fountain’ of knowledge. computers today hold all sorts of knowledge of human’s lives, ranging from casual conversations, to a business’ finances. Humans rely on computers more and more not only to store their information, but to feed it back to them and analyze is for them, as Bush explains as the most important aspect of the digital age.

Overall, it is important to understand the way in which Bush explains humans rely on the lifeless brain of the computer.

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Relying on Technology

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on Relying on Technology

@MyDtcAccount – Jonathan Crabtree

 

Back in 1945, Vannevar Bush wrote that “science may implement the ways in which man produces, stores, and consults the record of the race” (Bush 54). This idea is illustrated in the Matrix “Raining Code” scene by the alleged code that is falling from the top of the screen. This seemingly random pattern of letters represents nothing to the untrained eye, but we can assume that what is crossing the screen in front of us is coding that encapsulates all of the audio and visual elements of our day to day lives. While having all this information accessable sounds like a good thing – and it is – he also cautioned against the idea that technology will one day become such an integral part of our society that we will not be able to function without it. I believe that day has arrived.

 

Humans and technology have become inseperable. We can’t live without it, and it can’t exist without us. Even if we really just focused on “new media” as the technology, instead of ALL technology (i.e. the wheel, fire, a hammer, etc.), humans would still struggle to live. Think about it. If computers all of a sudden disappeared, you could no longer read this. Banks (and your money) would be crippled and disappear overnight. Capitalism would grind to a halt. How does water get to your home? Technology. How does your grocery store tell the supplier they need more food? Technology. Obviously there are some people that would be able to survive, but I honestly think a lot of people wouldn’t make it. As a society, we have become too reliant on technology to make things easier for us, that we have no idea how to handle life without them.

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The Matrix: Relationship between humans and computers

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on The Matrix: Relationship between humans and computers

@RachaelS_dtc

The image from The Matrix and the “Dream Scene” shows the connection between humans and technology, especially computers. Computers use a binary code to organize functions and communicate. In the examples from The Matrix, communication from computers is no longer in binary code, but letters are also used. This form of programming, called hypertext, is not sequential but creates more simplicity for the user and the hyperworld (Literary Machines). Simplicity is important ever since computers became personal devices because everyone is not a professional programmer. Todays computers are similar to Vannevar Bush’s idea of the memex. The memex is “a device which an individual stores his books, records, and communication, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility” (“As We May Think”). Computers are devices that have become personalized and allow the user to give and receive information. Humans have come to rely on computers for information, but computers still receive information from humans. This idea is also revealed through The Matrix because humans and computers are still dependent on each other. Computers were made to improve our lives but there is still a lot to learn about them. As humans learn more about computers and improve technologies, computers become a device that can be used by everyone. The relationship between humans and computers have become very important because of the availability and improved simplicity in programming. The Matrix is a possibility in the future as programming becomes more simple for users because it shows the bond between humans and computers.

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blog#2

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Comments Off on blog#2

@samai14

Computers haven’t been around for as long as humans have, but throughout the years humans and computers have had a relationship. As time passes by the relationship between humans and computers will only increase, which is what Vannevar Bush is trying to say in “As we may think”. (45) “But there are signs of a change as new and powerful instrumentalities come into use. Photocells capable of seeing things in a physical sense, advanced photography which can record what is seen or even what is not…” (vannevar, 46). Humans, computers and information computers hold are very big. As we can see in the matrix image it is made by a computer and looks 3D.  In the “dream scene matrix” you can see the “raining code” you can also see some of this green code in the 3D image. Humans still have a lot to discover about computer and information as Bush says “Like dry photography, microphotography still has a long way to go.” (47) Ted Nelson and Vannevar Bush have similar ideas/theories and as time passes by those theories are becoming facts and reality. Matrix also supports their theories because they are all codes and soon everything will be codes. Whatever does the future hold for us?

 

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