Final Reflections

          Overall, I thouroughly enjoyed my time in Digital Citizenship. I had no idea what this class would consist of in the beginning of the semester, and I'm not even sure I could give a straight answer to that now because we have covered so much stuff. We explored so many aspects of technology and social media and art that I have gained an abundance of knowledge this semester. The lectures and short films taught me a lot about art and how it influences the world's population. For example, the Free to Play documentary opened my eyes to the world of gaming, which I didn't realize was such an influential area of the arts. I also loved reading Letters to a Young Contrarian. The fact that we had to blog about each chapter helped me get more involved with the book. I found myself excited to read it and I was always fascinated by the points Christopher Hitchens brought up. Blogging about the chapters also helped me develop my own thoughts and allowed me to comment on the controversial issues from the book. The Internet Art book was interesting, but I found that the in-class lectures on the chapters were much more helpful and engaging that reading the book on our own. That book just has so much information that it was difficult to take it all in, but having examples, videos, and pictures on the screen in class made the content seem more real. I learned a lot from the lectures and I always found them interesting.
          The projects were definitely my favorite part of the class. I absolutely love art and I love being creative, but since I'm not an art major sometimes it can be hard to include art into my every day life. This class allowed us to explore our artistic abilities and basically express ourselves however we wanted. The remix project was my favorite because I love editing videos. It was also cool to see the different issues and topics that my classmates decided to comment on with their own videos. That brings me to another part of the class that I loved: critique days. I think it is amazing that we all had to share our projects with the class because art is meant to be shared and it is supposed to spark some emotion or thought in other people. Sharing our projects in class allowed us to become more comfortable with our own work and we were able to get feedback from the class. Overall, I thought this class was amazing I don't think much needs to be changed for the next COM242 class.

1. LinkedIn Recommendations? No.
2. Swede Film Festival submission? No.
3. RunKeeper GPS art? No.
4. Course Survey completed? Yes
5. Digital Art: Chapters Intro-3? No.

Humans vs. Computers

          The last blog assignment was to comment on something covered in class, but unfortunately I couldn't make it to class on Monday. So I scanned through some of the links listed on the syllabus and I found that a recurring theme was computers becoming a part of humans. From Google-glasses to the interview from "Kim's Reports" about people wearing computers, I found that scientists are determined to push the boundaries of the relationship between humans and computers. The interview describes gloves that allow people to control computers with a swish of the hand, and also goes into detail about the glasses from Google. These glasses allow you to search the internet and video chat without needing an actual computer. The interview describes Google glasses as "a smartphone on your face". While this is a impressive invention that has taken technology to a whole new level, I am not a fan of the idea. 
          I researched reactions of people with Google glasses, and I found an article from the New Yorker  about a day in the life of a man with Google glasses. While the article described all the information the man found using the glasses, such as flight delays, news reports, and restaurants around him, it also described how his eyes began to hurt, he felt nauseous after wearing them all day, and people noticed him constantly flicking his head and swiping his lenses and speaking to his glasses. While getting tons of information with a simple voice command may be appealing to some people, it is easy enough to pull out your smartphone and check this information manually. I believe smartphones and computers can already do so much that we don't need to push them any further. I find it sad that people are too lazy to just read a newspaper if they want news updates. Do we really need information displayed in our everyday line of sight? If people spend all their time surfing the web on their glasses, how will they be able to pay attention to what is actually happening in front of them? People will start to miss out on life or even worse, Google glasses will become people's lives. Below is the link to the article I read.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/05/130805fa_fact_shteyngart?currentPage=all

Pinterest Project Week 3

          This week I finished my dream catcher! I spent this week finishing all the dangling strings and then hot-gluing them to the base. This was actually really fun because I got to make lots of different styles of strands with different materials. I didn't actually plan anything out, I just made one strand at a time and did whatever felt right. For a few strands, I took the same elastic wire I had used for the pattern on the base and I strung different colored beads through it. Sometime I just cut long strands of black or brown suede string and glued beads and feathers to the bottom. The strands that took the longest were the ones I started last week. These ones involved tying the colored yarn into a pattern to make an intricate design, but they turned out amazing. I basically just put together different strands of beads, feathers, and colored strings to make a chaotic but beautiful assortment of strands. Below are some close-up photos of the strands. 

          The whole process of creating the strands and attaching them to the base of the dream catcher took about 3 hours. Tying the strands like the one above on the far left became tedious and took a long time, but it was definitely worth it. I love the final product, and it honestly turned out much better than I thought it would. I was a little sad that I didn't have time to make another one because this one took longer than expected, but I may do it anyways just for fun.

Letters to a Young Contrarian CH. 18 & Envoi

          The last chapter of this book focuses on Hitchens' experience and analysis of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovnia, and while there are many insightful points that he makes regarding the international conflict, there is one passage that stood out to me. On page 132, he explains how the attitudes of the people of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovnia, were surprisingly peaceful and confident. He says, "I saw the people at their best, being maltreated by people at their worst". He describes how the majority of the population did not allow "chauvinists" to take control and although people were being abused because of their race or their beliefs, they did not give in. I see this situation as an insight to the nature of man. I don't believe that there are good people and there are evil people. I believe all humans have good and evil inside them, and some choose to act upon one or the other. As seen in literature such as "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, when someone commits to the evil within himself, he uses fear to manipulate others to do the same. Then as a group becomes predominantly evil, it is hard for other people to remain loyal to the goodness within. It is fascinating that the people of Bosnia were able to remain good, and they refused to let the evil affect them. This gives me hope in humanity; some people are strong enough to focus on the good parts of themselves rather than crumbling under the power of evil.
          The Envoi obviously is the conclusion to this novel, and Hitchens briefly sums up the advice he has given to the readers. My favorite piece of advice he revisits in the Envoi is "Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity". He explored this topic many times throughout the book, and I definitely wrote about is a few times because I think it is important. So as not to be repetitive, I will just quickly sum up why this advice is necessary. Civilization has thrived off of progress, and our world today would not be as successful as it is without people who have devoted their time to creating change. Change and progress are essential parts of any flourishing society, and if everyone sat back and accepted the "unfair" and "stupid" aspects of society, then we would live in a world full of unfairness and stupidity. People need to be willing to change the problems they see in the world, and they cannot be afraid of standing out or upsetting the masses. I think creating change is one of the most important things not only for individuals and their lives, but for the whole world.

Vine

Our story is about two girls in a haunted library. The exposition is Liz and Maddie going into the library and browsing through the books. The rising action is when the books start acting on their own, and the climax is when they realize that the library is haunted. The falling action is Liz and Maddie running away from the library and the folders are following them. The resolution is when they look back and all the haunted objects are gone. It is supposed to look like a supernatural happening.
Working in a group was awesome and we got the work done really quickly. We all came up with different ideas for the videos and turned it into one interesting story. I filmed the clips and Liz and Maddie acted and moved the props around. It was really fun to film and we think it turned out great at the end.

Pinterest Project Week 2

          I got a lot of work done on my dream catcher this week. I started by following a string weaving pattern from Pinterest, by that ended up being more of a guideline than instructions. I used elastic string to create the center of the dreamcatcher, and I tied in some beads to make it interesting. This was actually very difficult because it required a lot of patience and I had to be very careful and gentle not to rip the elastic. A few times the elastic broke or I tied it in the wrong place and had to redo some pieces. I basically made up the pattern as I went along because it didn't look at all like the picture I was trying to recreate. This portion took about an hour.

 

 (the pattern I tried to follow)

          The next part of the project that I started was the strings that will dangle off the bottom of the dream catcher. I want there to be tons of strings with different textures and styles, so I've started making a few out of yarn. I am following the patterns of string friendship bracelets from Pinterest because I think it would be cool to incorporate the two projects together. So I have been braiding a few different bracelets to attach to the bottom, and this is probably the most time consuming part. I've spent about 2 hours on the bracelets so far. 

(my inspiration)

 (my version)

          Overall, I have already spend about 6 hours on the dream catcher. I was originally planning on making a few dream catchers, but I definitely underestimated how long it would take to make one. So next week I will finish this one and depending on how long that takes, maybe I will make another one.

Internet Art Chapter 4

          The first artist I researched from Internet Art chapter 4 was Heath Bunting. He is a contemporary internet artist from Britain, and explores connections between the internet, the physical world, and how humans can control these things. A famous project of his is "BorderXing", where he crossed many international borders and documented footage online. Also in his online project, he included successful and strategic ways to make these journeys between countries in order to help others embark on the same travels. This is interesting because he doing exactly what our "Intructables" project is all about: giving back to the internet and allowing others to learn from his experience. He then set up his website so only certain people could view his work, thus creating his own borders for the internet. I think it is fascinating how Bunting related the internet and the geographical world. Not only did he document the physical world and share it with the internet by posting footage of his journeys online, he brought actual parts of the real world online. He treated his website like it was its own nation, adding restrictions as to who can and can't see his project. It is a powerful message showing how all aspects of tangible and non-tangible life are interconnected. 
          Bunting also did a creative performance art piece called "King’s Cross Phone-In." He posted on his website different phone numbers inside King's Cross railway station, and what times people should call those numbers. Then at a specific time, people from all over the world were calling these phone booths and starting conversations with people inside the station. This project shows how technology has the ability to connect people even if they are unaware of it. It is incredible how Heath Bunting dedicates his time to using the internet as a tool to bring people together. Below is a photo of Bunting on his travels for "BorderXing", in Portugal. Below that is a screenshot of the message he sent out to encourage people to call the station in "King's Cross Phone-In".
          

          The next artist I researched was Shu Lea Cheang, a multi media artist from Taiwan. She participated in numerous art exhibitions that challenged digital censorship and property control. I thought this was interesting because it relates to what we viewed in the film about "Anonymous". Cheang collaborated with a few other artists to create a project called the "Kingdom of Piracy", which is basically a network that allows digital content to circulate freely without censorship. This could be considered piracy, hence the name of the project, and the Acer Digital Art Center in Taiwan demanded that the network change its name and provide links to artists featured on the page. But Cheang and the others fought and kept their system as it was. Another project by Cheang is "Burn", a project created to contradict piracy restrictions. It is an online site that includes download and upload links, and ways for people to share content. It's basic purpose is to allow users to share and access media online without any government interference, and I respect Cheang for this. She created artworks that stand up for what she believes in, and it is amazing that she is willing to speak out against the law through her art. It is similar to the Anonymous hacktivist group because Cheang uses the internet to try to make a change in society.

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/kingdom-of-piracy/