My blog link isn’t working which i realised after putting it on the internet. Unfortunately i have ran out of time, but this is something i am looking to change…

From this 252 MC Module, i have managed to become very much confident within the whole aspect of grasping the concept of Digital Media aswell as producing my very own work of art in Dreamweaver.

At the start of the module, hearing the word Dreamweaver knocked my confidence as i had struggled with it before hand and knew this would become a challenging module for me, but learning the ways behind Dreamweaver and learning that its not just all about editing code, and learning the ridiculous amount of hyphens, numbers, and semi colons made me see how rewarding it can be creating something from scratch. My static page.

Learning behind the scenes of technology and where the world has become today also has been a learning curve, and i found myself researching in depth about the interesting things such as Augmented Reality which fascinated me in the world of digital media.

I also found myself engaging with other peers which often helped a lot when i did not understand something, or just to discuss different ideas and thoughts.

Although when i’m finding something difficult, i tend to shy away instead of confronting my problem, asking for help, and sorting it out. This is a flaw in which i realised within myself, and needed to overcome this when i’m finding something hard. If i was to go back in time, i would most definitely concentrate more on my static page as i feel i dismissed the need to play around with different outlooks for the pure reason of struggling with getting the gist of managing my site, transferring files, and saving things.

There are definitely things i could have pushed myself more with, and i feel i will carry on researching about the interestings things i took away from this module.

This is my final static page …

I am very happy with how i have managed to make it look professional, and how i stuck to my design brief.

For my final images for ‘Work’, i decided to use images also online off facebook, but wanted to see how other people use their personal social media web pages to showcase their lives, but in my case, i needed to find how other people depict the word ‘Work’ within their digital media. I searched around facebook at my friends picture albums and found a range of images that i thought depicted the word ‘Work’.
This is from a series off from someones facebook which i found was very interesting and it allowed me get an insight into how this person see’s the perspective of ‘work’.

The policeman, and promotion work are how i see the word ‘work’ as its a profession to these people, but i also recognise this through their uniform.

For my ‘rest’ images, i also used pictures from ‘my’ documentary life to show how i depict rest.

Im intrigued by just looking at one photograph, it can tell a thousand words, yet just by the digital analogue of the photography, you can narrow it down to one word. ‘Rest’. The images i have chosen show this in numerous ways. One is Physical rest. This is an obvious one as the body language of eyes shut, and lying down show the meaning of ‘rest’ alone. The not so obvious ones are the photographs such as a scenery, or me on a peddle in the middle of the ocean. Other people may not relate this to rest, but i thought this was relevant as the photographs all relate to a time in my life which i relate to rest. For example, all the photographs i have used were from i went on holiday with my friends where i could forget about all my troubles.

For my ‘play’ images, i wanted to depict the nature of fun. The pictures i have chosen  are the ones that i found to mimic the nature of ‘playing around with things’. Every final picture i have chosen in some way digitally shows a documentary photography that has been put into the media either via Facebook, or Myspace. Therefor relates to the whole aspect of how we post our social relationship with life on the world wide web.

I chose to use images from ‘my’ past experiences as i felt it would be an experience looking back at the photos i have posted on the internet and how i, myself have associated with this relationship with the web. All the images i have chosen all relate to a time in my life where i was having fun, and allowed myself to ‘play’.

For rest and play, i wanted to look at things which had already been portrayed as work, rest and play off internet sites such as facebook and flickr. Seen as i have been researching these areas of digital media within the playing field of how people portray themselves on the web, i thought it would be a good idea to research more in to these areas of interest. Maybe even look at how i portrayed myself online back when i wasn’t thinking about the whole aspect of digital media.

Thinking about how people have demonstrated this ‘rest, work and play’ motive without even realising interests me and makes me realise that without these digital media concepts like flickr and Facebook, the world wouldn’t be where we are at now.

Here are some examples of Work, rest and play off the web.

Facebook, Twitter and Flickr are just three examples of the technological and social media sites which have developed these virtual and immersive worlds, but where is all this heading? What will be the future?

Maybe things will be created like this? … The video below is one i came across on Youtube when researching future digital media. If things in the future were like this, i think all the women who be very happy ladies! Being able to try clothes on and also being able to see what they physically look like without even physically putting the clothes on your body. Amazing right?

Future retail therapy made easier!

Relating this to the specific lecture  research, IBM business partners recently predicted that next generation stores will be:

Sense and respond environments that morph themselves to meet the temporal demands of customers’ immediate shopping objectives.

As said in the lecture notes, the IBM report talks about the immersive retailing experience being delivered via microenvironments that narrow the focus of shoppers’ experiences to “I” and “me.” Quoted:

It will leverage the dynamic aggregation of flexible technology, realtime sales, and rich customer data and business rules. And it will be driven by the ability to evaluate inventory, store and business conditions, along with specific customer preferences, on the fly. An array of technologies will combine to create these environments, revolutionizing the shopping experience in stores and online.

Minority Report has been used by many as an example, but thats because it is a great example when thinking about how the future has been depicted, yet as time has gone on, we begin to realise that the future that has been depicted in this film, sooner or later, will become short lived as it will has become more of  something of the ‘past’.

Click on the link below to view the trailor for Minority Report. You will see the technology that is depicted, the outlook of how the world may look….

.. and how life will be so very much set.

minority report trailor

An interesting technological development discussed  is Augmented Reality. Augmented reality (AR), is a term used for a live direct or an indirect view of a physical, real-world environment. Its elements are augmented by computer generated sensory input such as graphic or sound.

Finding it difficult to come to grasps with how to make a static page, i finally come to grips with it and finally became confident enough to crack on with it. Don’t get me wrong, i struggled along the way, but quickly realised i didn’t really have to do much with the coding like i had always dreaded.

I was having trouble connecting my site taking into consideration all the ftp details and logins, and had to email one.com to sort this situation out so that i could manage my site.

After sorting that out i was able to create my site and had already thought about the design of it. I wanted it to look professional, yet simple to navigate.

My design options were….

• Black background – always looks professional.
• Infused picture within the background – to show characteristics.
• Title – My name = swalkerphotography – Fancy text.
• Not too much text that will distract from the look of the page.

Our world has become of somewhat an online book. With the power of the internet these days anyone and everyone has become to the reality of broadcasting their lives via the internet.

This video below basically describes everything without even saying a word. Michael Wesch, an anthropologist, created a viral video about how the Machine is using us. He describes all about how the media and ‘us’ have formed this online diary of our lives which allows private information to be shared global. We no longer share the intimate communication of ‘real life’, but more of a ‘virtual relationship’ whether its between our family, or friends. Before the internet, there was social relationships, but now its the relationship between computer and human. As the title of the video describes… ‘The machine is us’.

Click on the link below to watch ….

the machine is \’us\’

The innovation of technology is forever growing which has created this mass world of information and technology between all forms of greater access of peoples lives. For example, the iphone is just one out of a billion great inventions which allows us to control out lives through a small handheld machine. On this machine will be internet sources and applications such as facebook, google, flickr, and twitter. These four applications alone allow the whole world to interact with each other just through the click of a couple of buttons.

This is more formally known as User Generated Content.

Looking at a photographers point of view, there are many problems that arise creating a not so positive world for photographers. It is easy these days for anyone to create a website or blog and post their photographs up which depicts a photographers living, and purpose as photographers are forever trying to create business’s but are being put behind the post as we could technically class all the people on facebook as documentary photographers with them creating photographs and adding them to a website.

Despite all the hype about erosion of community and the loss of real life communication ,Wesch who made the first video i posted within this post, celebrates the new possibilities and communities that Digital Media affords. The video below is a lecture done by Wesch in 2008 concentrating on user Generated Content and participatory culture.

Click on the link below to watch the video of Michael Wesch lecture….

User Generated Content and participatory culture

This example below is a screen shot i have retrieved off facebook. Iv tried to show just how easy it is for people to share information about their lives.

This image above are posts done by the public about their day to day lives.

And this image above shows us how easy it is for the public to become their own documentary photographer, posting their day to day lives on the web.

The web has provided us with alot of informaion, but has also made the core to someone’s life. For example, youtube is one of the biggest, well known video sharing websites that boasts thousands, even bilions of users to upload videos. From this, music artists have been made, and those people who were just like every other person are now famous and rolling in money. For example the likes of Jessie J, and Justin beiber are just two examples who have become famous for just posting their video on youtube…

Click on the link below to watch Jessie J…

jessie j

Even people who have made the most ridiculous of video’s have become ‘youtube sensations’! For example, Keenen Cahill a 15 year old boy started posting video’s of himself singing on youtube. Doing them in a comedy fashion he was getting up to 5 million views which landed him singing in his bedroom with one of the most renound RNB artist of all time. 50 Cent!….

Click on the link below to watch Keenan Cahill…

Keenan Cahill

Either way whether its an artist who has been found on youtube, or sharing your pictures online, the world has become somewhat obsessed with showcasing their lives online. This lecture got me thinking and has wanted me to research into this further.