Final Presentation

My Final presentation was today. My installation was in meeting room 1 upstairs in the nexus center in CIT. I chose this room because it was spacious and airy. I booked the room last week so it was just a matter of setting it all up. I am very happy with the final setup and I'm happy with the final result. The piece looks best when it is installed properly in its environment.

New Shots

Over the last few days I've been capturing more footage for the piece. I used a HD camera this time which produced a far higher quality shot. I'm also finishing the monologue which will reinforce the piece.

Monologue

Today I'm working on the monologue for my piece. This will be the audio representation of technology as it vents at the viewer. The idea is that the audio will reinforce the visuals of the piece. The monologue is vitriolic and cynical in tone with sharp and almost insulting language being used. This is of course intentional. I want to evoke a reaction in the user, an impression which will cause an impact.

Installation

Having settled on the final content for my piece I now have to think of the installation of the piece. How do I want the audience to relate to the piece? How do I want them to be positioned in relation to the piece? These are all very important questions which I now have to answer in order to properly finalize my piece.

Video Projection Ideas

And

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Footage Captue and Final Idea

I've just finished capturing the content I need for the next stage of my piece. Since last week I have returned to my original idea of using just a single screen. I have chosen this because I believe that it is more focused and direct as opposed to spreading the content over multiple screens. I think that by utilizing a single screen/display I am maintaining a greater emphasis in the delivery of the piece.
I am also returning to my original idea of using a voice over which would represent the computer talking to the viewer. This monologue would serve to punctuate the video content. The whole point of the piece is to show -in an experimental way - how computers have passed us out. I believe that this way is the best that I have found and it is also time for me to settle on exactly what I have to do in time for the final submission.

Final Shooting and Monologue Recording

I've captured all the necessary footage now which I am happy with. I'm now moving on to the recording of the audio monologue. As mentioned before this serves to reinforce the visuals and to provide a narrative for the piece. I used the department ZOOM recorders to capture the monologue and I'll use iMovie to link up this audio and the video.

Capturing and Editing Video

Today I captured and mixed together some computer footage from the labs. I experimented with exposure, framing and playback speeds. These are just preliminary shots. I still need to think of how to move them over to different screens in order to get a different feel for the piece.

Meta Narrative #3

The growth of a Baby in the Womb?

Meta Narrative #2

The second idea I thought of as a possible Meta Narrative for my piece was the progressive stages of grief. There are five commonly accepted stages to grief which are as follows:

1. Denial and Isolation.
   At first, we tend to deny the loss has taken place, and may withdraw from our usual social contacts. This stage may last a few moments, or longer.
2. Anger.
   The grieving person may then be furious at the person who inflicted the hurt (even if she's dead), or at the world, for letting it happen. He may be angry with himself for letting the event take place, even if, realistically, nothing could have stopped it.
3. Bargaining.
   Now the grieving person may make bargains with God, asking, "If I do this, will you take away the loss?"
4. Depression.
   The person feels numb, although anger and sadness may remain underneath.
5. Acceptance.
   This is when the anger, sadness and mourning have tapered off. The person simply accepts the reality of the loss.

(Cited from THIS site)

The connotations of death and it's effects are easily applicable to my project. As such, technology is the death of human expertise in some respects. Knowledgable people are now those who have the fastest access to the internet (see my previous post on this, with particular reference to the elderly). Technology has meant the death of human effort, but is this something that we can survive without? Technology has certainly killed off many undesirable things (diseases, ingorance (!) etc.) but has it also thrown the baby out with the bath water by simultaneously killing our (possible) need to strive. This may not be a strong enough abstraction at the moment but I think there is a lot more in this idea than first meets the eye.

Perhaps these 5 stages could be those felt by man as he laments the reality of technology's grip on his life?

Meta Narrative

Following last weeks review I have been further developing the idea of incorporating a meta or grand narrative into my piece. A meta narrative is defined as 'a master story, a plot that governs all other plots, an archetypal plot referred to by "lesser" specifically situated narratives.' The 'lesser' in mycase being the advance of technology. So what's my Grand Narrative going to be???
I began to think of other processes of change which move in stages. The first idea that came to mind was the progression of cancer throght the body. This is an unfortunately well known progression for many of us who have been affected by it in some way so I want to be careful in how I portray/use it.

The 5 stages of cancer (according to Wikipedia) are as follows:

• Stage 0 carcinoma in situ. (dormant)
  
• Stage I cancers are localized to one part of the body.
• Stage II cancers are locally advanced.
• Stage III cancers are also locally advanced. Whether a cancer is designated as Stage II or Stage III can depend on the specific type of cancer; for example, in Hodgkin's Disease, Stage II indicates affected lymph nodes on only one side of the diaphragm, whereas Stage III indicates affected lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. The specific criteria for Stages II and III therefore differ according to diagnosis.
• Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.

Drawing tenable links between cancer and the spread of technology isn't the most abstract of tasks. However I was surprised to see that evena quick search online didn't find anything along these lines. This is certainly seomthing that is worth looking into a little bit morea s a possible meta narrative for my piece. As I said before though, I want to be careful in how I deal with such a personal topic. Cancer is not come abstract and distant disease for most of us as it affects 1 in every 3 people.

Notes from Class on 26th

Here are some notes from my meeting with Trevor today:

• Don't let the setup of the room (in my case B131) limit how I envisage my installation. there are 18 monitors in B131 but this shouldn't limit me. They don't have to be on the desks. Think about different ways that the monitors could be setup.
• Experiment with using another narrative alongside the piece in order to bring out more meaning and interest. The stations of the Cross were suggested.
• Still shots can be used as video provided they incorporate the 4th dimension of TIME i.e. they aren't just static images on a screen.
  

Specifying and Clarifying

I have decided to stick with computer technology alone as my representative of technology in general. Technology is all around us from door handles to kettles however I have decided to focus on computer technology in order to convey the theme of the project. My reasoning behind this is that the range of technology is so vast that it may well confuse the audience by not being specific enough. People link computers with technology and so I think that by using computers My message will be conveyed with greater clarity.

Computer Technology Overview Chart

Here is a link to a chart which tracks the progress of computer technology over the last century or so. This chart is a great visual indicator of the pace of technological change. It is a great reference point for my project as it shows the changes over the years.

Clarifying the theme/aim

As I move onto developing the setup and style of my video installation I realise that I need to clarify my definition of the theme once again. I am sure of the theme - the pace of change of technology - but I need to clarify exactly which aspect of this theme I want to approach. As I have been researching the overall theme I found myself increasingly playing around with the idea of technolgy mutiny. The idea that the technology around us has become embittered to us and that it has a will of its own which is rebelious and independent from us is one that I think is a worthwhile idea to develop to show how the pace of technological change could be ultimately destructive.

Another interesting Blog Post...

Another interesting Blog Post...

"Technology creates change, and the change forces new technology"

Technology and the elderly

Here is an article that I found via the New York Times which looks at the the devaluation of elderly people by technology. I have highlighted in RED the points which stuck out to me.

Technology reduces the value of old people

philg - October 29, 2009 @ 11:15 pm

Old people have never been as quick or energetic as young people, but societies have often valued them for their accumulated skills, knowledge, and wisdom. The ancient Egyptians considered a person to be truly old at age 80, though Ramesses the Great lived to perhaps 90 or 91 and Pepi II may have lived to 98. In a continuous culture that spanned 3000 years it would be quite reasonable to ask someone born 80 years earlier about best practices in art, agriculture, architecture, construction, or military technology.

What has the increasing pace of technological development done to old people in our age?

Let’s start by considering factual knowledge. An old person will know more than a young person, but can any person, young or old, know as much as Google and Wikipedia? Why would a young person ask an elder the answer to a fact question that can be solved authoritatively in 10 seconds with a Web search?

How about skills? Want help orienting a rooftop television aerial? Changing the vacuum tubes in your TV? Dialing up AOL? Using MS-DOS? Changing the ribbon on an IBM Selectric (height of 1961 technology)? Tuning up a car that lacks electronic engine controls? Doing your taxes without considering the Alternative Minimum Tax and the tens of thousands of pages of rules that have been added since our senior citizen was starting his career? Didn’t think so.

The same technological progress that enables our society to keep an ever-larger percentage of old folks’ bodies going has simultaneously reduced the value of the minds within those bodies. It is sad to contemplate. Perhaps the answer is for every old person to become an expert personal computer and network administrator. Those skills always seem to be in demand by the general public.

Another answer would be to develop obvious wisdom. Unfortunately, the young people who are most in need of an elder’s wisdom are the least likely to realize it. Only a small percentage of old people throughout history have managed to maintain high status and value purely through wisdom. Examples that come to mind include the Buddha (died at 80) and Confucius (died at 72). Their would-be modern counterparts are most likely forwarding cautionary emails to younger relatives about the dangers of opening particularly virulent email messages.

I recently wished a friend a happy birthday. He is in his 50s with a young wife and two-year-old children. All his life he has been valued for and earned his living with musical creativity. Here’s his reply:

I have been declared inept by my household! It only gets worse. You are not judged by your intelligence but by how well you do menial tasks. I have been spiritually castrated. I am a walking corpse. The only freedom is when I write.

Good ideas for maintaining relevance and value in old age would be welcome in the comments section.

Did You Know

This is a well enough known video which chronicles and predicts the impact of technology on humanity.

Did You Know...

Blurb

Here is the piece that I wrote for this module which was the beginning of my idea/concept. It's just the starting point of my work but it's important that I keep it in mind as I continue developing the project.

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The Pace of Technological change



The pace at which technology changes these days can be either frightening or exhilarating. While
one person may view the rate of these changes as a huge leap of positive progress, another might
perceive this progress in a negative light. We all know that technology can make life easier and
better and longer and more pleasant. The question therefore in my opinion is not ‘do we want
things to change for the better? ‘. Everyone agrees on the answer to that. No, the questions we face
are more like this: ‘are we prepared to let technology to carry out this change? How much do we
want technology to do for us? Who is responsible for drawing that line? Are people allowed to resist
technology if they so choose? Is that even possible?’

When technology becomes part of our lives, it inevitably becomes part of who we are. Thus
technology has personal and ethical implications. Perhaps one of the greatest concerns of this rapid
progression is that nobody is really knows what long term effects it will have on society, culture and
the world at large. We are starting to see the descendents of the TV generation: people who have
never been without television. TV has changed the western world and the culture therein. What
then will the next generation grow up to be when it has grown up with smart phones, ipods,
broadband, touch screens, online shopping and international calling?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative answer, but the concern is still justifiable.

An interesting ad...

Here is a great ad that I found. Again, it deals with the idea of technology as it changes and adapts.

Change!

how technology changes us!!

Technology and how it changes

Here is a link to a talk by Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired Magazine. Kevin is a highly regarded expert in the sphere of technological advancement and computer. In this talk Kevin gives his view on how technology evolves and changes over time. Although I wouldn't agree with his comparison between tahcnolocigal change and the evolution with man, I did find it interesting when he mentions at the very start of the talk how he took a digital detox and removed almost all technology from his life. He did this in order to be able to clearly think about the boundaries and uses of technology. For this reason I found this video very helpful to my project.

He's asking the right questions:
-When does technology impede upon my life as opposed to enhancing it?
-Do we need all the technology that we have?
-Does technology ever die or does it just change?
-How do we establish boundaries and parameters in which to use technology?

These questions are central to my project and finding a way to express them in video is my aim.

Experimental Video

Here is where I will be posting some of my research for my Experimental Video module. The topic I will be dealing with in this module is that of 'the pace technological change'. Dealing with this topic in a non-linear way is a challenge. I'm determined not to have end up shooting a documentary style piece or simply trying to point out the obvious. This module is designed to bring out more experimental approaches to video so that's what I have to look for.

Video Research Work

Here is a link to my video work that I did as prep for my final piece.

http://db.tt/PT4mjU1