Distance No Object

I was struck by the visual similarities between a picture of Google servers and the (symbolic) spaceship in Stanley Kubrick’s movie.There are a number of ideas emerging from this, all relating to juxtapositions of utopian/distopian.

The (simulated) experience Hal verbalises, is perhaps resonating among these servers, with similar anxieties expressed by Google users. Google is trying to help by directing them to the correct helpline or website. At the same time, engineers push buttons and pull switches to save. Cloud trends verbalised the nation’s mood via social networking.

Machines have no feelings, despite Hal claiming otherwise. In the clip  ‘the computer talks’ and the human is silent, except for the laborious breathing. We know man’s action is to control the machine, humans program (computer language) but there is always a threat of losing that control. After all Dave was programmed too.

Can Google be silenced? How do governments control corporates?

Hal’s  actions were unethical, to destroy. Search engines support a capitalistic drive, in support of consumerism and economic growth. How can we be certain that technological developments will be ‘for the best’…?

2/4/2013, note:  in all this I got Dave and Hal muddled up… for the record: Dave is the person, Hal the computer, now corrected…

Today in the UK another company went into administration, Blockbusters, the video/game/film rental company. This follows HMV, Jessops and Comet, all within a few weeks. Journalists on the radio were explaining that all these companies were doomed since they did not embrace the online retail model.

It seems to me that commentators focus on the competitive downturn, changed habits of the consumer, new online behaviour that has proliferated in terms of viewing and retail experiences.

Whilst I agree with all these economic observations, one experience that lies at the heart of these companies is the manipulation of the digital image and the speed and ease by which imagery has become available, making their exclusive quality redundant.

To illustrate my point, there is the image above, taken from the BBC website. It took no more than around 3 minutes to caputure and upload. A few years ago, it could have taken a day or so to take photos (not mentioning to have them ‘developed’) or use an illustration, scan or do the repro for the artwork etc.

Generally speaking, we all accept that these images are part of our all day /every day online and offline experiences. We live, indeed are surrounded by these images, beamed across TV monitors, computer screens, digital pads, smartphones. Purchasing these images as part of a potential exclusive experience is no longer the case. Indeed, going by online behaviour our purchasing is linked to a relatively small digital representation (JEPG) of an actual object, and we rather manipulate the electronic image in favour of the  real physical object.

The trouble with HMV and Blockbuster is that they were still banking on an element of exclusivity available from the physicality of the object.  But today, downloading a movie from the internet is no longer associated with that unique setting and watching it on a dedicated home system, in a dedicated space. Indeed, families watch multiple movies, via multiple technologies at the same time, in different rooms.

Digital images are now experienced like a Maelstrom, a whirlpool of visuality, blended and mashed. Their uniqueness lies in there temporarily,  the fleetingness of the moment which can be re-experienced and re-located at any time. Where consumers before paid for that uniqueness of the image, the premium is now associated with the mobility of the online spaces.

Sassen (1999) quoted in the Bell article explains: ‘powerful corporate actors and high-performance networks are strenghtening the role of private electronic space and altering the structure of public electrnic space.’

I wonder in how far the boundaries between private and public spaces are distinguishable? Even the open tabs on my computer screen are a mash-up, with me switchning between private/public, although the private spaces are mediated via corporate servers (in my case Virgin Media)

The material supporting the immaterial

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2219188/Inside-Google-pictures-gives-look-8-vast-data-centres.html

a few weeks ago during a surf, I noticed one of these images of a google server. Astonishing…the Hypereal estate according to Luke, as mentioned in Bell’s article

http://vincos.it/world-map-of-social-networks/

Today I had a walk to the library. On the way down I noticed this graffiti on the wall of the art college and I took a photo.

Here it is…

The author of this anonymous piece of artwork is not connected to me. Our paths crossed by chance, in an asynchronous mode…  By taking the photo I turned it into an object, a mediated artefact taken out of the physical context, placed into a digital context.

I re-appropriated the image, I now entitle it ‘love sick’, I can make it into a narrative, I made it public.

Now I can start thinking of a story….

There is some discussion about the visuality of the internet, the liquidity of images etc. Literature points to the development of web 2.0.

Whilst the dynamics of the associated imagery is fast and ever changing, I would suggest that technological advances for adding sound is a fundamental shift, contributing to the depth of cyberspace.

The creation of images is part of a very longstanding human tradition, and the duplication of these images has been an ongoing technical development for a few centuries. Printing, screen printing, photocopying has been around for quite some time, with digital manipulation and printing emerging in the 80s.

Where before images were reasonably mobile, sound was less omnipresent. However, with mobile technology we are surrounded by land and sound scapes. Web developments allow to grab and edit sound and manipulate sounds as if they were visual. The availability of  such combination adds to the enhanced experience.

Martin Hand suggests ‘flattened  forms’ of cultural production, blurring the differences between cultural production and consumption. He gives the example of You Tube, Wikipedia,Facebook which usher the flattened form of cultural production, the blurring.

I would like to argue that depending on the mode of visualisation, a 3-D representation of the various networks illustrates ‘depth’ and models intensity, illustrating the nodes of communication, interaction. Although I accept that what he refers to possibly is the ‘form’ and not the ‘contents’ of these communications. Still, I am not quite sure how flatness can be associated with for example You Tube which can support many uploads on the same topic (say for instance a band, political views, art,  history)

There is a discussion (led by art critic Clement Greenberg) with regards to abstract art, in relation to figurative art, illustrating flatness

http://www.theartstory.org/definition-flatness.htm

abstract art utilises the flatness of the media,the canvas, as a feature of art, the 2 dimensional plane. In a similar way one can argue this is true for Web-based communications.

The concept of flatness is an intriguing one, part of a tradition of dealing with images and their visual analysis.

source images:

Image 1:

The project was programmed in Java. It can be decomposed in three main parts. The first part is a web crawler (sometimes also called spider or robot) that is used to grab the structure of the web sites. The second part is responsible for the analysis of the log files. The third part, realized with Java3D, controls the 3d visualization.

Image 2:

Webtracer represents this structure as a three dimensional molecular diagram, with pages as nodes(atoms) and links as the strings(atomic forces) that connect those nodes together

what is digitising actually do???

Martin Hand argues that ‘digitization enables and intensifies processes of circulation, flattening, de -territorialization, and de-differentiation, and for new kinds of objects, subjects and practices to become emergent and convergent in a transition from analogue to digital cultures.’

Whilst I do agree with this statement, photography already supported this. Taking photos and getting these ‘developed’ in a lab and having to wait for the lab to return the prints would obviously not give that instantaneous feedback.

What makes digitisation attractive is the instant gratification, the immediacy both in time and space. Smartphones and other devices streamline our actions and our thoughts into cyberspace. We have a presence that extends beyond our physical boundary.

And Hand continues: ‘The question of speed is thought to be central in altering the objects and conditions of contemporary capitalism producing scenarios of immediacy,24/7 communications and the transformation of culture into indifferent information.’

I am not sure if information can be ‘indifferent’ though…

and further on in the chapter: (p 19) ‘any delay or distance between doing something and thinking about it is lost in the global information culture.’ …’ The end of culture as a representational, super-structural or epiphenonemon’.

not quite sure if I get this at the moment. Seems a contradiction when considering visual complexity modelling.

I decided to make a one-off payment on a store card I have but hardly use. The hassle of setting up direct debits or going in person to the bank or post office  has been taken out of the daily grind of dealing with this. However, it assumed I am digitally networked and have the competency to deal with this type of activity. It is a simple example of how socioeconomic conditions determine how we deal with these daily tasks. Whilst it saves me time and money (no car journeys, as late a payment as possible, no postage), one could say it is less democratic as not everyone can afford such networked facilities. Ironically it would be less straightforward now to make paper payments. So in that sense, technology cannot always be helpful unless you are equipped to deal with it. It may both enable and disable our outlook.

There were a few more implications: I can save my payment details as an image, not a text-based document. And in order to display it online in this blog, I thought it was best to take out my card details, to stop fraud.

Social inclusion, participation, empowerment, as has been argued, can be achieved through networked technology but without the necessary financial means and skills to use the technologies,one can be left digitally stranded.

But one could argue this is nothing new: when Ford introduced the first Model T motorcar, regarded as the first affordable car, produced on an assembly line, mobility became a force for social change. It comes perhaps as no surprise that language to describe these new development, i.e. the information superhighways, were inspired before by real tarmac, offering people opportunities to engage more quickly with other groups. Financial means to support such activity is crucial.

testing an article…..

I am trying to get my head around all these WP features. I discovered I had an older version of IE and some features did not even appear.

I had a similar experience with Pebblepad. At the time it was crucial I would write an essay, but spent most of my time working out the features, and got dreadfully distracted from the actual purpose of my writing. I am sure I would have written a completely different essay in MS Word….

So yes, let’s try and get a feel for this.

I am conscious I should be ‘tagging’ and ‘categorizing’. The internet is tagged-heaven, if you don’t tag you are doomed, hellish…. Same for categories. We are all labelled. It makes us more friendly to the big wide world out there.

I now tried IE, Chrome, Firefox… but my daytime version is different from my evening version (work/home) so this will still be a potential barrier…

In the meantime I am still trying to work out the difference between a ‘post’ and an ‘article’… must check the manual…

This book published in 1984 (available from Amazon) was one of the first computer art books I bought and offered a fascinating insight in digital visual culture, seen as quite separate from ‘traditional’ cultural expressions.

The blending of the ‘material’ and ‘immaterial’ had not quite taken shape and the idea of cyberspace was a space ‘out there’ or at least that was my perception of it then (and now). The readings in the next few weeks will bring an opportunity to take stock.

Anabel Jankel and Ricky Morton were also responsible for Max Headroom, a TV character that was made-belief entirely digital, but in effect was an actor. Computer imagery was not quite sophisticated enough to be able to visualise fully digitised realistic  animation.

This idea is in stark contrast to the character of Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, who (if one listens to Ridley Scott)  is not quite certain if he is a replica or not…both fictional characters appeared in 1984 and it seems that back then any visionary conceptions of what CGI might develop into was unlimited…

CGI articles in specialist journals seem to endlessly describe the wire-frame modelling and rendering of images,with ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ for a perfect realistic result. Hence the refreshing appearance of Pixar Jr which was actually telling us a story, in addition to some pretty good animation…

The icebreaker is a great way of getting in the mood and swing of things.

What digital culture means is a kaleidscope of imagery… My mind always wanders… I started off with the ‘Dog image’, then there was Pixar, Mandelbrot, Blade Runner, Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’ and I had to stop myself.

1984 was a pretty crucial year for me: I decided then that computer graphics was totally fascinating. I thought it would be a great way to enhance film and TV images, music videos, even make some original electronic art… I met a few people, Edward Ihnatowics, Harold Cohen, John Landsdown all inspirational encounters, and then there was Ridley Scott’s film based on an old time favourite of mine (Philip K Dick‘s novel) and the music of the eighties, influenced by electronics, which I still listen to most days now…

“Welcome to E-learning and Digital Cultures 2013. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!”

Well, this is certainly a new skill to develop, getting into WordPress, very useful indeed as by happy coincidence the day job (finally) brings an opportunity at the same time to develop a research blog for an academic community. After months of trying to persuade colleagues this may be a useful tool for sharing discussion and project development, I am about to take the plunge….

As far as this week is concerned, I intend to try out the dashboard, read some help files (no doubt I get myself in a twist) and basically take the lead (initially)  from the features of this graphic-friendly  tool (it’s like digital mascara), and let it take its course.

Perhaps the WP features will affect my thoughts?