Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Neglect Of Hands


When I think about watching and surveillance, the first thing that comes to mind is spying on someone. I did not want to do a concept that pertained to spying on one person but rather, watching of one specific thing. I decided to focus on watching the everyday interactions of hands. I chose hands because I feel they are an afterthought in many people’s minds. A person uses their hands constantly and without them, one would essentially have to change their way of living. Hands are a source of identity but not one that is familiar to the human eye. In other words, it’s hard to identify someone just by his or her hands (of course fingerprints are the best form of identification but just forget about that feature for this project).  While reading Philip E. Agre’s article on surveillance, I noticed how the article always went back to identity of a person or thing. I wanted to become more specific with the idea of “spying” on one’s identity by focusing only on their hands, and how their hands interacted and functioned doing common, everyday things.
In the Richard Woodward article, there is a quote that seems to be very true for today’s networks. “Today, the negligible cost of making pictures and uploading them to networks gives anyone with a cell phone the chance in theory to appear instantly before an audience of billions on seven continents.” This quote makes me instantly think of flickr. We are posting projects on flickr that anyone that has a flickr account can see. That makes me feel somewhat exposed (funny that it’s the title of the article). Knowing that anyone can see my photos, and not just classmates, makes me become much more aware of how I present myself and my work in the network world.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Computers and Advancing Technology



The world today relies on technology for everything. One can communicate with others without the use of a phone, get a degree without leaving the house, and buy mostly anything online without having to drive anywhere. All these “luxuries” of today are because computers and technology has become so advanced. Technology is a complex idea that’s hard for one to wrap their head around. The dictionary defines it as a method of applying technical knowledge. The technology of computers and their advancements through the years is astonishing. The world has gone from computers that were the size of a television to portable computers the size of a notebook all because of advancement in technology. When Lev Manovich talks about becoming more advanced than what Web 2.0 is right now, I wonder if it’s even possible. The World Wide Web is where everyone goes for information, communication, and answers to questions. Berners-Lee believes the Web does not yet meet its design goal as being a pool of knowledge that is as easy to update as to read. Because Berners-Lee believed that to be true in 1994, I don't think it is as true now in 2011. It is very easy to update anything on a computer these days. It's what makes the internet so appealing to people. I know the world is always moving forward, but is there a point where we advance too far? The computer is something that is always advancing. Ted Nelson believes it’s something everyone should have knowledge of and I’m guessing most people do, but do you think there will be a point where the computer has gone too far? Advanced beyond normal human knowledge?