Create your own font.
I think that this is a really cool invention. Basically it works by filling out a printable form and then scanning your handwriting into a computer. A software program then transfers your handwriting into actual text you can use by just typing with your keyboard! I haven't had time to do this but I'm sure I will some day. One question though, aside from being cool or whatever, what is its purpose? Is it really a practical tool? Unfortunately, I doubt it will catch on.
Photosketch.
Once again: SUPER COOL. I don't think I even have enough room to type how this program works but basically you can create your own unique photographs by using others existent on the internet. The software program (which is online and free) filters results to create a truly impeccable photograph. Basically, you can tell the program you want a picture of man throwing a ball to a dog and it will compile photos and combine them to create one merged photograph of two completely separate frames in time. As is the case with the font program though, what is the purpose? Also, doesn't this completely take away the point of photography as an outlet of expression and technique? I think if this program were to take off it could potentially harm the legacy of photography as we know it today.
Augmented Earth.
CREEPY. CREEPY. CREEPY. This program uses public cameras across the world to show action at any point in time at any place in the world. Think Big Brother. They are tracking us. My mother can go online and watch the door to my apartment building to keep dibs on where I am. The sky is the limit in terms of how this is an invasion of privacy. And, at the same time, this idea isn't even that groundbreaking. All the creators did was add upon the Google Earth model by including actual video footage. From what I hear it probably wasn't even that hard to do. Thoughts?
History of the Internet.
So for those of you readers not in my New Media class, we are often assigned articles written by pioneers in the new media field which largely involves the internet. In this documentary I was able to see, watch, and listen to the people I read about all the time. It was really cool to connect words on a page with an actual face - for me it adds a personal touch and makes the article easier to read/understand. I enjoyed learning about how the internet came to be and how it has evolved over the past few decades. When you think about it, the internet is THE invention of the 21st century and has the greatest impact on our lives out of any technological advancement I can really think of. I appreciate all the work that those people in the documentary did because without them I wouldn't even be able to blog about it right now!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I hear what you're saying about the Photosketch program possibly harming the legacy of photography, but I was reading an article today by Walter Benjamin "The Work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" for my pop culture class and it was talking about how photography called into question whether it could be art or not compared to a painting, but asked if perhaps the better question was how did photography change our perception of art. Maybe we need to ask what this kind of re-representation of images does to our perception of art.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the augmented earth thing, I don't see how people don't see a difference between it and Google Earth. To me there's a vast distinction between having access to random frozen points in time and streaming live feed in real time...
ReplyDelete