Digital Photography in the Classroom

Digital photography is a pliable and forgiving medium, which makes it perfect to incorporate in a classroom curriculum. 

There are many possibilities in the process of taking a photo digitally. One can take a photo using their camera phone, DSLR, tablet, or simple digital camera. Because there are so many "modes" of creation, it gives students options for how they want to proceed with a project artistically and provides options for students that might not own a digital camera. Most digital cameras also have different settings to choose from that change the visual aspects of a photo before editing on another software. Students are also able to take multiple pictures of the same subject with the same camera or different ones based on the look they want their photo to have. This can also be useful in a classroom because there is no "clean up" to creating multiple photos.

In addition to changing the settings on a camera, students are able to transfer their photos to computer programs to apply new effects to their photos or create something entirely new. For example, students can alter their photo by cropping it, changing the white balance, and putting a filter over it. Students working in design can also apply aspects of their photos to their designs and their designs to their photos.

Apart from graphic design, digital photography can also be applied to other new media and fine art. In terms of new media, photos can be used in videography. This could be a good opportunity for students to work collaboratively as well. Digital photography can be used as a tool or a medium in the fine arts too. Students can uses photos as a reference for other art work. They can also use it to layer into their other works after printing it.

The ability to apply digital photography to other areas of art gives students the opportunity to exercise their critiquing techniques by choosing what kind of effect they want when taking a photo. It also gives teachers many areas to explore with their students, which is helpful when students have different interests they might want to pursue.

Impact 25 Progress Report

Thus far, Ren and I have formed a general idea of what we want to accomplish for the Impact 25 project. Our idea is that people will participate through the use of communicative social media, after reading about the collaborative potential it has in the classroom, I thought that it would be a good idea to use it to involve 25 people. I also thought that because of the connivence of social media, more people would be inclined to participate since it wouldn't take much time out of their day to log on quickly and contribute. The main idea is that the community of viewers will give an artist (myself of Ren) instructions about what to do with our hand while drawing on a Facebook Live Feed. In an attempt to make this as simple as possible, we made the guidelines as follows in the event description:

With a Facebook event made for our project, people can add it to their calendars as a reminder, send an invite to other people, and it's an easy way to "mass ask" people to participate. To go further in this project, Ren and I will have to figure out the best time for us to host the event, invite people to the event, and refine our idea so that we minimize unexpected issues/make it entertaining.

Session 1 Readings

Personal Connections in the Digital Age

By: Nancy K. Baym

Reading this passage has brought my attention to how people interact with technology to create, foster, and sustain personal connections with others. In turn, this has also forced me to reflect upon my relationship with new media.

Communicative technology has evolved because of the increasing need and ability to contact someone quickly and conveniently, regardless of the distance between people. As people started to use these technologies, they found ways to adapt to their limitations, and create further technologies to compensate those adaptations. In addition to technologies, new sets of social interaction protocols were put in place. Hence, what stuck out to me most was how people would socially navigate the ever-changing realm of new media.

As she mentions, it will be a challenge to recreate the authenticity of human connection through a screen. From what I gather from reading, Baym remains hopeful that "...we will navigate out way through innovation without losing hold of one another" (pg. 155). This passage is most important because it brings this to light by reminding the reader of how people arrived at this place of communication. In terms of being a member of society, one must choose how they define authentic human connection and use new media to foster that connection. As it relates to classrooms, teachers should be mindful of this and decide how they would like their students to interact with technology, considering what communicative technologies already bring to their lives outside of school.

The Resounding Voice of Youth in a Digital Age &How Are Youths Creatively Using Digital Technology?

After reading this chapter, I found that the most valuable aspect of technology is access. Throughout the reading, it is noted how creative technologies have given students the resource to produce and share their own content. Students can also use communicative technologies as an area of critique and sharing ideas. The social aspect of technology provides opportunity for effective learning outside of the classroom with no restrictions based on geography or access to mentors/experts of their interest. Being able to respond, collaborate, and critique through technology presents more avenues of interest-driven arts learning. Realizing this, it gives educators the opportunity to see what truly interests their students, which they can then translate into learning in the classroom by using the technologies they do and incorporating their interests. None of which would happen without the accessibility that technology gives students to creative content. 

In the next section, it was stated that the way that students use and respond with technology is up to them, which determines how successful the technology can be used in the classroom. It covers how much time and exposure students are having with technology, and begs the questions how technology should be used to utilize youths interaction with creative technologies. With the idea in mind that students are already using creative technologies, it was important to analyze the difference between "traditional fine Art" and art created with technology. It was encouraged that educators find a way to pull students interests with the content they create on their own with technology to inform the way they learn in the classroom with "traditional fine Art." As a whole, the response to creative social technologies in youth culture should be paid attention to by educators to practice interest-based learning and research what is most effective for student learning.

Digital Fantastical Landscape & Reflection

Fantastical Landscape

The process of making a digital painting has been an experimental one. Before creating my final product, I spent a lot of time "playing" and experimenting with the Wacom tablet that I purchased earlier. I made about four different landscapes with various techniques I found on Photoshop. Each of them were then promptly deleted so that I could start with a clean slate for the next. The ability to start over in less than a second made this process feel much quicker as well. Because of this, the potential it has in the classroom is endless. Students would be able to pursue many avenues quickly without becoming frustrated, like they could be with a material that is slow to use or produce something.

Eventually, I found that the technique that worked best for me was the painting brush that acts similarly to an oil painted brush. With this knowledge and practice, I found myself leaning on the experience that I have from working with oil paints most during most of my artistic career. Similarly, students can have the same experience when moving to fine art to new media. Unlike oil paint, I found it drastically easier to change colors digitally than it is physically. But, it is easier to mix colors physically because I can easily control how much pigment I mix into the color I had. Since it was simple to change aspects of the painting, it has unlimited potential in the classroom for students who are also detail oriented.

The possibilities found in digital art are endless and can be challenged in the classroom. One can only wonder how to make a digital painting look like a "real" one made in a fine art studio.

On/Off Experiment Part 2

These are the text drawings that I created of things I have heard while riding public transportation. Out of all of the things that I have heard while doing this experiment, I chose these quotes because they resonated with me in a certain way.

I started by using Adobe Illustrator to plan what I wanted to create in my sketchbook. I played with the orientation and placement of fonts. I also payed attention to the kind of tone the font would give the words. It was also important to take into account what I felt was most important in what the person said. Based on the tone of the person speaking and what I heard, I chose fonts that I though fit the word's "personality."

After playing around with fonts on Illustrator, I would print the final product and trace it in my sketch book to then be traced over again in a felt pen. The process to make these text drawings was long and tedious. I felt like this process of making embodied the kind of experience I wanted to create for myself for this project. The purpose was to unplug and see things from another perspective. Going from using digital tools to fine art slowed the process of making down a lot, which is how I felt when riding public transportation, slow. But, by memorializing these words by hand, I was able to put thought into how I received those words. I find that the final product was imperfect, because of human mistakes, but also beautiful, which was the aim of the experiment. In other words, the process of making further proved to me it is worth putting down technology.

Below are the images of the text drawings done in my sketchbook.

On/Off Experiment Part 1

For my experiment, I have decided to get away from technology while riding public transportation. I have always found myself looking down at my phone or listening to music during my commute to Teachers College or whenever I am traveling somewhere. Since public transportation is the most popular way to travel around New York City, I found it important to unplug while I am riding it and observe the world around me.
During my experiment, I found that I have been missing so much around me. If I was by myself, and not speaking with a friend, I felt myself eavesdropping on peoples conversations around me, while  trying not to make it too obvious. I discovered that the people sitting around me are much more interesting than I realized and that some of them were like me, just trying to get to a destination.
For the people who I found more interesting, they were the homeless, the slightly psychotic, the teenagers who think they know everything, the tourists, the families, the business people, and the talented. Aside from the people that make a scene on public transportation, I did not pay attention to the others while traveling. Now that I have had the opportunity to, snippets of their conversations have resonated in my head. Even though they are probably meaning less words and conversations to them, to me, I have found meaning in them. Because of the nature of the experiment, realizing the world around me, their words contribute to the environment I exist in. Some of the conversations I heard, I could connect with and others I could not. But they all represent the world that I miss while on my device, which makes them important.
The people I observed just trying to get to their destination like I had done in the past, I identified with. I could see the discomfort on their faces while they tried to pay attention to their book, friend, or device when someone made speech about their misfortune or when someone acted rambunctiously in the public scene. I felt as if I should be doing the same thing, ignoring those people, because it would make me feel more comfortable than being victim to their every word. I was envious of their escape. But, when the ride was enjoyable or I was listening in on an entertaining conversation, I felt badly for those who were destination oriented. I almost pitied them for not noticing the incredible energy and life in New York City.
To honor the time I have had watching and listening to the world around me while traveling on public transportation, I decided to create text driven drawings of the peoples words I heard to bring meaning to them outside of where I heard them.

Setting Boundaries for Interactive Screens and Social Media

Below are the quotes that resonated with me most from the website, eetiquette.com, about the social contract that should be followed when on the internet:

This quote was important to me because it reminded me of how frustrating it can be to make plans with people these days. It always seems like messages are constantly being sent back and forth in a group chat with too many people in it to keep track of what time and place works for someone and not the other. Even when making plans with one person, messaging back and forth about plans can get frustrating if they do not have a timely response so you can make more plans around that other persons schedule. In all, taking a few minuets out of your day to call someone and talk live about plans is much more time effective than messaging someone with the idea in mind that it is more time convenient for someone to respond when they can. 

This next quote resonates with me because it is a rule that I already have for myself since I was 17, a freshman in college. As a freshman, I joined the sorority Delta Gamma where we had a rule for all of our members that we could not post any pictures on social media that were revealing or that had any paraphernalia in it. The reasoning being that we did not want to represent our sorority poorly, on campus or nationally, and because it was useful for future career prospects.

I believe that this is something that everyone should be practicing when engaging in any interaction online. More often than not, I would scroll through comments on a post on Facebook and find that someone is in a heated discussion with another. The internet brings the opportunity to respond immediately without giving yourself time to think over the situation. This causes more harm than good. I think that taking time to respond is an important thing to do so you can put the conversation into perspective and respond appropriately.

A Museum that Focuses on Technology

The museum that I found that primarily uses technology is located in Tokyo and called the MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM.

Light Show:

1. There, they have a permanent exhibition put on by the group called teamLab Borderless, which features projected lights that create an environment for people to walk through. The light art gives people the opportunity to create a physical experience with other people in the new world around them.

Interactive Technology:

1. Some of the exhibitions are interactive. Guests are able to use their hands to touch certain points to change the environment in different ways.
2. There are also some exhibitions where guests can create their own art that can be added to the art show. A video features children drawing their own underwater creatures to be scanned into a program that inputs them into the art and makes it look like they are moving underwater.

Installation Art:

1. The museum is all about creating environments for their visitors, so they also create physical installations that are changed with peoples' interaction with them.

Video Art:

1. The video below is one of a piece featured on a single screen of an artist practicing making a perfect circle with one stroke of paint.

Pixel Art:

1. The next piece is created with small digital tiles that show a mural and reacts to movement around it.

An Artist Who Uses Technology

The artist that I have found who uses technology is a team of artists that work collaboratively to create the Tree of Ténéré. In all, the team is consisted of 14 people with backgrounds in art, engineering, digital media, programming, and community fundraising. Together, they create a life sized sculpture of a tree that has LED leaves that light up in various sequences using a computer program. The Tree of Ténéré was created in 2017 for the Burning Man festival. It was a symbol of shelter, rest, and adventure, which came from the legend that said the Tree of Ténéré was shelter for those who crossed the Sahara desert. In addition to the team of artists creating light sequences, the tree is also able to react to movement and sound. On their website, they ask their visitors to imagine lying under the tree while a choir performs and the LED tree dances to the sounds. Unfortunately, I was unable to find more information about the programs that they use and the process of their creative technologies, but I believe the Tree of Ténéré a lot of inspiration for community art and collaboration among artists.

Program or be Programed: Ten Commandments for a Digital Age By: Douglas Rushkoff

While reading Rushkoff's Program or be Programed, I had began to realize the stresses of technology on humans.

First, I have seen that the technology of communication has not been made for the purpose it holds today. Today, we are constantly "plugged into" the world, our family, and our friends. We are able to get information around to multiple people in seconds.
For example, while reading today, I had three different friends text me within minutes of each other that the singer Mac Miller passed away from a drug overdose. Meanwhile, I have not heard of the news myself from a report let alone had the time to share the news. Regardless of me taking the time to read something I had printed and not on a device, I was still "plugged into" the world's news because of the immediate way people can communicate through technology.
After reading, I found that email was not created for this purpose. Initially, people would enjoy the convince of not having to get a hold of someone while they were physically available. If someone was not physically by their phone, you had another way to pass along information to them, email. This email could be sent to someone's mail folder, and would be there for the recipient to look at their own leisure. In the book, it was illustrated that people could take time to respond to someone, even send one email a day, or could take some time to think about what they wanted to say in a conflicting conversation online. Being given so much time, provided by the technology, had brought "art" to online conversations.
The way that humans have used this convenient technology has changed the direction that communicative technology has evolved. With the ability to accomplish something quickly without physically being available has also enabled humans to multitask, which makes technology even faster.

Secondly, I found it fascinating that Rushkoff associated immediateness to valuing what is most recent over what is most relevant. As he described it, since technology has new evolved into something that can be viewed in real time, comments online become a battle of time. The most recent comments will be viewed first, and so on. This has trained technology users to value what information is given to them more quickly than others, even if the information that comes later is more valuable in terms of content.
This has stuck out to me because of the way that we receive news and information now. Again, I experienced this when being told by friends that Mac Miller passed away. After I was told, I took a moment to respond then wondered how they found out and why I had not received a news report or notification about it on my phone. The only information that I had from my friends were that he passed away from a drug overdose and that he was 26 years old. Because my friends were the quickest people to give me the news, I quickly stopped trying to find a news report that could give me more perspective and information about his passing. The convenience has taken precedence over the need for information, which makes me think about what technology does for education and research.

Introducing Me

Hello, I'm Annie! I went to college at Salisbury University, which is located on the coast of Maryland near Ocean City. While there, I earned my BFA with a concentration in painting. In addition to painting, I took classes in sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, web design, graphic design, and photography. Before I came to Teachers College, I did not have much experience working with new media and creative technologies. Since attending, I have taken the class Sculpture as Making where I was able to get more experience using tools such as the laser cutter and 3D printer. I am excited about being in New Media New Forms because I will be able to learn new techniques to use in my own art, and skills I can apply to my future students' learning.