Ragefaces... That little meme that seems to get around the internet and whether or not you know were it came from you have probably seen it. Not only have you seen it, but you have probably made your own rage face when you were angry at something. In sort a rage face is expression you make when your mad but the rage faces have expanded in to many expressions like joy or ignorance. They are the poorly drawn MSPaint expressions of the users behind the computers.
Example:
Do these rage faces deserve artistic merit? Probably, they are a pure form of expression that is easy accessible to any one on the internet. Thought the constant argument, due to the accessibility, if something is art.. That is an argument for another time.
These faces have gone all over the internet over the past few years and has even spawn a community and pop-clothing. The community is www.reddit.com/r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu and it has spawned thousands of comics and more than a few new faces. The clothing is, depending on your point of view is good or bad, but comes from HotTopic. So Ragefaces have moved in to mainstream, which begs the question, does this make it more or less a legitimate art form? Probably, in the same way that graffiti is art, but even that is just now becoming more recognized.
To end, its a fun comedic form and deserves to be more recognized, and this is my last blog of this year .... sry if im half-assing it but I want some turkey lulz.
Here is a link to the work in question. Though i clam the name of the artist is Anon, that is just short for anonymous, meaning anyone could have created it. This picture was found in a picture dump called wallbase.net. It, as far as i could find, is an original work of art most probably created because of a fan who based it off their favorite anime series. What makes this particular peace digital rather than normal art is that it was most likely created in Photoshop.
As artistic pieces go this one is up for just as much interpretation as any other. The fact that is it digital doesn't change the nature of the art, but can contribute to the meaning of what it represents. This particular piece is of a guy in a trench coat standing on the precipice of darkness and light. Is the man praying? Does this image represent the inner monologue of all men who are seeking to define their place in the world? These question and answers are up for interpretation and argument depending on how the viewer interprets the action in the image, but i would say yes this does represent the monologue of man and the the fact that he appears to be prying speaks to his seeking a higher influence on his actions whether good or bad.
The argument between the nature of digital media and physical media is just that; the physical object in the 'real' world. Though, the goal of art isn't to portray a physical object but to project the meaning of the art on to the view making a 'hard copy' unnecessary. The stigma that digital art isn't art springs from its lack of physical body though the views on whether something is art or not is a purely subjective view that younger and younger generations have been expanding every generation.
(not sure if that was in the correct format .. i think it was a little spotty too)
The creative commons is an interesting concept where users are free to share and 'remix' media items and for this blog i will specifically focus on images. This image for instance:
This image is a remix of a classic work of art and a wooden doll. The creative commons creates an creative tool for artist to get feed back on there work. The artist arn't restricted to feedback but many end up working together to create new original works of art.
Back to the work of art. The question is: "How would Edvard Munch feel about his work portrayed?" The natural reaction would probably be humor that would transition in to a certain kind of wonder. Personally i would think he would be amazed with the progress that other artist have made due to the impact of his art. To some extent it is the recognition of the artistic process and with this the artist is bolster to an even higher status. As they say "Copying is the highest form of flattery."
The image above is has the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic licence. By this version you are free to share and remix this image but are restricted to: attributing the image to the creator, non-commercial meaning you cant sell it, and must share alike. There are a wide variety of choices for this creative commons licencing but all of them are geared towards being more open.
Edit: the links to the original artwork for some reason arnt showing so heres a direct link http://www.flickr.com/photos/aldoaldoz/2489998092/
For a long time now the RIAA, MPAA, and other such adjacencies have long been at war with different torrenting sites such as Demonoid and the PirateBay. The reason behind there war is fairly strait forward and i wont be going in to too much. As it seems though not only are the institutions at war but the followers and users of the PirateBay and Demonoid, who have been silent supporters up until recently, when the MPAA highered a Indian based software firm to ddos attack the PirateBay.(Link)
The direct attack by the MPAA caused a rather domino effect of outrage from users of the PirateBay which caused the anonymous mass that is 4chan to ddos attack the MPAA, RIAA, and other sites keeping them down for more than 14 hours. This has been the first direct attack by both users and companies for and against pirating.
This week more attacks are planed by anonymous and these dont only include there websites. During the last raids on the RIAA a few anons had done more than ddos the website, they had stolen the personal information of employees. This time they published this personal information and encourage anons to pull pranks on them.
Things have just got real. These attacks could make people pay more attention the the plight of the pirates and could help make the MPAA back off.
Google has grown in to a internet giant and more specifically a mobile operating system giant. Ever since this Google growth Google has been relatively left alone to grow and advance, but more recently they have been the focus of legal attacks. Now legal attacks aren't that uncommon to large corporations such as Microsoft and Apple but up until recently Google hasn't been viewed as a large corporation ... they have been viewed as the underdog with the motto "don't be evil."
Now, ironically, when you Google Search: Google + Evil you get 39 million pages of search results and more then a few of them imply that Google has gone evil. The immediate impact is that Google has a new image which can impact there sales and usage. The global impact is that Google is one of the big boys ... Google is a global media giant. This level of status elevates Google to a new level of public awareness and as they say "If you have haters.....it means keep up the good work." In other words Google is doing an amazing job and the companies like Apple and Oracle who have sued Google of various copyright infringements are those 'haters.'
Google has effectively made its self a dominant presence in the media and social media distribution industry with its expansive growth. This has created a predominant fixed point for Google's mobile media empire among the social media seen.
(ok so i think i paned -> zoomed -> and ended with global impact ... this is hard :( dont penalize me to much)
ps heres my jumping off point :P http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/10/25/google-gets-sued-over-android-and-java-yet-again-this-time-by-gemalto/
Life without Facebook... ... take two steps back and let out a breath of air from that gasp that you were sure to have when you read Life Without Facebook. That is the general reaction you get from people ages twenty five and younger. The question that surfaces here to most people who don't have this reaction ie people over twenty five and even more often in even older people is why? Why do the younger generation have this obsession with Facebook?
There are three things that is said to be essential:
1) Shelter
2) Food
3) Water
Perhaps this could be expanded though to companionship. It seems a connection to other humans is essential and its a commonly known fact that people go crazy when they are left alone for long periods. Take Tom Hanks for example in 'Castaway', he made a ball his best friend and would constantly talked to it. The ball was his connection and Facebook is a universal connection for all people, meaning even when were alone at home we are still connected, we still have people to talk to.
The older generation. The generation before the internet took off. This generation knows nothing of the connections that can be made though social media such as Facebook and don't fully comprehend the connection gained with its presence. Where as those born in to this new age of social media don't know what to do with out it and feel as though when they lose it they are losing friends.
I on the other hand I don't miss it ... my week went by relatively uneventful. I think I am the middle ground where i was raised without the internet until I was about 12. Life without internet prepared me for this week. I'm a stone cold real world survivor. Lol
In this day and age reading ... well at least extended reading is dieing out; first a little intro in to the history on how this got started. Since the dawn of the internet people have been jamming million and millions of words and pictures full of information on to the internet. This was a new abundance of information that everyone with a portal in to the internet could view and read. Because of this abundance there is just to much information to process if someone decided to read every article and view every page so reading has evolved. Yes, it has evolved in to a quick scan and incomplete reading of many articles. This new evolution hasn't weakened reading but strengthened data input to the brain where more diverse information gets assimilated.
The other side of the argument is that this new fast reading doesn't let the reader fully comprehend everything which is true, but it does let the reader comprehend 90% of the information gathered. The other 10% is often lost in the confusion and surly everyone has had a moment where they forgot a small tidbit of information that got logged as less important in the brain; thus they end up kicking them selves for it later. The trade off is often worth it. In this fast moving world and the trends peoples reading habits are showing this to be true.
I digress to my experience with 40 minuets of reading... it wasn't that bad. I own a kindle and greatly enjoyed my usual reading of some book or another, but this week its Ring Worlds by Larry Niven. (check it out) Great book kept me entertained. You know what I kept reading for a bit after i finished my 40 minuets too.
(heres a cool vid made by a guy with free animation software)
This blog is going to be centered around how social media has affected its massive explosion in user sine-ups and people buying Minecraft. First a little video to get you acquainted with Minecraft:
As you can see its nothing amazing, just simplistic blocks with no real goal. What Minecraft does do is stimulate the users creativity and gives the user control on its surrounding. This form of open world entertainment stimulates the user to want to share and explore there creations in the world they cannot, but they are so proud they seek affirmation from peers.
The hypothesis is that the average Minecraft user must go outside there world and share their connection with a disconnected world. Minecraft users seem to amass at Reddit.com/r/minecraft, notch's blog (the soul creator of mine craft), or even on youtube.com where people by the masses are posting pics and videos of their creations. For example, the subreddit for Minecraft has exploded, going from only about 100 people to over 7000 in only 2 weeks, along with the rest of the internet curiosity with this little game developed by one man. This game has stimulated people to join together around a common interest and thus is a social media.
The reason why people should watch this expanse and growth in this area of social media is that it is massive and unprovoked. Seemingly overnight one man has become a millionaire based on a simple game he had the passion to make. How can this be harnessed in the future? Who will be the next Notch? What makes people who play this single player game so rampant about sharing it with their friends and convince them to buy it as well. I believe its a combination of freedom that isn't found in real life and the stimulation of creativity where the modern blue collar person doesn't have the medium to express. When a person creates they often feel a need to share there creation and this is what drives them to show off their 'art' to there friends and a since of accomplishment comes with this affirmation from there piers. Their for they strive for a large audience ie the internet as further affirmation.
Humans are social creatures and thus must socialize that is why a Minecraft has evolved in to a new social media.
This week is a very Wiki Wiki week and meaning the online living encyclopedia. First a little context in to what Wikipedia is and why its a living encyclopedia, Wikipedia is a collection of user created and edit information, its always changing, and constantly evolving. The entire encyclopedia is hive mind build of an encyclopedia by hordes of internet-goers who have options and facts. The process that occurs is some one creates a article and than another edits .. than another .... than another. Evolving from a general mass to a smooth polished work of art.
To day this blogger joined the masses in editing an article. Here is my additions to the reddit wiki:
[
(the popular subreddits is the addition i made http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit)
I'm going to let this sit over night and see how it evolves. What the hypothesis is that some one some one will go in there and make the article look more polished and not so much a 20 min article edit.
--about 24 hours pass--
Okay, so its been a day and no one seems to have modified or deleted my post. it seems that ether no one noticed that the article had changed or the people who did thought it was a good addition and didn't need to be changed, ether way a contribution was made that fed in to the mass of information that is Wikipedia. This was a failure in regards to the original hypothesis, but a successful contribution. Though on more controversial topics it is a growing trend that they are constantly edited by everyone so much so that the moderators lock down the article to changes so as to not corrupt the information by bias parties constantly editing.
Wikipedia it seems is like a large city full of millions of people (users) and millions of buildings (articles) and is growing and changing all the time with each article addition and each modification. This is a recent innovation in social media where it pertains to how communities and thus societies are formed around ideas and the exchange of information. How a lowly user can help shape the face of the virtual city scape for ever making an imprint for a larger goal.
This weeks blog is supposed to contain a 'trackback link' which gives a ping to an original author that was sited in the blog but information from Wikipedia "One notable blogging service that does not support trackback is Blogger. Instead, Blogger provides 'backlinks',[2] which allow users to employ Google's search infrastructure to show links between blog entries." So seeing as Blogger doesn't allow 'trackback linking' so it was decided that this other form will be used in hopes that there will be no penalization. Hay look it was used below!
Digressing to last weeks topic, The Restoring Truthiness rally is full steam a head and is further trying to get Colbert to hold the rally on the date 101010 which translates in binary to 42 the 'perfect number.' (from the book 'Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy' Follow the link for more info ) There newest Social media blitz is by attempting to get thousands of people to donate to Steven Colbert's favorite charity Donors Choose.org. The goal in doing this (TL;DR version i.e. too long didn't read) is "TL;DR Donate money = Help Kids = Impress Colbert = Restore Truthiness!" you can read more about this on the Colbert rally website.
In other news, before the conclusion, there is a quick quote that was brought up in class and that is "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold" meaning that free services like Google and others that don't require you to pay for them are indirectly making money off the information that is gathered by you using them and selling that information off to marketing teams and large corporations. The point of bringing it up now is to let you the reader marinate on it and its meaning before further elaboration in next weeks blog.
So, In conclusion, Blogger doesn't have 'trackback link's', The Restoring Truthiness rally is on the move seeing as no one has given up on it quite yet, and keep thinking about that quote.
Social media has many uses some people use it to connect with friends and family and other like corporations use it to "connect" to there target audience, but what i want to introduce to day is a new from for media blitzing i.e. social media blitz that has sprung up in recent years.
The social media blitz is a new grass roots effort to promote an idea, site, or product. It can be harnessed by any one at any time and its entire success is dependent on the users. Generally it starts small like a few tweets to get the word out or a face book group to show support for which ever movement. These tactics were widely exploited in the 2008 election with Obama who posted YouTube videos and successfully turned a dark-horse candidate in to an icon and later the President of the United States.
What sparked this particular topic was when i joined the movement "OPERATION STRIKE OF TRUTHINESS!" which is a response by his fans against the ignorance of the bias conservative fox media. That is beside the point though and if you would like any more information click this link: THE LINK. The website eurges people to:
At EXACTLY 12:00PM EST (9:00AM PST) On Tuesday, Sept 7th 2010
do the following:
First, if you use Twitter, click here or Tweet
"Restoring Truthiness at http://www.colbertrally.com".
Then go to Google and REPEATEDLY search for "Restoring Truthiness"
Do not stop until you get carpal tunnel.
This is a push to get people to take notice of there issue and by blitzing it causes the news media to pay attention. As we have seen in recent years more and more news and more conventional forms of media have payed greater and greater attention to the activity of the web causing such grass roots efforts to take a more prominent roll in society.
thanks,
Isaac S.
(heres a funny pic)
ps: if thats not the type of quote your looking for let me know ill change it
So far in our culture we as a people have seen broad strides in Social Media with the onset of Facebook and Myspace than later the communities that have grown around games such as World of Warcraft and Habbo. We have seen a huge growth in how Social Media is defined and the amount of users now using some form of Social Media. In class we have explored these ideas and found that they are more and more relevant.
In the class ATEC 2322 the topic of Social Media has been discussed and defined in broad terms limited to that of how people communicate and interact over the internet. Many tag words were thrown around in class Monday such as: fad, quick, instant, growth, over long distances, community, social, networking. These tag lines are all inductive to the idea that Social Media is viewed differently amongst a group of peers, some associate it with quick communication, others a way to keep and hold a tight community, and others thought it nothing but a quick fad that happened to sweep the nation. How ever you may view Social Media they must accept it for what it is now and that is here and had lead to a powerful grown in world wide communication. This world communication has shrunk peoples perspectives on a global community shrinking the gaps in culture and enhancing peoples understanding of the world and its peoples at large.
At large Social Media continues to grow and no ones knows it ultimate fate whether its just a fad or hear to stay, but as it stands to day it has become a huge part of every day life and has led the the advent of a global community.
--Funny tag line
Isaac S.
(heres another video, its an old one but a good one)
So, i'm a student at UTD as I expect anyone who would read this to be as well... that or the teacher. (Hi, Mis. Knight) Any way if you are still reading you have gotten further than I have written with out taking an extended break and I applaud your dedication.
As I have stated before I am a UTD student though some thing you might not know is that my area of study is Computer Science and not EMAC or ATEC. I know odd right?! but i need an elective and this class came recommended to me by Mary Effler as a class that is interesting. So far in the class I was forced to get a Twitter which as it turns out that the one I made a long time ago as a joke is still there so now I use it. I was also forced to get a Delicious account which I had no inherent problem getting until it made me sine up for Yahoo and I hate Yahoo. If you had to ask me how I felt about the class so far i would shrug and leave it at that; we will see what is in`store' for ATEC/EMAC 2322.
.... I digress from my school life and wish to talk about my self a bit -- mainly because this post isn't quite at the 300 word minimum yet. I enjoy rock music, wasting time on games, and hitting the bar with my friends. I don't think this sums me up by any means but I do wish to keep this short because I am new at blogging and am unsure correctness of this blog and therefor if i have to edit it I do not want to have to rewrite a ten page paper. This brings me to my conclusion, right about at 300 words, enjoy class and enjoy life.
corny tag line and im out,
Isaac S.
(oh yeah heres a funny vid a little wtf from Korea)
