Lecture Notes - Digital Production and Distribution

I found this lecture very relevant to my COP, as I am looking at the digital aesthetic and the way that digital and technological influence can manifest within art and animation. The development of language and recording has been highly significant, not only within art but in all leases of culture and society. The technology of print and development isn't all physical anymore - it can be done through computing and via the internet, versus the traditional methods of print-press.

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) said "we shape our tools, and then they shape us." He was forward-thinking, and predicted a "global village" before the creation of the internet.

We become dependant on the tech we develop. One must examine figure (medium) and ground (context) together.

Where we are today is not the end point. As technology develops, there is an impact on the society that uses it.

Ultimately, when considering technology:

• What does it enhance/improve?
• What happens when you break it?
• What does it make obsolete?
• What does it allow us to do?

The first Mac retailed for $1000, in 1990. It allowed a range of type, more public. It enhanced productivity. It retrieved individual creativity and allowed the democratization of technology. Got rid of traditional, handmade methods, though it had problems with speed, capacity, access, and price. 

The New Aesthetic/Digital Aesthetic

This term was coined by James Bridle

It refers to the blending of the virtual and the physical

Internet within the physical world.

NOSTALGIA VS INNOVATION 

The way we imagine the future is influenced by what we have today.

A virtual clock tells the time, whereas analogue shows us.

The Mechanical Aesthetic

Robots now synonymous with technological advancement 

Cyberman - enemy

C3PO - friend, service robot, "alternative" human

The Technological Aesthetic 

iCulture - "white and blue with chromey bits"

Like Apple - smooth, very clean. Everything is deliberate - no clutter.

Utopian Aesthetic

Utopian ideal of the future

An imagine community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities

"Superhumans" - created for a purpose, everything is highly efficient.

Also a dystopian view of technology - an undesirable future

Appears in subgenres of fiction (Hunger Games, for example), draws attention to currently existing real-world issues.

"WWIII is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation."

MUTATED . . . FRAGMENTED . . . DIVERSIFIED 

Spectrum of media experiences

Wanting to return to analogue - people trust and believe in it. 

The Information Age

Computer age / digital age / new media age

Mobilisation of digital communication

New tech eliminated physical costs of communications.

Digital culture - emerging value system. 

Participation community values.