emconsteroids

What media does to us. And everyone around us.

This is a nice speech of Bill Moggridge on the topic of Interaction Design. Quite a few very nice insights.

I still have to check the other videos, but they seem promising as well.

LG WILLIAMS
How To Explain Great Art in The Age of Sports (Mona Lisa)
2005, 30” x 50”, Mixed Media on Canvas
Copyright © 2004 LG Williams and The Estate of LG Williams. All Rights Reserved.

http://lgwilliams.com/art/pr/2004_lgnralph.pdf

This is a hint to a documentary movie outlining thoughts about cultural paradigm shifts and implications, drive and motivations behind sharing information and data. It once again points out the urge of finding a solution for the current “file sharing problem”. A problem, that can be solved. Or maybe not? Judge yourself: Steal This Film II

You may already know it. If not, be warned, this is something, you will never ever forget anymore. And here it is: There’s an arrow in the FedEx logo. Can you spot it?

If you can’t see it, read how the FedEx logo came into place.

I thought it would be worthwhile transcripting James Nachtwey’s speech he’s given at The TED Prize in March 2007:

“As someone who spent his entire career trying to be invisible, standing in front of an audience is a cross between an outer body experience and being caught in the headlights. So please forgive me for violating one of the TED commandments by relying on words on paper - And I only hope I am not struck by lightning bolts before I’m done.

I’d like to begin by talking a bit about some of the ideas that motivated me becoming a documentary photographer.

I was a student in the Sixties. A time of social upheaval and questioning. And on the personal level, an awakening sense of idealism. The war in Vietnam was raging, the Civil Rights Movement was under way - and pictures had a powerful influence on me.

Our political and military leaders were telling us one thing, and photographers were telling us another.

I believed the photographers and so did millions of other Americans.

Their images fueled resistances to war and racism. They not only recorded history, they helped change the course of history. Their pictures became the heart of or collective consciousness, and this consciousness evolved into a shared sense of conscience. Change became not only become possible but inevitable.

I saw that the free flow of information represented by journalism, specifically visual journalism, can bring into focus what the benefits and the costs of political policies are. They can give credit to sound decision making adding momentum to success. In the phase of poor political judgement or political inaction becomes a kind of intervention assessing the damage and asking us to reassess our behavior. It puts a human face on issues which from a far can appear abstract or ideological and monumental in their global impact. What happens at ground level? Far from the wholes of power? What happens to ordinary citizens one by one?

And I understood that documentary photography has the ability to interpret the events from their point of view. It gives a voice to those who otherwise would not have a voice. And as a reaction it stimulates public opinion and gives influence to public debate thereby preventing the interested parties from totally controlling the agenda as much as they would like to.

Coming of age in those days made real the concept that the free flow of information is absolutely vital for a free and dynamic society to function properly. The press is certainly a business and in order to survive it must be a successful business. But the right balance must be found between marketing considerations and journalistic responsibilities.

Societies problems can’t be solve until they’re identified.

At a higher plan, the press is a service industry, and the service it provides is awareness.

Every story does not have to sell something. There is also a time to give. That was the tradition I wanted to follow.

Seeing the war created such incredibly high stakes for everyone involved and visual journalism can actually become a factor in conflict resolution.

I wanted to be a photographer in order to be a war photographer.

But I was driven by an inherent sense that a picture that revealed the true face of war would almost by definition be an anti war photograph.

I’d like to take you on a visual journey through some of the events and issues I have been involved in over the past 25 years.

[…]

One of the things I had to learn as a journalist is what to do with my anger. I had to use it, channel its energy, turn it into something that would clarify my vision instead of clouding it.

[…]

I am a witness. And I want my testimony to be honest and uncensored. I also want it to be powerful and eloquent and to do as much justice as possible to the experience of the people I’m photographing.

[…]

My pictures can play a supporting role to the work of NGOs by shedding light on the critical social problems they’re trying to deal with.

[…]

Photographers go to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what’s going on. Sometimes they put their lives on the line, because they think your opinions and your influence matter. They aim their pictures at your best instincts: generosity, the sense of right and wrong, the ability and willingness to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable.

[…]”

Can you contribute to James Nachtwey’s TED wish?

Good advertising can impress me. I like aesthetically and conceptually thought trough pieces such as this Nike All Star 2005 advertising:

Did you know that the London based graffiti artist Banksy has most of his artworks collected on Flickr and quite a few of them are also geo tagged. Check loc.alize.us to see where the stencils are.

Advertising is about selling ideal worlds. But since the world we live in is everything but perfect, we use modern image manipulation technology to help out.

TaylorJames, who shares the same building as the company I work for has specialized in bringing dream world to paper. They also give us a little in-sight into how they create those world. It’s impressive, have a look