Friday 27 September 2013

Visual Culture and Lifestyle in Digital Age


Visual culture is concerned with visual events in which information, meaning or pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology. By visual technology one means any form of apparatus designed either to be looked at or to enhance natural vision , from oil painting to televisions and the internet. http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Mirzoeff-What_is_Visual_Culture.pdf

The digital revolution in computing capabilities, internet connectivity and communication setup provides a numerous amounts of information technology opportunities to peoples, governments, non-profits, and corporate interests. This exponential rise in the use of digital and often connected stages also shows serious challenges in terms of how best to manage the information we generate, consume and share in both the real and virtual worlds.
There is a growing need for innovative solutions that provide for the eective management of time and resources. Eventually, these solutions should oer accessible opportunities to improve both eciency and satisfaction to individuals, government and businesses in specific areas of interests within the circles (physical, informational, cognitive, and social) of the modern day information age scene. http://www.hexagoncs.com/digital-age-lifestyle/

We have basically made a move from the physical, for example books, letters, personal interactions and communications to ebooks, emails, text, phone calls and Skyping people in foreign lands. It has changed the way we communicate as a species and our social behavior to reflect our emotionless machines we buy but end up running our lives for us.

Global Village
The dictionary definition: The whole world considered as being closely connected by modern telecommunications and as being interdependent economically, socially, and politically. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/global+village
The late Marshall McLuhan, a media and communication theorist, coined the term “global village” in his book, in 1964. To describe the existence of the world’s culture shrinking and expanding at the same time due to widespread technological advances that allow for direct sharing of culture, beliefs and knowledge. The claim that it is possible for all the cultures of the world to become one global village is controversial. Because on one side, people believe that if it continues, cultural globalisation will lead to an incredible marketplace where countries of all economic opportunities are represented and where more privileged countries come to the aid of less fortunate ones with humanitarian efforts which would make organisations like the UN much more functional and prepared.

On the other hand, people are afraid that the evolution of a global village will raise conflicts between cultures, cause a division of culture, or lead to cultural control by more developed countries and even bringing them together to build hybrid cultures. Assuming Marshall McLuhan’s analogy of the world as a global village is an accurate estimate of the effects of cultural globalisation. Understanding what these changes will mean for each existing culture individually, and being careful to consider all sides of the discussion with equal relevance is essential to forming a universal understanding of what a global village is. If we are in fact becoming a global village, will we be able to reach some sort of consensus about how these issues should be addressed in order to benefit all members of our village equally. If we cannot determine respectful cultural boundaries in the simplest manner with regards to language, economy, and the basic means of survival, it is presumptuous to assume that we can identify as a global village at all. http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/61/understanding-the-implications-of-a-global-village

Postmodernism
Our current period in history has been called by many the postmodern age and many modern critics are clearly interested in making sense of the time in which we live. Such critics inevitably run into difficulties given the sheer complexity of living in history: we do not yet know which elements in our culture will win out and we do not always recognize the subtle but persistent ways that changes in our society affect our ways of thinking and being in the world.
Postmodernism has extreme self-reflexivity. This same self-reflexivity can be found everywhere in pop culture, for example the way the Scream series of movies has characters debating the generic rules behind the horror film. In modernism, self-reflexivity tended to be used by "high" artists in difficult works strategies can be found in both high art and everything from Seinfeld to MTV.
Postmodernism has irony and parody. Connected to the former point, it is the way of postmodern artists, theorists, and culture to make parodies and. Pop culture and media advertising abound with examples; indeed, shows or films will often step outside of simulated or fake representation altogether in order to parody themselves in mid-stride. Postmodernism has a breakdown between high and low cultural forms. It often employs pop and mass-produced objects in more immediately understandable ways, even if their goals are still often complex.
Postmodernism is retro. Postmodernists and postmodern culture tend to be especially fascinated with styles and fashions from the past, which they will often use completely out of their original context. Postmodern architects for example will juxtapose exaggerated, medieval, and modern elements in the same room or building. In pop culture, think of the endlessly recycled TV shows of the past that are then given new life on the big screen (Scooby-Doo, Charlie's Angels, Batman, Spiderman, Robocop). Postmodernism has this tendency as a symptom of our loss of connection with historical temporality.

Postmodernism has a questioning of grand narratives. Modernists also questioned such traditional concepts as law, religion, subjectivity, and nationhood; what appears to distinguish postmodernity is that such questioning is no longer particularly associated with an advanced academics. Given the predominance of visual media (TV, film, media advertising, the internet), both postmodern art and postmodern culture gravitate towards visual (often even two-dimensional) forms. Pop culture also keeps coming back to the idea that the line separating reality and representation has broken down (Dark City, the Matrix, the Truman Show, etc.). Postmodernism disorientation. TV and internet, again cited as an example as is postmodern style, which attempts to disorient the subject entering its space. Another example may be the popularity of films that seek to disorient the viewer completely through the revelation of a truth that changes everything that came before (the Sixth Sense, the Others, Unbreakable, the Matrix).

Postmodernism has secondary orality. Whereas literacy rates had been rising steadily from the introduction of print through the modern period, postmodern society has seen a severe reversal in this development as more and more people are now functionally illiterate, relying instead on a flood of oral media sources such as TV, film, radio and especially the internet; because the Web as infinitely expandable, centerless, inter-connected information system. http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/postmodernism/

Culture Industry
The Culture Industry is one in and of itself that focuses on the media and mass marketing. However due to extensive publicity and advertising, all cultural products, including human beings, have become commodities that shares little to no meaning. Communicatively, a problem arises in that any sense of genuine dialogue is also lost. This industry gives reason to believe the individual is an illusion that is manipulated by authority, those who reside in the dominant class.

Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno define the Culture Industry through its focus on the media and mass marketing. This industry is unique in that it does not reflect economic processes and basically becomes standardised and so variation is meaningless. This includes the media, art, ideas, meanings, and the individual consciousness and that we humans can only think in terms of means and ends. In other words, we are made into commodities we must retail. Once we sell our marketed product in either word ourselves, we will have then become sellouts. In short, the rise of the individual turns into the downfall of the individual. http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Porter.htm

Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is a form of technology which creates computer generated worlds or immersive environments which people can explore and in many cases, interact with.
Virtual reality has its advocates and opponents which are mainly due to a lack of understanding about this technology and its capabilities. Unrealistic expectations coupled with lack of awareness regarding technical limitations means that for many people, virtual reality is difficult to grasp or even take seriously. http://www.vrs.org.uk/
The simulation can be used for real environment for training and education. Nothing on Earth is like stepping outside of a spacecraft to perform a spacewalk. But astronauts do have ways to prepare for the experience of extravehicular activity. David Homan is involved in one of those training method; practicing spacewalk tasks in an ultra-realistic virtual reality environment. Our facility uses computer graphics, head-mounted displays, data gloves and haptic-feedback devices. Haptic technology provides a "touch" response to actions. Together, all four of these simulate the look and feel of doing a spacewalk around the International Space Station and the space shuttle orbiter. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/spacesuits/careercorner/david-homan.html

The development of an imagined environment for a game or interactive story. The Oculus Rift is the latest in technology used for games and interactive stories. But to get to the point: it works. This is Journalists Lev Grossman’s account on the device. “They put me in a demo based on the Unreal 4 engine. Nothing fancy, just a winter landscape, a looming castle, light snow falling out of a darkening sky. The feeling of immersion is difficult to capture in words, but as soon as you’ve got the headset on you realize that every time you’ve played a video game, ever, your mind has been doing the work of ignoring the fact that your peripheral vision is full of reality: non-game stimuli. Once you put Oculus Rift on, you can stop working. You can relax. Your peripheral vision is full of game.”

Watch the Matrix trilogy for a good trip!

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