In today’s society, digital media is an ever present and highly accessible tool available to the everyday computer user. As a result of this convenience, amateur digital artists are able create impressive works with relative ease within a fraction of the time formerly taken. Imaging and design software along with comprehensive online tutorials, allow beginners to learn the basics, as well as the detailed tricks, and photo-sharing and art community websites, allow them to share them with the world. As ideal as this sounds, professional artists, who due to this progression in technology, are finding it much more difficult to make their living. The question must be asked- has digital media officially blurred the line between ‘the amateur’ and ‘the professional’?
For the purpose of this essay, A 'professional’ as determined by The American Heritage Dictionary is a person “Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career” and “Having or showing great skill; expert”. These professionals usually have had a formal training in their field and use it as their primary source of income.
The Random House Dictionary defines an 'amateur’ as: “A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.” and “one that lacks the skill and formal training of a professional, as in an art.” This however, as this essay will explore, does not mean that the amateur cannot make profit from their “pastime”.
The creative software available now, with is comprehensive and easy to use interface, is allowing amateurs to successfully design artwork that, in the past, was left to the trained eye of a professional. Payed programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator , and Coral Paintshop Pro and DrawCoral Paintshop Pro and Draw, is becoming much more affordable and in some cases, free, depending of the computer user’s level of criminal activity, downloading from file sharing websites. There are also free applications like GIMP.org which make it even easier to access a form of creative editing software.
This is great for people who want to get into creating and designing for a leisure activity or hobby however many professional artists believe there is a distinct difference between the work of a trained artist compared to a self taught artist.
“High-quality, professional work usually bears a distinct ability to be subtle—to show restraint, and avoid garishness. That’s not to say, of course, that this work is boring. Instead, it is impactful and compelling without being overt.” (Croft,2009)(Croft, 2009)
Despite the aptitude of these professional artist is seems an amateurs work to the general public’s eye can be just as effective, rendering the subtleties of a professional almost obsolete.
The real advancement however, is in the online communities that nurture amateur artists. Deviantart.com, for example, allows its users to upload their creations into their personal galleries, allowing the rest of the community to comment, critique, and add them as a favourite (fave). It is this action in which the amateur artist begins to create a following, becoming a well known name in the online art community (Kostakos, 2009). Another example of this art community type website can be found in flickr.com which Josef Kolbitsch from the University of Technology, Austria (2006) describes as allowing users to store, organise, and share photos. Users can upload their photos to a server, add comments and leave notes inside pictures. The key element in the system, however, are arbitrary tags attached to photos, which in the same way Deviantart.com uses ‘faves’, which are used to search for the piece as well as find similar images the viewer may also like.
This sort of website has been successful in launching many amateurs far beyond their title, moving them into an area the questions when the artist moves from amateur to professional. An example of this can be found in one Lara Jade Coton,19, who has grown into a celebrity status in the online photography communities since she posted her first imagine on deviantart.com in 2004.
“From the age of fourteen, I was already aware of what the internet could do. However, at the start my photography was purely a hobby. I posted my work online because I enjoyed being part of a community. I suddenly started getting more and more comments and gradually, as the years went on I had quite a few followers!”
This is fantastic news for fellow aspiring photographers, however at what point do people like Lara Jade Coton take over from professional artists and photographers who have studied and trained in the field for decades?
The final blow to the professional artist comes down to the very core of the words, which is the ability to survive off of their art. There are an increasing number of online galleries showcasing the work of up-and-coming artists, as well as extensions of the very art communities previously mentioned, which allow the purchase of prints and originals of absolutely anyone’s work that has enabled the option. This ultimately allows art collectors to choose from literally millions of artists, at an extremely affordable price, in the comfort of their own home. Undoubtley, this affects the rate that young and new art collectors visit galleries in a time where such establishments are struggling already.
In conclusion today’s advances in digital media has allowed the amateur artist to grow and flourish, gaining reputation and following, opening up the opportunities to sell and produce their work, and gain many unforseen passions in pursuing their hobbies and passions. While there will always be a place for the trained masters of art and design, it will certainly be much harder to solely rely on the field as an income.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Task 8
Sign an e-petition- I “signed” a fur trade petition. If you want to feel motivated to do so, go here and watch this.
Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site- I commented an article by Kristy Clements found at the couriermail.com
What is Barack Obama up to today? Obama is commenting on the protester gathering at the g-20 summit.
Find who your local, state and federal representatives are- Vicky Darling, Vickey Darling, Wayne Swan
What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the Internet?
I think its absolutely ridiculous. Not only will this mean blocking of websites that the public should have the freedom to utilise but it will waste millions of dollars of taxpayers money, and slow down Internet access, which must mean at my house, it will stop. ha.
What place does censorship have in a democracy?
Very lttle.
Respond to a professional blogger at a major news site- I commented an article by Kristy Clements found at the couriermail.com
What is Barack Obama up to today? Obama is commenting on the protester gathering at the g-20 summit.
Find who your local, state and federal representatives are- Vicky Darling, Vickey Darling, Wayne Swan
What do you think of the Australian Government's plans to censor the Internet?
I think its absolutely ridiculous. Not only will this mean blocking of websites that the public should have the freedom to utilise but it will waste millions of dollars of taxpayers money, and slow down Internet access, which must mean at my house, it will stop. ha.
What place does censorship have in a democracy?
Very lttle.
Week 8
The lectures and tutorials weren’t actually on this week do to the union strikes, thanks for letting me go all the way in to Nathan to find that out. No, I really, really, appreciate it.
Anyway if there had of been a lecture on today not only would I have been the only one at it, but we would have learnt about e-democracy and politics, which I’m not completely familiar with, and probably don’t want to be, because one politics class is enough honestly. But due to my background with the News and Politics class I found the fact that Politicians have cottoned on to the popularity of the internet are using it to blow their trumpets, where the demographic can be quite a lot younger than their usual audiences, making their campaign even stronger.
Lecture 7
For the week 7 tutorial Adam dressed to theme. He wore a creative commons logo t-shirt, and a Linux hat, complete with the cute little penguin. I appreciate he made the effort to co-ordinate his wardrobe with his teachings.
So as my lecturer’s shirt suggests, creative commons was the topic.
Just in case you didn’t know (where have you been?), Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as "Creative Commons licenses". These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.
So basically it allows other users to access, re-create, add upon or remix music, pictures, writings, and video. I think it’s a great way to build a creative community based on the internet where things aren’t so strict and confining, where artists can share and collaborate, and also get themselves out there as a name, especially for musicians.
So as my lecturer’s shirt suggests, creative commons was the topic.
Just in case you didn’t know (where have you been?), Creative Commons is a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses known as "Creative Commons licenses". These licenses allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve, and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.
So basically it allows other users to access, re-create, add upon or remix music, pictures, writings, and video. I think it’s a great way to build a creative community based on the internet where things aren’t so strict and confining, where artists can share and collaborate, and also get themselves out there as a name, especially for musicians.
Lecture 6
This weeks topic was on Consuption and Production. Consumption can be defined in two different ways, small screen and big screen. Consumption using the small screen involves media players which can be either shared or privately consumed or personal media players and mobile phones which are both generally private. Big screen consumption consists of the personal computer, cinema and television. Through these mediums we consume.
Also the point was raised that we as consumers are ever becoming the producers, which I found interesting, as it makes you wonder- will consumers produce so much that they will render professional producers useless? I’m not even sure if that makes sense.
Also the point was raised that we as consumers are ever becoming the producers, which I found interesting, as it makes you wonder- will consumers produce so much that they will render professional producers useless? I’m not even sure if that makes sense.
Week 5
To compare the differences between instant messaging services (MSN, AOL, etc) and 3d chat-room (second life, imvu, active world) is really quite simple. Despite the obvious visual addition 3d chat allows you, they both aim to allow you to communicate. However it is who you communicate with that separates these two services in different worlds (almost literally). MSN, most commonly, allows you to add people to your contact list, by entering their email address- which means you must have some knowledge of who the person is. How else would you obtain the address silly?
3D chat-rooms however is almost free-range in the way it works- you log on, create an avatar, and go about meeting new people, building houses and doing all sort of other things in a strange virtual world. The avatar you select is not meant to be a replica of your face, in fact, its encouraged that you create a new persona- maybe you’d like to be “Lyd Vicious, the non-conforming, atomic-pink hair coloured punk”, or perhaps “Destiny Sizemore, the sexy stripper trying to break into the acting game”. The point is to create a new person, meet people you have absolutely no idea of who they may be, and the fact is Brad Witt, the more handsome, funnier version of Brad Pitt, could really be some 54 year old, greasy haired, Slovakian man.
Personally, I think both are equally safe and not safe, as I use MSN for people I know, meaning that my personal details are relatively safe being displayed. The 3d Chat, which I do not actually use, but if I did, it would be using a character, which means you’re not actually allowing people to access your personal information.
3D chat-rooms however is almost free-range in the way it works- you log on, create an avatar, and go about meeting new people, building houses and doing all sort of other things in a strange virtual world. The avatar you select is not meant to be a replica of your face, in fact, its encouraged that you create a new persona- maybe you’d like to be “Lyd Vicious, the non-conforming, atomic-pink hair coloured punk”, or perhaps “Destiny Sizemore, the sexy stripper trying to break into the acting game”. The point is to create a new person, meet people you have absolutely no idea of who they may be, and the fact is Brad Witt, the more handsome, funnier version of Brad Pitt, could really be some 54 year old, greasy haired, Slovakian man.
Personally, I think both are equally safe and not safe, as I use MSN for people I know, meaning that my personal details are relatively safe being displayed. The 3d Chat, which I do not actually use, but if I did, it would be using a character, which means you’re not actually allowing people to access your personal information.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Föreläsning fem
This week for lecture 5, Adam took the class. He wore a chocolate brown Zappa shirt. Did you know Frank Zappa named his children Dweezil, Ahmet Rodan, Moon Unit and Diva?
MOON UNIT?!
Moving on, this lecture was about New Media, like virtual communities and idividual identity, and Internet Studies, web 2.0 and "social media"... and ROFLcopters.
The main interesting point came from Adam's experience with the internet. When he first became interested in the technology, it was all about connecting with people from every corner of the globe, being whoever you wanted to be, and being able to express your interests with like minded people. He pointed out that now is more of an "ego-centric social network" where the focus has moved away from connecting with people who have common interests to where you yourself are the common thread.
I think this is probably due to websites like myspace and facebook where the site encourages you to only add people you "know".
MOON UNIT?!
Moving on, this lecture was about New Media, like virtual communities and idividual identity, and Internet Studies, web 2.0 and "social media"... and ROFLcopters.
The main interesting point came from Adam's experience with the internet. When he first became interested in the technology, it was all about connecting with people from every corner of the globe, being whoever you wanted to be, and being able to express your interests with like minded people. He pointed out that now is more of an "ego-centric social network" where the focus has moved away from connecting with people who have common interests to where you yourself are the common thread.
I think this is probably due to websites like myspace and facebook where the site encourages you to only add people you "know".
Some questions: uppgift fyra
How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
-They are a few different ways, but Google ranks by how frequently other sites link to another website, not by what the website does or donesn't say, although they do of course use what is on the website to determine whether the page is of relevance.
Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
-Apparently, some websites are buying massive amounts of links so they show up at the top, when in actual fact the website doesn't have much to offer you in regards to what you've searched.
What are some of your favourite search engines? why do you like one more than others?
-I am a Google user through and through, it's never let me down.
Next post: Week four Scavenger Hunt.
Uppgift Fyra
So this week the task was, without using google or wikipedia, find the answer to a set of questions.
So here goes
1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?
A Gas Mask (Lecture Notes)
2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?
1969. UCLA (ucla.com)
3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
Born on Oct. 28, 1955. He was 13 When he first created and sold his first software. (Off Microsoft.com)
4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?
in Switzerland. (Yahoo! Answers)
5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?
Technology has advanced a thousand fold, so my laptop differs greatly.
6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?
8 pounds 6 ounces. (ask)
7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
June 6, 1859. It separates QLD and NSW
8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
Cyclonic
9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
He was a leading poet, and commonly known as the "Don Juan De Marko" of Venice, for his romance and antics with women.
10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
Black Assassins - Stephen Stockwell.
So here goes
1. What did Alan Turing wear while riding his bicycle around Bletchley Park?
A Gas Mask (Lecture Notes)
2. On what date did two computers first communicate with each other? Where were they?
1969. UCLA (ucla.com)
3. What is Bill Gates’ birthday and what age was he when he sold his first software?
Born on Oct. 28, 1955. He was 13 When he first created and sold his first software. (Off Microsoft.com)
4. Where was the World Wide Web invented?
in Switzerland. (Yahoo! Answers)
5. How does the power of the computer you are working on now compare with the power of a personal computer from 30 years ago?
Technology has advanced a thousand fold, so my laptop differs greatly.
6. What is the weight of the largest parsnip ever grown?
8 pounds 6 ounces. (ask)
7. When did Queensland become a state and why is the Tweed River in New South Wales?
June 6, 1859. It separates QLD and NSW
8. What was the weather like in south-east Queensland on 17 November 1954?
Cyclonic
9. Why is is Lord Byron still remembered in Venice?
He was a leading poet, and commonly known as the "Don Juan De Marko" of Venice, for his romance and antics with women.
10. What band did Sirhan Chapman play in and what is his real name?
Black Assassins - Stephen Stockwell.
"I swear its not swine"
Due to a flu like sickness, in no way related to pigs, I wasn't able to attend week 3 and 4 lectures. Meaning I don't really have much to say.
My Communication Technology history
Technology has played a huge part in my growing up.
I remember being in year seven and all the cool girls were talking about what their MSN addresses were (surfer_babe91, roxygal1, monkey_moo). I pretended to know exactly what they were talking about.
But a year later I was on the band wagon (blonde-as-pie) and chatting to everyone in my grade, from what I remember the conversation was pretty limited:
“Wats ur top 5?” = Who do you find to be the 5 most attracive gentlemen in our cohort? (There was a silent rule that you always put the boy that you fancied third)
“Hav u dun ur English asgmt?”= Apparently it didn’t help them
That’s about it really. I never got into the whole rANd0M C4pt0l l3tt4Rs N nUm83Rs craze.
One major thing about using things like msn, bebo and MySpace so young was that it was how you talked to the opposite sex. It became an easy way for guys to ask out the girl “do u wanna go out wiv me?” and usually, that’s where the relationship stayed-
Boy-“Hey babe”
Girl-“hi cutie”
Boy- “hru?”
Girl- “gud n u?”
Boy- “same. The wave u gave me across da courtyard todai was nice”
Girl-“anything for u :)”
Boy- “luv you”
Girl-“lu2”
Privacy wasn’t really an issue as you only added people you knew and on the odd occasion when a stranger did add you, it was only a matter of time until you blocked them. Someone asking “ASL” repeatedly gets rather tedious.
However I do have one friend whom I have never met in person- Scott lives in New South Wales however, I met him through a real-life friend and I’ve known him so long he doesn’t seem like a stranger at all, more like an old family friend who calls occasionally to check in.
These days I find MSN depresses me, something about sitting at home waiting for old school friends to strike up some standard conversation about what I’m studying and what I did on the weekend just doesn’t seem worth it.
I remember being in year seven and all the cool girls were talking about what their MSN addresses were (surfer_babe91, roxygal1, monkey_moo). I pretended to know exactly what they were talking about.
But a year later I was on the band wagon (blonde-as-pie) and chatting to everyone in my grade, from what I remember the conversation was pretty limited:
“Wats ur top 5?” = Who do you find to be the 5 most attracive gentlemen in our cohort? (There was a silent rule that you always put the boy that you fancied third)
“Hav u dun ur English asgmt?”= Apparently it didn’t help them
That’s about it really. I never got into the whole rANd0M C4pt0l l3tt4Rs N nUm83Rs craze.
One major thing about using things like msn, bebo and MySpace so young was that it was how you talked to the opposite sex. It became an easy way for guys to ask out the girl “do u wanna go out wiv me?” and usually, that’s where the relationship stayed-
Boy-“Hey babe”
Girl-“hi cutie”
Boy- “hru?”
Girl- “gud n u?”
Boy- “same. The wave u gave me across da courtyard todai was nice”
Girl-“anything for u :)”
Boy- “luv you”
Girl-“lu2”
Privacy wasn’t really an issue as you only added people you knew and on the odd occasion when a stranger did add you, it was only a matter of time until you blocked them. Someone asking “ASL” repeatedly gets rather tedious.
However I do have one friend whom I have never met in person- Scott lives in New South Wales however, I met him through a real-life friend and I’ve known him so long he doesn’t seem like a stranger at all, more like an old family friend who calls occasionally to check in.
These days I find MSN depresses me, something about sitting at home waiting for old school friends to strike up some standard conversation about what I’m studying and what I did on the weekend just doesn’t seem worth it.
föreläsning två
So lecture two... fascinating if I do say so myself.
The topic of Professor Steven Stockwell's (PS2) lecture was the "The History of the Computer and the Internet". I know, I know, its a miracle I did not explode with sheer excitement waiting for the lecture to start.
So anyway, PS2 talked for a while, names like Babbage popped up and I read later of a woman known as Lady Lovelace.. how pretty. But anyway, after the industrial revolution was discussed at length, the lecture covered the extreme spike of computer usage starting in the seventies, where computers were then used only by professional geeks with their hair parted in the center, to now where computers are a necessity in society, used by everyone from young hipsters to my best friend's mum.
That's probably the part of this lecture that I found the most interesting (if i had to pick one of course); technology now advances so fast one can hardly keep up- a far cry from Babbages days where developments in technology were massive milestones, that happened slowly and infrequently.
The topic of Professor Steven Stockwell's (PS2) lecture was the "The History of the Computer and the Internet". I know, I know, its a miracle I did not explode with sheer excitement waiting for the lecture to start.
So anyway, PS2 talked for a while, names like Babbage popped up and I read later of a woman known as Lady Lovelace.. how pretty. But anyway, after the industrial revolution was discussed at length, the lecture covered the extreme spike of computer usage starting in the seventies, where computers were then used only by professional geeks with their hair parted in the center, to now where computers are a necessity in society, used by everyone from young hipsters to my best friend's mum.
That's probably the part of this lecture that I found the most interesting (if i had to pick one of course); technology now advances so fast one can hardly keep up- a far cry from Babbages days where developments in technology were massive milestones, that happened slowly and infrequently.
Uppgift Två
My names Jessica Shepherd, I'm 18 years old and I'm currently a Bachelor of Communications student at Griffith University. At the moment I'm hoping to do television journalism once I graduate but as I only started my degree this semester, I have a looong way to go. I'm only taking three classes (New and Politics, Intro to Public Relations and New Communications and Technologies) as a way to ease my self back into education after half a year of working at a jewellers in the city.
Now here's some disjointed tid-bits about me-
I'm aesthetically driven. I feel I must purchase new clothes every weekend, I'm terrible at dressing casual and always look really boring at Uni. I buy so many magazines that my news agency has developed a rewards system for me. I love pretty girls and well dressed boys. I often contemplate going brunette but stepping to the dark side daunts me. I danced seriously for 14 years, quit, but still go to class on the odd occasion. I eat strange food and drink peppermint tea. I extinguish the rubbish bin fires in the city because I think it’s stupid when they call the fire brigade, just to hose down some trash; little old men applaud me for it. I’d someday like to have an accent that no one knows because it’s a mishmash of a gazillion different languages. I’m thinking a little English, a little Swedish, a little Swahili.
Now here's some disjointed tid-bits about me-
I'm aesthetically driven. I feel I must purchase new clothes every weekend, I'm terrible at dressing casual and always look really boring at Uni. I buy so many magazines that my news agency has developed a rewards system for me. I love pretty girls and well dressed boys. I often contemplate going brunette but stepping to the dark side daunts me. I danced seriously for 14 years, quit, but still go to class on the odd occasion. I eat strange food and drink peppermint tea. I extinguish the rubbish bin fires in the city because I think it’s stupid when they call the fire brigade, just to hose down some trash; little old men applaud me for it. I’d someday like to have an accent that no one knows because it’s a mishmash of a gazillion different languages. I’m thinking a little English, a little Swedish, a little Swahili.
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