Thinking about Digital

Welcome to my little blurb about the digital world! I’m glad you’ve found it. Have you ever wondered about the digital world? Maybe not; it seems we live in an age where the virtual and the physical are merging. But for an old-timer like me, who didn’t grow up with a computer, I see it as an entirely separate realm. Here are my chunks of thought about everything digital:

1) The digital world may be seen as a way to unify the physical world: those who are miles apart physically can meet virtually and interact.

2) With digital interaction, privacy becomes a concern. Websites such as Facebook have allowed for online interaction, but have also permitted personal information to be widespread and readily available.

3) Not only personal information is available online; SO much information is available online. We are learning now to filter through what we receive online, as anyone is able to post anything.

4) The Internet also provides the freedom to create your own virtual identity. Chat rooms and other sites for online correspondence allow you to form your own virtual persona, who exists entirely within the digital world.

5) Online gaming sites offer a similar opportunity. Websites like Maple Story allow you to live through a character and to grow online as you complete tasks and level up. There is a danger of addiction though, where the real world may be substituted with the virtual world, where your success is measured by how many monsters you have killed. An obsessive player may gain a sense of accomplishment from conquests in the virtual world, while accomplishing little in actuality.

6) So why are we sucked into this digital world? In many ways, I believe it is because it emulates a more orderly version of our physical world. Think of why there is an envelope on the homepage of your hotmail account - it is a reflection of its physical counterpart.

7) Many believe the Internet makes us lazy. We need never leave our La-Z-Boys to shop for clothes, to go to the bank, or to the grocery store. If we get lonely, we can interact virtually through email or a chat room. When you call a 1-800 number, who answers the phone, but an automated voice machine. We are slowly removing person-to-person contact from our lives, and maybe we should consider how this might change us as people. Automatic doors are becoming more polite than people!

8) There is also a sense of immediacy and instant gratification at times within the digital world (though connection speeds may vary…)

9) Now, to think about art on the computer. When taking objects made in the physical world and displaying them digitally, you have to become your own curator and consider some things.

10) You must consider the scale: do you want a large image of better quality that will take longer to load, or a smaller image that can be seen more quickly? Larger images also take up more virtual space.

11) Consider your “frame”: the monitor. The art will most likely be seen on a monitor on a more intimate scale, influencing the relationship the viewer has with the art.

12) Consider your audience. Most likely, someone will be interacting one-on-one with your artwork – much different than a gallery setting. Also, your audience will be more global, and your art will be made much more accessible.

13) Consider what elements of your art may not be available to an online audience. The digital world is dominated by audio and visual. There do three of the senses. This could change how viewers experience artwork.

14) Consider the two-dimensionality of the digital world. What we see on the computer is light from the monitor. So displaying three-dimensional work may present a challenge, as the Internet is not designed for the 3D. You may want to add alternate views of a 3D piece, to give a better sense of the entire piece.

15) Finally, consider that your audience will only see what you wish to show them, and cannot explore the actual physical space it occupies. This again changes the viewers experience with the work, as you can choose the best elements of your work to display and control what is shown.

16) This control is another important element of the digital world; we allow others to decide what the ideal landscape on the dream vacation website should be. This dictates our ideals to a certain extent.

17) Digital art is art that is made that meets the specific requirements and limitations of the digital world; it can be entirely audio/visual, and made for a small, personal viewing. Therefore, it can be experienced in its entirety digitally.

18) There is also the thought that anyone can make digital artwork because of its accessibility and because the creator of the art can “cheat” (for example, using the filters in Adobe Photoshop). However, to make digital art, you have to know your medium – just like if you wanted to make a great painting. You need the experience to understand how your medium works.

19) Also – I was never informed that giving everyone the tools to make art was a negative thing. Do we truly want to leave the creative process up to a select few artists? If the materials are available, why not have everyone engaged in art making?

20) The learning process is different with digital art. You must learn to use programs, and get into certain habits – like saving your work! A painting cannot delete itself, but digital work certainly can.

21) These processes seem to be coming more naturally to the next generation. We are living in a digital age.

22) A huge advantage of this digital age is the increase in our visual literacy and art/o/graphy. Online, there are often images used to accompany texts, and so we are learning to read images and treat them as valid systems of communication.

23) Our visual literacy is also changing. For example, when you scrolled over this black, you knew, because of the cursor that there was text here. We are developing a whole new system of semiotics – and we don’t even know it!

24) With the Internet and the digital world becoming increasingly important, the barrier that separates the two is dissipating. We are learning ways to break down the limitation of audio and visual, and amazing new digital works, such as touch sensitive pillows that can send hugs are emerging. When will we be able to send our other sense digitally? Where is our digital world taking us?