Project Proposal_No.2 //

UNIT 1
PROJECT_PROPOSAL_DRAFT_UPDATE.

WORKING TITLE.
speed, pressure. communication.
do we all become slaves of our own digital world?

AIM.
The Aim is to make a photographic, video or interactive project which is a critical view of the developement of digital communication and it’s mental and social effects.

We live in a digital world – we are surrounded by digital technology and communicate more and more digitally than personally. Actually the technical process was supposed to speed up and simplify our daily life, but unfortunately the opposite happens.

• Why do we have less time for ourself than 10 years ago?

• Do we unlearn to communicate face to face, because it’s easier and faster to communicate via eMail or text messages?

• Why do people get more lonely, unhappier and more depressed?

• How easy is it to become an internet addict?

• Why do we feel it is easier to talk online with strangers about everything  – also intimitate feelings? Do we get stuck into our digital communication behavior and loosing faith to have personal social relationships and time for it ?

• Are we loosing our visual view for reality, because we are living more and more in a digital manipulated world?

• Do we still take time to walk around the world with open eyes, to see the real beauty of the world? Or do we just take that time during our holiday – if even then?

These are a few questions I want to find answers for. I want to push the people questioning themselves that the influence of the digitalization process isn’t always good and healthy. We live in a digital world – we can’t change that – but we could learn to escape from our own digital jungle and change our behaviour – eventhough it is just for a few minutes a day.

OBJECTIVES.
I do work as a marketing consultant and concept designer.  Most of my work I do is digital. I use the internet for research, I use digital software, communicate via eMail with my clients and I’m accessable with my mobile phone 24/7 (24h a day).

I sell products and services for my clients the best I can – eventhough I have to manipulate content or pictures, that it looks better and brighter.

The business world and personal life has changed via digitalization. I am online 24/7, get all information in nearly real time, communicate with friends from all over the world via eMail but feel like I don’t have time anymore for important things like social relationships and time for myself. Do we all become slaves of our own digital behaviour?

For my project I will do a „media diet“ – I will try to live without any digital communication tools (mobile phone, email, internet) for a limited time and will write about my feelings about my life offline. I would like to reflect these impressions and transport them into photography, video, fonts and illustrations.

I want to study the behavior of digital communication (mobile phones, eMail, blogs and social networks) and its consequences in a social and mental way for society.

I also intend to:

• Improve my software skills and techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator.

• Build up Software Skills in Video Editing, Video Effects and 3D.

• I want to explore more art in that field.

• I want to find out more about my communication behavior.

• I would like to leave the marketing person behind and focus more on my art.

RATIONALE.
In May 2008 a team of jounalists located an Indian group in Brazil, who up till now had no contact to the western civilisation. Media stations from all over the world reported from the unknown culture. The media society asked themselves: How do people live, who never used a telephone, don’t know what the internet is and that their children could chat in the web?

Digitalization has speeded up our live dramatically.  We are surrounded by modern technology who are supposed to simplify our daily life – to save more time. But unfortunatly the opposite happens.

Mobile Phones, eMail, internet – we are accesable 24/7. We can get news and information in nearly real time, can compare products online worldwide, blog or communicate with friends and strangers… We live in a click click society with millions of choices and information. We live in an information overloaded cyberspace and get at least less productive, unhappier and lonelier, because we spent to much with digital communication tools..

In the last 10 years, the mobile phone has developed more and more as a multifunctional tool and lifestyle product. In 2007 the worldwide sales volume of mobile phones were 1.13 billion in total (Wir kommunizieren und zu Tode, Gerald Gross p. 61). The current research of the Pew Internet & American Life Project has discovered that the mobile phone is the most importent communication tool the US citizen can’t abstain from – followed by the web, TV, landline phone and eMail. In April 2006 the landline phone was the most importent communication tool, followed by TV, mobile phone and internet.

Is the conclusion about the success of the mobile phone that it has become more and more a multifunctional, lifestyle tool, where we can talk, get emails, go into the internet and take pictures wherever we are?

German sociologist Hartmut Rosa proofed that the multiplicity of choices that everyone has in his life is so huge that it cannot be used throughout his whole lifetime.

Cultural theorist Paul Virilio described our time as „raging stagnancy“ . We are always searching for newer, better and faster things. But finally, when we got that specific item, which meant to make us happier, we feel like needing the next „so badly“ needed importent item. The time interval of satisfaction is getting shorter and shorter.

Some of the effects of that process are stress, unsatisfactory, restlessness, superficiality and being unfocused.

In May 2008 the world wide web countered 113.000.000 Weblogs (Wir kommunizieren und zu Tode, Gerald Gross P.91). It was never easier as in our time to build the own website or blog and publish personal ideas, thoughts, pictures, videos or podcasts. Tools like wordpress make it so easy to find the perfect design and create a blog within less than 5 minutes.

Social Networks are spreading out of the web day by day. Facebook and my space are just two of the most popular social networks. Facebook has currently 130 millions active users. Day by day people get online to get connected to friends and strangers to exchange moods, thoughts, pictures or videos. The excitement to be connected to the world and the curiosity to see what others say and think has made  people stuck for hours in the world wide web.

Communication online has become more and more popular the last years. It seems that the curiousity, the thrill to play with (un)reality, different identification and manipulation are some of the impulse to be a part of the cyberspace.  What does it mean for society that people spent more and more time communicating in cyberspace than face 2 face? Are we crossing the thin line to become fugitives of our own time …

OUTCOMES.
I will produce some photographies, videos, and will work with fonts and illustrations. I will use information based from my research and get input from friends and street life.

MEDIA.
Digital Photo Camera
Digital Video Equipment
Software.
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Final Cut Express, Adobe After Effects, Processing

METHODOLOGIES.
My methology can be split into three sections:

Research:
To do my research I will study the development of digital communication, user attitudes and behaviour and its social and mental effects. Therefore I will do comprehensive research through books, articles and magazines linked to the subject.

Practical Part:
For the practical part of the research I will record my life with and without digital communication tools for a limited time.

I will record how often I use digital communication tools and how it effects my daily life. During my „Media Diet“ I will try to live without any digital communication tools, like mobile phones, internet, eMail etc. and find out if it will have an effect on me personally, mentally or on my social life. During that period of time I will record my feelings via a written journal. At the end I will compare both situations and hope to find conclusions about my behavior.

Beside that I will do research by interviewing friends and business partners.

Production:
The final part of my methology will be the production of different projects and my final work. Using my blog to record my working process and show how my ideas develop.

RISK ASSESSMENT.
Each project may require different risk assesments and practices so I will aim to follow the practical guidelines in each situation. This could include:
_____. Getting permission to film or photograph in certain situations or use all sourced footage.
_____. In the gallery piece, checking all equipment meets safety guidelines, that any cable are secure etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.
_____. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2008), Henry Jenkins, New York Univ Pr

_____. Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder (2008), David Weinberger, Henry Holt

_____. Grown up digital (2008), Dan Tapscott, Mcgraw Hill

_____. Born digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (2008), John Paltrey, Basic Books

_____. The Long Tail. How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand (2007), Chris Anderson, Century

_____. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (2008), Anthony D. Williams, Penguin Group

_____. Groundswell (2008),  C. Li, Mcgraw Hill

_____. The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory (2008),  Torkel Klingberg, Oxford Univ Pr

_____. Creative Industries (2004), John H. Hartley, Blackwell Publ.

_____. Internet Art: The Online Clash of Culture and Commerce (2003), Julian Stallabrass, Harry N. Abrams

_____. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web (2003), David Weinberger, Basic Books

_____. Das Glück der Unereichbarkeit: Wege aus der Kommunikationsfalle (2008), Miriam Meckel, Murman Verlag

_____. Wir kommunizieren uns zu Tode.. (2008), Gerald Gross, Ueberreuter

Different Articles from newspapers, magazines.

Different Input from websites and blogs.

_____. www.netaddiction.com

_____. www.marcprensky.com

_____. www.lev-manovich.net

TIMETABLE.
The timetable will be shaped by the 2 year period of the MA_Digital Art course.

Unit 1.
Research & build up skills of different software programs for video editing, 3-D. video effects

Till June_July 2009.
Basic research in to ideas context.
____. Weekly comprehensive research by reading books, articles magazines linked to the subject.
____. Weekly build up my skills of different software programs.
____. Start to record my behavior with communication tools.

August_September.
Practical research.
_____. Media diet
_____. Doing interviews with friends and business partners
Draft the input and concept

October_November 2009.
Reflect the input and decide what project I will design for the final show.

During that period I will constantly be working on my software skills and develop different contextual projects

Unit 2.
Refine over the methologies and design final installation for the show.