Photo Essay STUFF

http://prezi.com/yhdkvzxwg7h5/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Enjoy~!

Infographic Reflection

I'm no stranger to incorporating images into my alphabetic text in order to form a multimodal text. However, several aspects of this Infographic project were new problems, or instances, I hadn't dealt with in writing before.

First and foremost, the difficulty lay in balancing alphabetic text and images. I wanted the image to be eye-catching. I wanted the alphabetic text to be relevant. Overall, I incorporated and deleted way too many drafts of images in this project. I couldn't figure out how to make the text bubbles work, until I made them exactly that -- bubbles. Squares were compositionally dull and distracted from the images. However, I needed to separate the information provided in such a way that the audience would realize its relevance in conjunction with the images.

Secondly, I struggles with the typography size. I wanted to make the facts about peanut allergies quick and concise. I also struggled immensely with which information to include. I cannot tell you how many statistics there are on nut allergy deaths (but I can tell you it is fucking depressing). Looking back at the project now, I think there are still tweaks I would make to the typeface.

Finally, I struggled with the same thing I always struggle with in writing, just in a different form: conciseness. I had so much information I wanted to share and include, that it was extremely difficult for me to edit my infographic in a way that would make the information usable, and not profuse. This also became a problem with the images -- I wanted to include enough to make it aesthetically pleasing, yet not forget that it could be overwhelming. I remembered back to the article we read that said people read things in an "F" shape. I was careful, for this reason, of where I was including the text bubbles on the poster as well.

I'm not satisfied with my resulting infographic. I would want to change it in several ways, but this is no different than any of the other writing I turn in for an assignment. My writing is never finished. There is merely a deadline. Or, at least, this professor told me that once on a trip to Disney World when we were several margaritas in...

Networking.

Today, I got a tattoo.

And I learned a lot about growing up in Russia in the 1990's.

My tattoo artist, Julian, told me with a heavy accent about how he decided to become a tattoo artist. He said he was going to art school, which his father did not approve of at all (sound familiar?) and he and a friend found a magazine on a building's fire escape that was full of American Tattoo Art. His friend convinced him that they ought to drop out of school and start tattooing. So, they dropped out of school, built a machine, and made needles out of guitar strings that they filed to make into needles.

He said, "I busted a lot of people up, but I fucking learned, man."


While Julian did not tattoo me with sharpened guitar strings, he did tell me how he came to America, to live in Orlando, Florida. You'll be happy to know that we bonded over our hatred of Disney World for awhile. While in Orlando, Julian saved up enough money to buy his own machines and guns, hanging out in other local tattoo shops to learn new techniques. He said, "In Europe, they all want small cars and small houses and small dreams. In America, they say, 'FUCK YOU, I want a huge house and a big truck and I'll do what I want! I love America!"

So, made me think of the Networking that Anil Dash described in his video. If we are all introduced into the same sorts of networks, how do we use these tools we are given to further ourselves and our society, or government, like Dash suggests? God knows I haven't used any guitar strings to start tattooing people in Russia, but the point is that I network the same way Julian did -- only in a different context.

I don't play video games. So, our two TED Talks on gamers almost flew over my head. Except for the fact that I began thinking of the implications of these games and motivations in my everyday life. We are given Turkey Bucks at the grocery store. Coffee stamps on our card at the Daily. Champ Change all over campus. We are given rewards for our actions all over the place. So, how do we start using these for good? I don't know, but it's something I'm going to start thinking about.

By the way, who the fuck gets a PhD in Gaming? That chick knows what's up.

Kelsey Has Decided to Be Smarter Than She Thought.

   After a long hiatus from blogging - I really have no excuses other than I was preparing for my magical experience at Disney World. Yes.

MAGICAL.

As Thompson says, "Collaboration and collective thinking don't happen by magic," (158). But what happens when our memory disappears -- as if by magic?

   As a photography major, I am constantly concerned with data. Backing it up, making sure I have enough of it, making sure it is in the correct format, ensuring that I have it backed up again, and finally, backing it up again. And again. Too often, I have lost photos in an external hard drive's crash, and friends in the Photo Program have had computers crash. Luckily, I have learned my lesson and bought TWO external hard drives. 

   But, what about when we don't want our information backed up? I've been aware of our attempt to make sexting easier (or, if you are me, fat faces with multiple chins) -- with SnapChat and the like, but with screenshotting, this idea has been proved rather useless. However, I have never heard of Drop.io before this book. The idea is fascinating to me, though I don't think the concept is necessarily new.

   Whenever I think about the clutter of my laptop, I think of the clutter of my bedroom. Some people have their files neatly kept away, and rooms with beds neatly made. My desktop resembles a tornado aftermath, and my bed hasn't been made for at least a decade. It never made sense to me -- Why make it if I am just going to sleep in it again a few hours later?! I think, then, of the boxes and boxes of old photos my mom keeps under her bed, never to see a frame, or place on the wall. Is this so different than the masses of files I keep in folders on my laptop, never to see the virtual world, unless through Instagram or Facebook? 

   The idea of Drop.io is intriguing, because of its sense of immediacy. If you have used the document for its worth -- why keep it? I don't know. Because I've been taught to hoard? Because I have a knack for remembering where things are, despite how many other things it is under? We seem to be fascinated with keeping things, but what if we become (more like my older sister) and become fascinated with dropping things?

   Will the magic be gone?

Peanuts Kill.

Because, Helvetica.

    I'm a huge fan of typography. Naturally, when I got to Solomon's "The Power of Punctuation," I started nerding out. We recently read an article for the Writing Center titled, "Clarity," whose author I cannot find on the copy I was given. I was opposed to reading an entire article on grammar and punctuation. Mostly, because I have grown up in extreme privilege when it comes to these ideas. I was raised in a home where English was a first language, and grammar was second-nature. It's something that came naturally, so I never had to explain why, I just had to do it because it looked right. 

   Then, I became a tutor. 

   Holy shit, I became a tutor and all of a sudden I was being asked to talk to these English Second Language students who wanted explanations and I didn't know how to talk to them at all. I couldn't explain the grammar I was using, simply because I didn't know how. Luckily, with some experience and guidance, I figured it out. Also... here is this awesome link: Grammar Bytes! This is an awesome resource for grammar and punctuation -- and it explains it in a way that...you know...is understandable. 

   Let's get to the fun stuff. Typography. How does it work? Is it effective? When do we need images? The image above is very basic, simple typography. However, everything was calculated, down the space between letters, to the distance between the letters and the white frame surrounding them. Below, we see a *humorous* typography image with specific branding implications. If the image wasn't there... would we still get the joke?

   Here, an example of 2-D printing. Still cool, but slightly less *savvy* and significantly more hipster.

                                   

   Then, the implications of GIFs come into play. Now, this isn't a GIF, cut imagine if it were. These letters were hung on strings from a tree branch, where they were set free to move, tangle, and confuse. But, what does that add? What meaning or relevance does it bring to an otherwise insignificant phrase?

   The next two images show a more classical approach to typography, but with a significantly more modern twist. Images are added, but the images are specifically text-driven. Do they add to the typography? Does the meaning change, or is it just more visually pleasing? Ponder forth, young grasshoppers.

Womanly Woes

 
   Wysocki -- Doug, you told me I would like her for a reason. I love when my majors crossover.

   In Photography, we call it "modern," "abstract," "organic," "edgy," "blended media." In Writing, we call it "multi-modality." My mom, an art teacher, calls it "Mixed Media." Wysocki calls it dehumanization. While I agree that it is women's forms and/or bodies that are often made the subject of advertisements, art, media, writing, etc. and all its various forms of objectification, I would push back and say that it is not only women. Obviously, we are in this constant state of give-and-take when it comes to feminism. It's about the equality of the sexes, yes, but when it comes to topics such as imagery, we (as a society) tend to focus on the female form.

   However, there is trend I'm not sure we are all aware of that is happening in photography and art. These modalities, or mediums, or whatever you want to call them, are all becoming extensively accessible due to technology. At the touch of a button, tumblr and pinterest have placed thousands of artists' images in our grasp. With it, has come the movement of abstraction. We have dissected the human being to an image. We have changed it to a form, a silhouette, a blend of colors, a shape and a texture. Yes, some may argue that this is dehumanization. I call it "art." I know its cliche. I know that Doug will push back, saying he doesn't get it. But, that doesn't stop the fact that I think its beautiful. Of course, I hate the way that women's bodies are portrayed in the media -- but I hate the way that men's bodies are portrayed too. I think its too easy for us to see a picture of a woman's breast (like that pictured below) and say its objectification. We've been programmed to think/say that. If she were holding her breast, or touching herself provocatively, I may disagree, but I think that its beautiful for us to be able to see the human body in pieces and parts and allow our imaginations to see the rest.

   Jamieson's article just made me mad. Not because of what she said, but because of the content of the article. I am a smart, out-spoken woman, dammit! And I am not "squeaky!" In fact, I'm quite sure that a number of people (probably those in this class) would call me anything but. I've been called many things, but squeaky is not one of them.

   End rant - Enjoy these images of dehumanization. And try to see them for "art." Then, feel free to pick them a part.