Article about art and technology

[Zeroth]

I've recently been asked to write an article for a local arts magazine, thanks to my blog. I want to do a good job(even though there is no pay), so, I was wondering if I could get some thoughts, editing, criticism for the article? Plus, cooperating in a task like this demonstrates vividly exactly what I talk about in the article.

(Theres another reason for doing this, but its for copyright reasons. If anything does happen, I can argue effectively I came up with the article by using stored copies of the forum, on archive.org)

Here's the article:

Quote:

Picture going to the local Art Gallery, and seeing a large crowd of people, standing there, still like statues. But they're alive, and for some inexplicable reason, a large group of people is frozen on the steps to the Gallery. It lasts not for a few seconds, but for several minutes, when suddenly, they all begin moving again. Not a one of the frozen people seem to notice that they were frozen.

No, its not a mad scientist experimenting with time, nor were there drugs slipped into your lunch. Its actually a prank, inspired by a group that calls themselves Improv Everywhere. They perform public pranks, odd and inexplicable, consisting of seemingly random people coming together for a common purpose. These people come to the pranks, often not knowing why, only that they are needed.

In fact, its a large, widely distributed group of people, that collaborate thanks to the capabilities of the Internet. They can send out a message effortlessly, looking for people with specific skills or props, and then communicate one on one on arrangements with anyone that has what they need, all with one tool, email. But what does all this mean?

One of the greatest advances in our society came with the printing press. We were no longer limited to the slow and mistake-riddled copying of books by scribes. We were no longer limited to only the rich owning books. Books were cheap, fast to produce, and this changed everything.

From the perspective of the people living during this change, it was nothing new. The printing press provided books, at a drastically cheaper cost and higher reliability than before. But that is precisely what caused the massive change in our society. Reliable information was available for a fraction of the cost of before!

Along with the spread of the printing press, came the spread of the Renaissance. With the spread of information came one of the greatest eras of art and science. This cannot be underestimated. Such a glut of information, both useful and useless, inspired people to produce and create themselves.

However, one inescapable truth about the printing press, is that so long as you have access to a printing press, you have freedom of speech. So long as there is an avenue available to communicate, you have freedom.

It is not a coincidence that one of the greatest eras of advancement in art and science was presaged by the printing press. With cheaper information, we advance. We grow. We learn. We create.

All too often, however, new advances in communication are taken over by monolithic interests. Radio at first was used by amateurs, cooperating, talking freely, until it started being controlled by government. It became an avenue of one-to-many communication, where corporations and large government institutions control what could be broadcast.

Despite the fantastic work that was produced on this new frontier -Orson Welles' radio play The War of the Worlds as a phenomenal example- the truth remains that it is under lock and key. They own it, we merely consume what they produce.

Then came the phone. Even from the beginning, however, it has always been one-to-one communication. During the spread of the telephone, the future was seen as just being ever more efficient ways to talk to one person at a time. None could forsee what would happen, until it actually did.

We are experiencing a sea-change as great as the printing press, something that will change our society in a way none can predict. It is the Internet. It is here. It is powerful, cheap, and only just now beginning to wake from its infancy. Never before could we share as we can now. Never before could we form groups as we can now.

At this moment, I'm listening to songs from an article about the ten most overused songs in television. These songs are embedded on the web page, and streamed to my computer's speakers. The article itself is one of many on a blog. These writers are able to write an article that simultaneously entertains and mocks television production.

To compare, the cost to do a similar form, on say, prime-time TV would be several hundred thousand, at the very least. And even then, they would be blocked by the producers. On the Internet, if you have the time, the skill, and the small amount of money needed, you can get your message out there and heard. No one will block you, aside from government laws.

We finally have freedom. This awes me every day about the Internet. That anyone can produce whatever they want, and actually have it heard, based on the merit. If someone is a good writer, people will read their writing. If someone is a great artist, people will wait eagerly for their work. The Internet has opened up new avenues of exploration and communication.

Like the Improv Everywhere group, you can explore new paradigms, new avenues of art, new meanings and methods that could and are not possible without the Internet.

Have you ever seen a toddler playing with blocks? We are that toddler, given these mysterious blocks, not knowing how to use them, and slotting them wherever they fit. But eventually that toddler grows up, and becomes an engineer, building bridges and buildings. We too, can grow up, and become like that engineer. But only if we do something.

We need to produce, to create, to do something, with this freedom we have. We need to stand up and say, "This is ours. Our freedom. Our right. Our future." We can no longer sit around, and live by the beneficence of the corporations and government. We need to stand up, and grow, reach, aspire for the heights... and we need to accept the possibility and reality of falling when we do that. But, oh, the risk is very much worth taking, for what we could possibly achieve.

[btiffin]

Well done. Good luck setting the trends.

Or as you may see from the response here; dragging people along, whether they like it or not.

Cheers

[Zeroth]

Eh, I still feel its just a rehash of stuff Clay Shirky writes. I'm still trying to find the unique view, take, spin, whatever, that Clay Shirky hasn't done yet.

[btiffin]

Too bad for everybody else.

Write away; your voice knows where it wants to be. I wouldn't worry about double-thinking anything.

Cheers