One can see from your various input that media is now everywhere and is entrusted to have a much more potential in the future accordingly to Paul's assertion "New media needs more detailed research done in this area so we can demonstrate some of the interesting challenges that we face moving into the area of social systems, interface culture and science".
I would like also to thank Paul for pointing out the creation of Nomad which reminds me of an important project that was carried out by UNESCO Digiarts Programme entitled "Young digital creators" (YDC). It aimed to encourage learning communities to build their own creative learning environments through the use of the digital tools and online applications.
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5334&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
This project which was operational from 2003 to 2007 involved more than 2000 young people around the world.
The results were, as Gerog pointed out, beyond our expectations. I think that we have all experienced the tremendous (new) media creative power, and thus its impact on critical thinking and social reflexion. This is particularly true as issues that are questioned through new media expression are often directly connected to social issues.
Media is a fascinating tool that empowers everyone with a critical and creative mind. However, I must confess that within Digiart project we had trouble in promoting peer exchange and communication contacts among students working in a same YDC Platform but living in different locations around the world.
Was it a problem of language? Was it a lake of interest on other people's ideas and ways of expression?
What's clear is that users exploit media as a tool for spreading or collecting information, rather than to communicate with a peer.
(And, I agree that there is a risk to misuse this very powerful tool, especially for criminal purposes; or as Ricardo pointed out when unmanaged excess of information provokes cultural identity disorders).
Now, I wonder whether media is equally efficient when it comes to social communication issues.
Teresa
-----Message d'origine-----
De : yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr [mailto:yasmin_discussions-bounces@estia.media.uoa.gr] De la part de greg giannis
Envoyé : jeudi 16 avril 2009 08:28
À : YASMIN DISCUSSIONS
Objet : [Yasmin_discussions] NEW MEDIA: USER'S BEHAVIOUR, SOCIAL SYSTEMS, AND THE BODY POLITIC
Hi,
I have been following part (only so many hours in a day!) of the discussion and have found it very interesting.
I am an artist and educator in australia. I work in the area of media art and teach in a visual art dept and a multimedia dept.
I will answer some of the initial questions raised drawing from my own
experiences:
Is (new) media a tool which reinforces people's creativity and how it is expressed in terms of social behavior?
In many of my classes I introduce media art as a way of showing the range of creative possibilities that have been made possible with new media. This has proven to be very successful as it has inspired many students to think outside of the square when creating work. An example: a class is introduced to the simplest way (that I know) of adding peripheral input devices to a computer. They are then required to create an interactive installation that makes use of a simple input device, other than a mouse or keyboard, for example a pressure pad. The range of projects that resulted from this simple strategy surprised me, and the students were truly engaged in a manner that I had yet to witness. They created unique works, and worked in groups that seldom fell apart.
Is new media just a tool or an art form?
New media has provided an amazing array of new tools for artists and others to work with. But as an art form, it is a very difficult one to define, constantly in flux and embedded with the technologies that dominate our cultures.
How are democracy and social connectivity via new media related?
My current project "peripato telematikos" <http://www.peripato.net> uses mobile phones, the internet, walking strategies, and a custom web interface to create collective and individual subjective mappings. The project has been run in a number of workshops where participation and interest was strong. Comments from the participants indicated that the whole process was an empowering one for them. Technologies were demystified and made to appear more accessible. The use of the mobile phone in these types of works, is often an attempt to increase access to the creation of works through the use of a highly ubiquitous device. Furthermore, through the creation of these works social connectivity increased although this was not an original intent; it just happened as a consequence of the way the projects have been run. A paper outlining this project can be found here:
http://www.peripato.net/texts/paper.pdf
Are global and local systems two separate entities, or is it about one place?
I find it strange that we are still talking in such binary terms. Given the interconnectedness of the world at large, these distinctions surely must give way to more useful terms. What are they?
Thanks
Greg Giannis [giannis.greg@gmail.com]
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