Day #4 and Going Strong –

I am sure that I should be opening my blog entry with content and not fluff but I cannot resist. So here we go – Does this class seem to fly by for all of you? I just feel the first half of a workday is about three times as long as the first half of my day when in this class.

As for today’s class (Power Point Style):

• In hindsight I really liked the Freedman reading:
  • I agree that the material is somewhat challenging, but that is also what makes it solid.
  • Through the discussion and the questions I feel like we were all able to grasp the material and talk about it intelligently with one another. What more could we ask for?
  • The three items that most interested me:
    • The concept that members of the “art world” should easily understand this thing we call art. Especially including the Fred Tomaselli story. (p65)
    • I like the Expert-Novice developmental model as an idea to consider when educating adults. After considering the stage-by-age model I would believe that in reality most people develop in some combination of the two methods.(p72)
    • Lastly I love that Rosenberg coined the phrase “craft plus inspiration” which is what I received a lot of in public school. (p73)

• The Short Term Memory Test was a great way to break up the class and introduce to issues with observers of Slide Presentations.
• The Power Point Activity was a little concerning, I think about if I was going to do someone else’s taxes for instance. I would want training of some kind, or a instructional manual for guidance, but as we saw in the presentations today. Some people apparently believe they can design and attempt to inform audiences in what ever way they desire. Though obviously they will fail. This does bring forward the question, even after this course, and our degree, are we truly qualified to present information in this way? I have been leading the presentations off and on for a few years and I am still slightly hesitant to go out there before some good presentation editors have taken a look at my materials. I think we should all have these methods of quality control.
• The End.

3rd and long – Must convert

Our last meeting was exceptionally interesting. Afterwards, I suggested to my wife that all artists should be required to take some coursework on IP and copyright law. The debate definitely creates a sense of responsibility for users of information, which could lead to fewer violations of copyright protection. It was great to have a third-party come and discuss the issues and ideas around copyright. Also I found the documents and checklist most useful.
Since our last meeting, I have thought mostly about the Found Art assignment that was due during this class period. It seems to connect with me directly as contemporary artists. The point that I can’t seem to drop is outside of this context and/or perhaps outside of the digital format I would not have considered many of these uses offensive in regards to copyright. However in this context, with this type of examination, I felt like we were all somewhat susceptible to litigation for breaking copyright law. I feel that Bridget’s Duchampian piece is a good example. She used an image that is recognizable, which likely means that she has used “ the heart” of the piece and generated something new with it. But of course she would used the heart of it, as an artist, she would be looking to communicate something intriguing, provoking. Why else would an artist sample someone else’s image? With that said the image is significantly different from an aesthetic perspective. The image was cropped, zoomed in, moved to the right and placed in front of a new environment. For all I know she is making fun of the space behind the Mona Lisa as some sort of parody. Which could bring to mind, what is parody really? Does that mean it’s funny? If a judge didn’t find something I made in parody funny could he convict me? I seem to have more questions then answers still.
Lastly I liked the Creative Commons information. I shared it with several people over the weekend that use videos and music for their art. It really coincidences well with the open source movement.

Modified Image – for next class

So here is a Caravaggio scene that I scanned from a book and added some John Baldesari style censors over their faces with glitter circles, which I got from a photograph of a painting.

I no longer have a printer so I am adding my steps to this entry:

1. I scanned the image of Doubting Thomas form a Taschen biography of Carravaggio.
2. I then cropped this image to reduce then unused space around the edges of the original.
3. After that I moved a picture of an original painting from my camera to my laptop.
4. I then cut-out a circle segement of that painting image.
5. Next i pasted my selection 4 time on top of the Carravaggio image.
6. Moved each of them to cover the faces of the characters in the image.
7. I then saved the images as my new artwork and closed Photoshop.
8. Lastly I uploaded it to my blog.

Day #2 and By George I Think I’ve got (part of) it!

So after the first class I wasn’t really sure what the class was really about. I knew we were not making art with digital means, but had no idea what we were going to actually be learning. Now I believe we are learning how educators can use technological tools to assist in the development of curriculum and throughout the duration of a course.

I was most interested in the field trip lesson plan that we worked on today. It was good to work with Elizabeth, we quickly agreed on a age group, location, objective and title. Then we came up with several activities I feel might be feasible in a “real” classroom

The reading conversation about the technology addict was good, I particularly felt his thoughts on machine centered methodologies was interesting. Based on the conversation we had about this reading, I also question if we are beginning to see a serious revolt against media? This question became more clear to me this morning when I realized how valuable that 12″ x 8″ wide cereal box cover is for those corporations as advertising space.

As for Plato it is just too damned kitschy sounding for me to take seriously. I know it is because I have been raised in a space where Plato is commonly quoted by soccer moms and in the future I will try to ignore this and listen to his voice and not the soccer mom’s but this time around it was hard.

Next up is the group miniature research project. I think that sounds alright, but I am really ready to learn what are big project for the semester is focused on.

Is this 2 pages? – No Way.

Release your inner nerd –

So the open source Photoshop replacement tool that I discussed in class is called GIMP (GNU Image Maniplation Program) – It can be downloaded at http://www.gimp.org – If you have questions let me know. If you have dial-up internet accesss you should be warned this may take some time to download.

Prep for Class – 09/07/06

A Human Centered Technology:    
- I agree that people are dazed by flashiness of technology; I would expand by saying that these same people carry these ideas and methods over to the business world.
- I am scared that this reliance on technology to think will continue the cultural degradation of idea  based methodologies; such as art and religion.
- I am surprised the writer wold expect anything more from entertainment professional. The sole purpose of television and movie productions is to make money. Crap sales.
With the growth of “technology addiction” I am continuesly surprised by the amount of Luddites walking among us.
- I believe that technology has little to do with what “ails modern society” because adult humans have the free will to be involved in these technologies, and to recognize the inappropriate methods in which these tools are used.
- If peoples speech is affected by technology I can only imagine how the written word and spelling have been changed.
People working in :Machine-centered” ways is a great concept to consider.
Experiential Cognition = expert; Reflective Cognition = thought, decision-making, idea generation
The Allegory of the Cave:
- How closely tied is enlightenment to your spiritual search.
- “But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.” So has knowledge enterer the mind? I believe Plato would have considered intelligence to based in the heart. So I want to know more about this statement.
- I am intrigued by philosophers who talk about themselves as being fully enlightened or on the path to enlightenment while others are not.
ASSURE Model and  Gagne’s Events of Instruction:
- I hope that we talk about both of these items in more depth because I am not confident in the practical implementations of either.