Week 5: Being ‘Born Digital’
Mon, 9/27:
(plan to discuss copyright first since we didn’t get to cover it last week. in this class, not only are we interested in copyright, but also in extensions of copyright via creative commons (what is CC?); what kind of license would you choose if you were creating a DH resource?)
What is CC? (short video)
(we’ll get to these, below, on monday or wednesday)
1. Alan Liu: “Imagining the New Media Encounter” in Digital Literary Studies
- Human 2.0 – who will succeed in this new digital world?
- Jenkins: Moment of Transition
- Transmedia Storytelling (just peruse)
[Marie-Laure Ryan “Fictional Worlds in the Digital Age” in Digital Literary Studies recommended, not required]
[Nick Montfort: “Riddle Machines…” in Digital Literary Studies recommended, not required]
3. Some examples:
- Twitterature
- Alice Born Digital
- Electronic Literature
- Electronic Literature II
- LA Center for Digital Arts
Wed 9/ 29: Begin Project One Presentations
Fri 10/1: Guest Speaker Prof. Sue O’Donnell (see a gallery of her work here) on Digital Art (also see this entry on digital art) Prepare at least three (thoughtful, critical, researched) questions in advance of Prof. O’Donnell’s visit and post them before class using the reply on this page (feel free to develop your questions with a partner or two and to post a single reply for your group) – obvious, but worthwhile, questions about copyright, creative commons, collaboration, and dissemination are good starting points…
Due 10/4 Blog Assignment 3: handwriting, word processing, blog entry, tweet, image, Facebook post: they all result in text, but they’re not all the same. Explore some of the differences (and commonalities) between creating in a traditional environment and composing in a digital medium. How or what do you or could you or would you create in a digital environment? (feel free to draw on your experience composing this blog entry and/or Prof. O’Donnell’s lecture) AND/OR reflect on issues of copyright and privacy; discuss the significance of both in the context of born digital materials; if you were developing a born digital text (I’m defining text v-e-r-y loosely here), how would you address the copyright issue? would creative commons be an option for you? and how might you leverage tracking/analytics tools?
Questions for Professor O’Donnell:
1. Professor Henry Jenkins discusses how our culture is in a period of transition where the people are beginning to tell there own stories rather than only large corporations having copyright over digital entertainment in his video clip “Moment of Transition”. Do you believe that this will enhance or inhibit the digital works being created and why?
2. Creative commons allows people to choose from 6 different licenses when they decide to publish there work. The licenses span a variety of different conditions in which an authors work can be used or displayed. With such a great variety, why would copyright be a better option?
3. Is there any way creative commons can be enhanced to eliminate copyright all together or would this only be a step back in the progress that’s been made?
Questions for Professor O’Donnell:
1. In the article “Literature Beyond the Printed Page,” the author describes electronic literature as a piece that can only be “read” on the computer due to a complex mixture of media technology. Does this view apply to the digital arts? Are the digital arts solely view and produced in a digital medium or can the objects be, for example, photographed and then manipulated in a digital way? Where do you draw the line?
2. What is your position on copyright? As a digital artist, do you feel as though a Creative Commons license is the more applicable or should another path be taken?
3. As digital art becomes more popular to the average person, where do you see the area of digital art headed? Perhaps to a more collaborative state and ultimately producing more complex works or will the average person detract from the field?
Questions for Professor O’Donnell:
In the videos that are categorized as sound art, I noticed that they all had moving images to go along with the sound. Why are the moving images attached with the sound? Shouldn’t the main focus be on the sound without having anything like a moving image to detract from this or does the image actually add something to the sound itself?
While viewing your art I saw that the text in most images that had it was extremely small and virtually unreadable with it being unreadable in some cases. What is the point of having this small text? Is the viewer of the piece supposed to try and read this or is there a different way that they are supposed to view this than “typical” art?
When I think of art, I think of a much more concrete example (by which I mean that I could physically touch it, watch it be performed, or listen to it). Digital Art does have sound, performances, and some pieces I could print out and hold in my hand or put up on my wall. Many pieces though are flashing, changing images that can only exist in the digital medium. Can these pieces be classified with the “old” type of are, or do they fit in a whole new category? If they do, how would you describe them other than just as digital art?
Questions:
1. How has the use of digital medium expanded on the creative ability of digital artists such as yourself? When did you begin to use a digital medium for your work?
2. Why did you choose to use a copyright on your works? Do you feel that the works of all artists should be protected by copyright or do you support the sharing of work that the creative commons allows?
3. A traditional artist typically does not receive enough profit from their works to support themselves financially. How much more difficult is this as a digital artist? Is their anyway for you to sell your works?
1. With it being so easy to copy and take things from the internet, do you fear people stealing and copying your paintings? Maybe not pass as their own but to use? Both for profit and/or other creative purposes?
2. What do you use to create your work? Do you use more than one media
2. What do you use to create your work? Do you use more than one type of media software?
3. Do you have any past artists who influence you? Are there any current artists who influence you?
1. All of your art is very original and fascinating. I have never seen digital art until now. What made you decide to make digital art? Have you always made digital art, or do you make art without electronic mediums, as well?
2. What are the various careers that a student could have if they are a digital art major? Do they use digital mediums for ads on television or on billboards?
3. How many different software programs do you use when you make your art? Do you stick with just one, or do you use a variety of different types of technology?
- I am fascinated by the piece “Me Then.” Could you talk a bit about your decision to display the images at the speed you selected? The rapid shift from image to image is for me both compelling (it reads like part of the narrative) and frustrating (e.g. I want to slow the pace down to examine the differences in your expressions). I’m also intrigued by the lighting changes; did you shoot the images at different times during the day/evening, or is the lighting a deliberate narrative effect? (In a way, I guess it may be that I’m asking about how and why you leveraged digital tools the way you did to accomplish the effect your work realizes and even whether or not you’ve created other versions of this same work given the extensibility and the impermanence of the current realization)
- Like Katrina, I’m interested in your decision, as an artist, to use digital media. How did you become a digital artist?
- Your use of text – tiny, too small to read text – really resonates with me. In my own writing (especially creative writing), I wrestle with the desire to disclose and the fear of disclosure. And because I write on a word processor, I use encryption tools until I’m prepared to disseminate my (creative) work. Could you talk about how you negotiate the very public, potentially permanent sphere of digital art? I mean, on the one hand, it’s possible to publish and not announce, but once work is disseminated on the web, for instance, it has the potential to become not only widely viewed but also, in a sense (as well as literally), permanent…
Questions!
1. What inspired you to make digital art? When did you start? Do you do other things in the digital humanities field, as well?
2. What do you think about copyright and creative commons? Which do you think is better for art in general? Do you think everyone should use it or should it depend on the case?
3. I love the piece called “Run.” It is beautiful and I love how is just flows on the wall, step by step. It made me think of the path of life…little by little getting closer to the end, or maybe closer to the prize in mind. What was your inspiration for that piece?
Questions:
1. I absolutely love your piece entitled “First Memory”. What inspired you to create this? What is the reasoning behind only using black and white? I this symbolic of our memories? Also is there a reasoning behind the writing being so small? I would love to be able to read all of them and see how they are connected. I absolutely am in love with this piece!
2. Copyright vs. creative commons. What is your view on both? Why did you choose to go in the direction of all rights reserved? What did you not like about creative commons?
3. You describe yourself as a digital artist. Could you define this for the class. When I think of a digital artist I think of all of their art being made using the computer. However your piece “Periodic Table of Elements & Molecular Structure” is made using physical materials. How does this make you any different from an other artist. How does this make you digital?
1. Your site which has a gallery of your work has a copyright. There are so many users on the internet, so how can you be sure that no one is using your work as their own? Is it easy to keep track of the work you have online?
2. Digital art seems to be a pretty broad field, so how would you personally describe the field of digital art? Is all of the art you do purely digital?
3. How is digital art relevant to everyday life? Do we see it every day? To me, I see many websites with links to videos and pictures. Is there a practical “decorative” use for digital art, such as the typical paintings we are used to?
AHHHHHHHHHH. This is why one a quesions post, one should not wait to do it – all the ones you wanted to ask have been already and all the “good” ones are taken. :p
(And, using this type of medium, one is forced to not mimic another’s question, even if that was one they had) :)
1) However, I’m going to disregard what I just said because one thing I wanted to ask, because everyone knows I’m the devil’s advocate in the class, is how would you respond to someone saying you’re NOT a digital artist? I’m with Sarah. I wanted to talk about how I’D define digital art and how that doesn’t fit in with what I see . . . Don’t get me wrong. A lot of pieces inspired me and I loved them. Just a different view on the definition.
2) How IS a digital artist going to profit from their works???? I see a roadblock. more like a giant wall.
3) You’re the only “Professor of Digital Art”, as I could see on the website, here at BU. How do you expect that to change? Moreover, do you expect to see fewer and fewer studies in Art History and for that to EVENTUALLY (wayyyyy down the road) dissipate all together?
1. I’m not a digital artist. I’m not even an artist. Where’s the line in defining digital art? Where does “digitized art” become “digital art?” Is “digital art” a more inclusive term than, say, “painting” or “sculpture?”
2. Are you afraid of people stealing your work? How aggressive should we be with copyright on digital art? If you’re familiar with Creative Commons, is it enough? Is it too loose? Is copyright too strict? I guess, all together, I’m asking if it’s an acceptable risk in producing digital art.
would you consider literary arts art?
Yes, we would.
3. And since John and I are considering literary arts art, we pose this question: who/what types of work does digital art include? Is posting literary work online digital art?
What do you think about only having digital art, and no more physical art? Do you think that society will eventually turn completely digital? Would you be able to work and create through the computer alone? Would a majority of the world of artists give up entirely?
What was your inspiration for Periodic Table of Elements and Molecular Structure, 2002? Do you think that this will inspire other artists? Would you be bothered if someone took this piece and used it?
Did you consider using Creative Commons as a way to share your work? Or did you think that it did not protect your art enough? Why did you choose copyright?