Andrew Keen Solutions Reflection

After reading Andrew Keen's "The Great Seduction" I was able to get a better grasp on what his stance on the internet is as well as what made him think this way. The fact that the idea of Web 2.0 was related to "democratization" was particularly intriguing as it seems to fit the idea perfectly. Keen discusses his distaste for Web 2.0 because everyone and anyone now has the ability to put information on the internet and deem it valuable. I believe he is a bit extreme in his assessment that all opinions that are put onto the internet are "superficial observations... rather than deep analysis". As with any form of published writing it is important to look at it with a critical eye and an open mind. The information posted can be of value as long as it is inspected and potentially backed up with further research.

Wikipedia without doubt has issues with credibility as Keen states that anyone can claim to be an expert on any given topic. However, it has the potential and ability to be corrected by another viewer who would actually have expertise. Again, wikipedia is agreeably not always the most reliable source, but it is necessary to weed out misinformation in any situation.

Web 3.0

Technology is constantly revolutionized. I believe that Web 3.0 will be much more intuitive and receptive to the desires of the user. The aspect of searching will completely change and become more personalized. I believe that the user will be doing less work than the internet itself to achieve results. The amount of information that will be put into the internet will be significantly less than what can be taken from it.

Illustrations (Separated from Paper)

Digital Illustration Proposal

1. To accompany my essay I would like to show my essential point that the "homegrown" look is merely an artistic choice and not in a position to replace production quality work.

2. I will definitely be layering photographs, erasing to blur lines, and potentially changing the color schemes for my illustration piece.

3. I envision my final product to look like a picture that would accompany an article in a magazine or newspaper to further prove my point in my essay.

Homegrown Hollywood: An Artistic Choice

Today many TV shows and advertisements try to look amateurish or "homegrown" to emulate what is often seen on the Web. Do you think professional production values will continue to drop, or do you think amateur user-generated content will get better over time? WHY?

There are many instances in which the “homegrown” look is applied in as a means of achieving the amateur view. The idea of this filming method arguably began with the movie “The Blair Witch Project” in which the entire film was shot from hand held cameras to establish a realistic home video appeal to a horror topic to make the topic hit closer to home by making the experience personalized. More recently, the movies “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal Activity” included a home video type of cinematography to intensify the fear for audiences because of its extreme relation to personal experience with similar technology. The more recent updates in “homegrown” cinematography have a digitalized feel to them as opposed to the previous uses of actual video tape. This technological advancement has made the home video tape camera cinematography obsolete. Commercials as of late also tend to show the technology of the day. “E-trade” commercials in particular established a norm of using web cameras to shoot high priced commercials. The commercials typically include an infant either web chatting about the E-trade product or commenting about it on a video blog. The video aspect is exaggerated by having moments when the dialogue and the visual do not match up as to represent a possible buffering issue. The idea of emulating the Web allows the audience to feel more akin to the product being sold or achieve a more personalized fear factor.

I personally believe that user generated content will get better over time, yet I am sure that professional production values will not continue to drop. User generated content will undoubtedly get better as technology continues to improve. Professional production will never be obsolete as viewers expect high quality particularly in movies or television. I believe that amateur user generated content is not necessarily a phase, but an artistic choice that has a specific place and time to be used.

Vectorizing

My changed image.
Original image

Illustrator Assignment

Right: Actual Kindle photo; Left: Illustrator Representation.

For my illustrator assignment I chose to copy the amazon kindle. In hindsight, I might have picked a product with less individualized detail in interest of time but for my first time using the program it was a successful learning tool. I would like to have more experience in working with gradient to show the shadows on the entire product similar to what I did with the bars on the top and bottom of the text area.