Alphabetic print-based test is losing prominence in the ways we communicate in the New Media Age.
Photos, once slices of a moment in the past — sunsets, meetings with friends, the family vacation — are fast becoming an entirely new type of dialogue.
This is precisely how author Nick Bilton describes photography as a communication medium in his blog from the New York Times. Gone are the days in which photos merely served as a way to capture a fleeting memory.
Today, we are quickly discovering the potential for photos to replace a portion of print-based communication. Interestingly enough, corporate moguls like Facebook and Twitter have been the first to catch on by purchasing photo-based and video-based social media platforms. By doing so, they keep up with the ever-increasing research which proves that consumers are increasingly replacing text with media messages.
In my opinion, I feel like this communication practice evolved because we see ourselves in an increasingly text-laden world. Social media has only (albeit beneficially) perpetuated that theory.
However, when I look to the future I wonder if technology such as Google Glass will quickly become the norm? We've all seen the recent sic-fi films and continually find ourselves wondering what the next step in technological evolution will be, and most importantly how it will change us as human beings.
After the photo is viewed, it disappears forever, like a casual exchange on the street.
This aforementioned quote was particularly thought-provoking. Photography, as referenced in the article, is increasingly becoming a choice for a communication medium. And thus, photos are quickly being discarded after they are viewed.
What does this mean for photography as an art? How will we distinguish works of art from simple communication? Will the lines between communication and art be blurred, or will photography as an art become cheapened?
I thought you brought up a lot of interesting points. In particular, the theory as to why there is an increase in photo communication rather than a text based one. I hadn’t considered it before, but it makes sense. We, as a society, have a tendency to counter react to cultural movements. If we find that we’re overloaded with something, we back away and search for an alternative. I also hadn’t considered just how much we’re inundated with text compared to the past; we do a lot of reading.
ReplyDeleteThe quote you chose was also thought provoking. Digital images are not only instant, they’re free-they’re made to be disposable. Unlike in the past where we would need to buy film, have a limited number of photographs, and then pay to have them developed. Film invokes an element of preservation, so I understand how digital images can be thought of easily disposable.
Lastly, I found the image you chose to be very powerful; it made me think as text as something fallen apart, broken, and discarded. It describes how any people feel when it comes to our language being dismantled into text speak.