ANALITICS BUBBLE

Many of our popular digital platforms like Facebook and Google employ algorithms that try to guess what we want to see. Based on your previous activities, likes, friends etc. These sites use this data to their advantage, constantly monitoring what you see based on who you are, what you like, and where you are. For example, if you and I search for the same thing, we’ll likely get radically different results based on these factors. Our algorithmic guides are conforming to our perceived preferences and views.

Our personal choices and search engine experiences are inexorably creating a “filter bubble” around us that repels opposing views and opinions. I wonder what the impact of that might be over time.

SOCIAL MEDIA DATA ANALYTICS

DATA ANALYTICS

“Social media data is clearly the largest, richest and most dynamic evidence base of human behavior, bringing new opportunities to understand individuals, groups and society.” Social media is a very lucrative source of data and through the use of social media data analytics businesses are giving us a force feed version our the internet, "Social media analytics can also be referred as social media listening, social media monitoring or social media intelligence.” ultimately controlling our web/social media experience

_____________________________________________________________________________

“Innovative scientists and industry professionals are increasingly finding novel ways of automatically collecting, combining and analyzing this wealth of data.

Computational social science applications include: monitoring public responses to announcements, speeches and events especially political comments and initiatives; insights into community behavior; social media polling of (hard to contact) groups; early detection of emerging events, as with Twitter.

The majority of social media resources are commercial and companies are naturally trying to monetize their data.”

Social media analytics: a survey of techniques, tools and platforms, Bogdan Batrinca Philip C. Treleaven, Department of Computer Science University College London, London, UK published 26 July 2014

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-014-0549-4

"Social Media Analytics is the art and science of extracting valuable hidden insights from vast amounts of semi-structured and unstructured social media data to enable informed and insightful decision making. It is a science, as it involves systematically identifying, extracting, and analyzing social media data (such as tweets, shares, likes, and hyperlinks) using sophisticated tools and techniques. It is also an art, interpreting and aligning the insights gained with business goals and objectives. To get value from analytics, one should master both its art and science."

Khan G. F., 2015, seven layers of social media analytics: Mining business insights from social media text, actions, networks, hyperlinks, apps, search engine, and location data, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Social media analytics can also be referred as social media listening, social media monitoring or social media intelligence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_analytics

“consumer research can take advantage of useful tools developed in art history and cultural studies to investigate the poetics and politics of advertising as a representational system.”

Visual Consumption in the Image Economy Jonathan E. Schroeder in: Elusive Consumption Karin Ekström and Helene Brembeck, eds, Oxford: Berg (2004),

THROW AWAY

Experimenting with images and photoshop tools, playing with image manipulation and creating collage on photoshop. This piece was inspired by a article I read on the effects on mental health social media has on humans and how some people are so personally effected by social media. 

The colour checker chart represents a systematic way of thinking and a standard that had been established and enforced, while the manipulation of the image represents a system not fitting everyone. The numbers and heart symbols represent a desire for likes  

SOCIAL MEDIAS EFFECT ON MENTAL HEALTH

“Several studies have indicated that the prolonged use of social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, may be related to signs and symptoms of depression. In addition, some authors have indicated that certain SNS activities might be associated with low self-esteem, especially in children and adolescents. Other studies have presented opposite results in terms of positive impact of social networking on self-esteem.” This comment made by Igor in my opinion can most likely be down to the fact that some people who dont receive much attention on social media feel badly about themselves as they might feel like they  do not have society approval and are not as worthy as someone who get a large amount of attention. Where as on the other spectrum of gaining large amounts attention and approval, boosts one self esteem as they feel valued by society. 

‘Online Social Networking and Mental Health.’ Dr. Igor V. Pantic, Institute of Medical Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Belgrade

IMAGE CONSUMPTION

“I thought it peculiar that the sun, the quintessential giver of life and warmth, constant in our lives, symbol of enlightenment, spirituality, eternity, all things unreachable and ephemeral, omnipotent provider of optimism and vitamin D… and so ubiquitously photographed, is now subsumed to the internet – this warm singular object made multiple in the electronic space of the web, and viewed within the cool light of the screen.” quoted from Penelo Peumbrico’s personal site discussing her work ‘Suns from Sunsets from Flickr, 2006 - ongoing’ which made me think how even though we understand the sun is an an incredibly beautiful, source of all life, we often take images of it for granted because they are such a commonly posted image and a very common subject to photograph when using a camera. This can be seen as a comment on how everyone is now a photographer due to the advancements in mobile phones with powerful camera, which also seamlessly provide a platform for the user to publish their work

“Perhaps part of the beauty of taking a picture of a sunset is that while you are doing it it’s likely that a million other people are doing it as well” 

http://www.penelopeumbrico.net/index.php/project/suns/

“We live in a digital electronic world, built with images designed to capture

eyeballs, build brand names, create mindshare and produce attractive products

and services.”

“Today’s organizations are faced with the ‘frantic production of images which are circulated; a frantic translation of incoming images into collages of “ideal companies”; less frantic but steady attempts to translate those images into the local practices and vice-versa; and once again a production of self-images to be sent around’“

“I consider photography a cornerstone of visual consumption. Associating visual consumption with the art historical world helps to position and understand photography as a global representational system.”

Visual Consumption in the Image Economy Jonathan E. Schroeder in: Elusive Consumption Karin Ekström and Helene Brembeck, eds, Oxford: Berg (2004),

“Although the concepts of ‘media culture’ and ‘consumer culture’ have been commonly used as labels for contemporary society, they have rarely been explicitly compared”

“Mobile internet consumption increased at an average rate of 44 percent a year between 2010 and 2016 and accounted for 19 percent of all global media consumption last year.”

‘People consume more media than ever’, Rani Molla, 30th May 2017

ARTIE VIERKANT

Artie Vierkant

Vierkant makes art that is centred upon the importance of representation across media. This is evidenced throughout his practice, whether in the documentation or the process of creating his works. The interaction between physical and digital entities propagates debates related to both the development of art in a “post-internet” age and to its contemporaneous Intellectual Property rights.

There is a definite tangible element, communicated through photography, which necessitates the capturing of a physical object. However, by altering the compositions digitally, something fundamentally different and physically nonexistent is created.

http://www.artuner.com/artists/artie-vierkant/

I like Vierkant's work because it's a collage of digitally created works and real life photographic images. She merges the two to create visually stimulating works that make you question what is real and what has been manipulated to look realistic.

After being further inspired by Vierkant's work I have decided instead of creating a video collage of images, I want to create a collage of images smashed together like Stezarkers work of images that hold similar forms and compositions but with a new age digital twist as seen in Vierkants work.

JOHN STEZAKER

I have decided to change the direction of my project after being inspired by John Stezaker's work at the city gallery.

Seeing Stezaker's work made me think about how many images we are exposed to each day, especially through social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat. By using old images to recreate new images, Stezaker is making a statement about how we are exposed to too many images to properly value them and see them for what they are worth.

This can be seen as a reflection on society, how as a mass we have very little attention span and how everything is now targeted towards this. Pair this with our new social practices surrounding social media and we can see an over saturation of images in our everyday life.

I think I would like to make a comment on this new style of photography (social media based) with ideas of image over saturation, basically that everyone posts the same things but it is from a different perspective.