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Talking Shop: An Exploration into the Ethics of Manipulation

Photoshop is the most commonplace tool for artists in contemporary culture.  Artists are, typically, required to have more than basic photoshop skills in order to submit their artwork (usually photographs) to be published.  In today's culture, some don't even consider the act of manipulating photographs as manipulation.  They view it as a necessary step in the process of publication.  What's interesting to me is how photoshop is now being used as a crutch for perfection.  Photoshop is used as a form of escape.  Marketers want to escape basic human form, so they photoshop their ideas of perfection into these photos.  Did I make the escapism obvious here?  People usually watch movies or read books to escape their mundane, or unsatisfying, lives.  Photoshop is the tool that artists use to create this escapism in photographs.

The video that I chose to watch to write this post was 6 minutes of cringing (at least on my part).  It features a picture of a woman being so intensely manipulated that it leaves the audience wondering if she's the same woman.  What's even more frightening is the realization that photoshop technology has come much farther in the last 9 years.  It's obvious to detect the manipulations in the photo used in the video, especially after the viewer watches every move that the artist makes in the manipulation process.  In real commercials, films, and advertisements, however, these manipulations are not nearly as obvious.  The audience is not able to see the original photograph, and we are under the impression that what we see is the reality that we must conform to.  This is the truly terrifying part of photoshop.  This escapism is used as a crutch that causes more stress and harm to our society than pleasure and "something to aim for."

Chilling in the CLT

Class was wild yesterday.
After navigating the dark and mysterious hallways of the library's basement, I found myself in a space called The CLT.  I believe it stands for The Center for Learning and Technology (don't quote me, I could be wrong).  In the CLT, we met with one of the "pro-techies" and learned about the amazing opportunities that Trinity offers us students! Trinity does a fantastic job in allowing the CLT funds to buy technology that has academic value (so basically, all technology).  From our small tour, I saw rows upon rows of shiny Mac and Windows desktops, all outfitted with top of the line programs (none of which I can name, most of which I will soon learn to use).  In the back of the room is a video conferencing area, as well as 2 mini workshops.

 These workshops can be used as "tinkering areas" that are stocked with various tools to work with.  Moving on, we came across the two drones that Trinity has! One is incredibly big, and probably looks like a flying tarantula when in the sky.  The other is more compact, and can hold just a GoPro.  While students might find it hard to find an educational reason to bring these outside ("it's an academic curiosity!") it's still cool to look at.  Finally, we came to the 3D printers! These printers are, by far, my favorite part of the tour.  Back in my robotics days, we used a 3D printer to make parts for our robot! I loved listening to it work, it sounds like 10,000 electronic honey bees.  Or like you've been abducted by aliens and are waiting silently in a small jail in their spaceship to hear what they want to do with you.  Whatever state of mind you're in.  Either way! Trinity lets students use these machines often, as long as the reason is more than "because it's cool." The things that other students made were pretty amazing.  One item featured in the video I took was particularly cool; it was of the Murchison Bell Tower, and the base had letters that spelled out New Trinity.  The video that I embedded above is evidence of all that I mentioned here.
What this all has gotten me thinking about is of all of the new creative ideas that can stem off of these new technologies.  I'm partial to 3D printing, so I'll focus on that.  3D printing brings so many different aspects to the table.  Joseph Flaherty's article, 3-D Printed Prosthetics That Look Fit for a Sci-Fi Warrior,  explained it very well, I thought.

"[William] Root’s prosthetic concept combines his interests in aesthetics and biomechatronics, as well as inquiries into the preferences of amputees." 
-Joseph Flaherty in Wired

He's referring to a series of prototype prosthetics that William Root has been developing.  They really do look fit for a Sci Fi story! I think that's what has been drawing so much interest to this new technology.  So many people can begin taking advantage of it.  If you're more artistically inclined, you can still use your input and create something amazing.  If you're technologically inclined, you can still use your input and create something equally amazing.  These new technologies bring people together in ways that weren't considered possible until now! Back in the 1960s when the territory of computers were just beginning to be breached upon, no one thought that a sculptor would have any use in a computer lab.  Now it's easier than ever to bring anyone, no matter their talent, into the same room to create something unique and amazing! 

Writing and Coding

I never really thought of coding being anything more than... coding.  I watched the programmers on my robotics team code all the time; it wasn't something I thought that I could catch up with in terms of skill and utility.  But, I'm beginning to think differently now.  
In class, we just finished our first Scratch Project.  The Scratch program was developed by students at MIT who wanted to teach kids that coding wasn't something that was only for geniuses.  Anyone can learn how to think in a language that code will understand, and therefore, your computer! While I (embarrassingly) found the Scratch project difficult at first, I quickly got the hang of pressing the right buttons and figuring out the right conditions to use.  My project might have been quite simple, but it met the proper requirements as well as managed to teach me a little something about computational thinking.
Speaking of computational thinking! Let's go back to talking about "coding being more than coding."  Recently, I read an article titled "Is Coding the New Literacy" by Tasneem Raja.  I was most fascinated by how the article explained how coding taught a new form of thinking, "computational thinking" that could pave the way into new venues of creativity. 

"The happy truth is, if you get the fundamentals about how computers think, and how humans can talk to them in a language the machines understand, you can imagine a project that a computer could do..."

The article made a wonderful point in the argument as to why everyone, no matter your age, gender, etc., should learn to code.  This quote emphasizes how many problems that we, as a group, don't even know we have yet.  However, by learning this new type of thinking, you're learning a new creative output that you can begin wondering about, questioning, and analyzing.  It's important, in my humble opinion, to be aware of the world's problems.  Our rapidly growing technology is a subgroup of this, and we shouldn't stay ignorant to its problems.  

Moving on however, the liberal arts part of me recognizes that, maybe we're not all that good at programming.  We're not all math-minded people, who can learn binary code in one moment and go home to learn the language of html the next.  It's not as easy as everyone wants to think it is. At the same token, it's not as difficult as everyone wants to think it is, either.  Another article I read was titled "Coding in the Classroom: Computational Thinking Will Allow Children to 'Change the World'" by Anthony Cuthbertson.  It pointed out some things that I thought were important as well.

"Not every child needs to learn a programming language, but without some understanding of how code works and how it affects our lives, we may be depriving young people of new avenues to creativity, and valuable skills for the job market."

This was stated by David Miller, Kuato Studios Director of Learning, to IBTimes UK.  What I want to focus on here is the deprivation of new avenues of creativity.  Learning something new, and truly intaking and reviewing this new knowledge, will lead you to begin thinking about the world differently, or at least with a different view point.  As a writer, I excel at "differing viewpoints." My whole job is to tell a story from a different view point (considering I'm not writing an autobiography that is).  With this in mind, I've come to truly believe that being able to see something from a different perspective is essential to living in this world.  It should be something strived for, and never refused.  

By learning coding, I'll begin seeing the world from another point of view.  Through a different lens, you could say.  I can begin seeing the stories that I write differently as well. By learning coding, I'll essentially be learning another language; another language that is concise, and well thought out.   I'll be learning new syntax, and grammar, and, most importantly, methods of thinking.  

Just my take on this whole "learning how to code" rollercoaster.  

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Raja, Tasneem. "Is Coding the New Literacy? | Mother Jones." Mother Jones. 16 June 2014. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

Cuthbertson, Anthony. "Coding in the Classroom: Computational Thinking Will Allow Children to 'Change the World'" International Business Times. IBTimes Company, 2 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 Sept. 2015.

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Word Art

We've been messing around with a few more programs during class recently.  I found this the most interesting.  I put words that were important to me in the word cloud, so it might be a bit easier to learn about who I am!

Composing Technology

My name is Soleil, and I have just realized how incredibly little I know about the technology I'm using to type this message to you.
I'm sitting in Ms Jungman's (pronounced Yungman) computer science class. This is required for Trinity students to take a course that will make us "technologically literate".  I assumed, when I first enrolled in this class, that I would be sitting in a cold room, staring at boring tutorials of how to use basic Windows programs.  I considered myself enough of a computer user to recognize the fact that I could, in fact, turn on (and off) the device.  The second day of class, I realized how incredibly wrong I was.

To better introduce myself, I might want to add the viewpoint that I will be taking this blog on.  Ever since elementary school, I've known myself to be a Writer. I taught myself to type by creating stories on my dad's old work laptop.  They spanned anywhere from 1 paragraph to 100 pages.  While I have had less time to keep creating such huge amounts of creative stories, I do find that I still have the mind and passion of a writer.  My past times will be devoted to writing (and reading) about everything that I might find interesting.  This will include technology.  Technology is such a vital part of everybody's lives, it's hard to not become interested in what has pushed society forward in such a short amount of time.  It's time that I become more familiar with what technology actually is, and how it came to be.
My interest in technology isn't nearly as unfounded (or forced) as you might think.  I'm actually a huge science fiction nerd,  so technology is just right around the corner.  To feed my curiosity of just how machines work, I joined my high school's robotics team, and became the co-captain during my senior year.  I don't want you to get the wrong idea though; I made sure I was far away from the programming team when they started talking about coding (I learned the hard way that their "raspberry pi" is not the same as my "raspberry pie". I don't know, it's a computer thing).   With that in mind, I can build a rad robot (that won't move, because I don't know how to program), or a rad cabinet.  Whichever you prefer.

This seems like a good place to sign off! With love, a devastatingly ignorant science fiction nerd.

PS: If you have a need to contact me, feel free to email me at LGaffner@trinity.edu