Study Task 5: Research Proposal & Essay Plan

Suggested Title of Research Project

• The Impact of Advancing Technology on the Illustration Industry Today
• The Effects of Advancing Technology on our Society
• "My Phone Just Died" - The Growing (increasing?) Relationship We Have With (advancing?)Technology and it's effects on Society
• "I Can't Live Without My Phone" - A study into the impact and effects of our growing relationship with Technology
• The World of Digital and it's Impact on the Illustration Industry (practice?)

Notes:

Research timescale: - Technology advancement over the last decade?

                                  - Technology advancement over the last century?

Focus on just one area of increasing technology? - Social media?

Significance

Technology and its advancements play such a huge part in our lives even on a hourly level, however I have never been one to question it and really look at the impact this is having on me and society around me. With technology advancing considerably at an increasing rate, I feel the effects this has on society and industries such as the illustration industry are vast, both good and bad and I feel it is important, interesting and relevant to research these effects and be more aware of them as a student. 

Primary and Secondary Sources 

Websites/articles/Quotes:
'Technology has become so advanced that people have forgotten about the basic principles of being human.' http://writing4media.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/where-do-you-draw-the-line/

'The devices we use change the way we live much faster than any contest among genes.' http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/as-technology-gets-better-will-society-get-worse

'Our will-to-comfort, combined with our technological powers, creates a stark possibility. If we’re not careful, our technological evolution will take us toward not a singularity but a sofalarity. That’s a future defined not by an evolution toward superintelligence but by the absence of discomforts.' http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/as-technology-gets-better-will-society-get-worse

'According to data recorded in 2012 by Pew Research Group, 29% of cell owners describe their cell phone as “something they can’t imagine living without.” http://www.omahacentralregister.com/780/opinions/the-trouble-with-technology/#prettyPhoto

'It’s no wonder many people suffer from nomophobia, the fear of being without a mobile phone or without a cellular signal. Our phones and tablets have become weapons of mass distraction.' http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/embedded-systems/were-being-driven-to-distraction-by-clamorous-computing

'Technology is not just serving us, but in ways changing us as well.' http://www.globaltoynews.com/2012/09/retail-conundrum-looking-up-.html

 'In conclusion, modern technologies can very well be a double-edged sword, from safety to connectedness. They do have their advantages, but as with many revolutionary inventions, they can radically change our lives, for better or worse.' http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/482544/Negative-Effects-of-Technology-on-Society/

Books:

The Technological society.  /  Ellul, Jacques  (1967)

Cell phone culture: mobile technology in everyday life.  /  Goggin, Gerard  (2006)

Future imperfect: technology and freedom in an uncertain world  /  Friedman, David  (2011)

The singularity is near.  /  Kurzweil, Raymond  (2006) Tomorrow's people: how 21st century technology is changing the way we think and feel.  /  Greenfield, Susan  (2003) Mind change: how digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains.  /  Greenfield, Susan  (2014)

Future minds: how the digital age is changing our mind, why this matters and what we can do about it.  /  Watson, Richard  (2010)

Being digital.  /  Negroponte, Nicholas  (1996)

The perils of progress: the health and environment hazards of modern technology and what you can do about them.  /  Laura, Ron  &  Ashton, John  (1999)

The internet and society.  /  Slevin, James  (2000)

Brave New World / Aldous Huxley

Methods 

I will research into the effects of technology on the modern world and our society as a whole, forming an opinion, positive or negative. I will then aim to communicate the opinions I form in my own illustrations, supporting my argument in my resulting essay. 

Supporting illustration ideas:
Illustrations with a message/deeper meaning
Themes - technology with a personality
              - relationships with technology
              - humanising technology
              - sentimental technology

Limitations

I will be focusing on technology and its advancements over the last XXX years both on an indirect scale and a more direct scale with which society is most affected by. I hope to bring to light technology as a whole, and once I have researched into its effects on us in society - form an opinion of its advancements and wether we are independent or dependant, helped or hindered by the close relationship we are developing with it.

Indirect technological areas:
Space travel and exploration
Science, health and the curing of illnesses
(expand)

Direct technological areas:
Computer based technology advancement
Phones, music & mp3's, gaming
Communication
Business
(expand)

Essay Plan

     a) Introduction (300 words)
Introduction and explanation into why I have chosen to research this topic (why it is relevant, interesting and important) and what I am to cover.

     b) Main Body - (1600 words) 
The effects of technology on society involving the history of advancing technology over the past xxx years and its effects on society as a result.

     c) Visual Examples (800 words)

Mads Peitersen - "Art Meats Technology" series

Mads Pietersen - Art Meats Technology series

Alex Gross - "Future Tense" series

 

Felipe Luchi - Digital Jalihouse

Joey Klarenbeek - Passive

Powel Jonca - Nest

Pawel Kuczynski

     

d) Conclusion (300 words)

Concluding the research I have found and forming an opinion on wether I feel the effects of advancing technology are good or bad for us as a society and what our future may hold if this continues.

Study Task 4: Illustrations Relating To My Essay

Joey Klarenbeek - "Passive"

Felipe Luchi - "Digital Jailhouse" series

Felipe Luchi - "Digital Jailhouse" series

Hannah K Lee - For www.newyorker.com

Hunter Langston - "Weapons of Mass Distraction"

Brecht Vandenbroucke - For www.nytimes.com

Mads Peitersen - 'The Anatomy of Gadgets' series 2012

Mads Peitersen - 'The Anatomy of Gadgets' series 2012

Maurice Mbikayi

Maurice Mbikayi - An exploration into the effects of
technology on identity

Mario Wagner

Alex Gross "Future Tense" series

(Below) Sebastien Thibault - Cops & Hackers series: Cyber-vigilantes and hackers argue that traditional law-enforcement methods are obsolete. How the digital age is forcing police to step up their game.

Sebastien Thibault - "Cops & Hackers"
- for Readers Digest

Sebastien Thibault - "Cops & Hackers" 
- for Readers Digest

Powel Jonca - "Big Brother"

Powel Jonca - "Facegod"

Study Task 4: Visual Discourse Analysis - Edited (Quotes and Related Images)

Figure 1

Art Meats Technology - Mads Peitersen, "The Anatomy of Gadgets" series, 2012 

The image I have chosen to analyse centers around society and the effects technology is having on us in our everyday lives. The artist, Mads Peitersen, is a Danish conceptual artist and has created a very cleaver series of works on ‘Gadget Anatomy’. This piece I have chosen is called “Art meats technology” and is clearly showcasing our subconscious habit of becoming personally attached to everyday technology, in many cases treating these inanimate objects as if they were living breathing organisms. This piece of work has been painted and edited with digital software. Some pieces within the series have been commissioned by the manufacturer in question such as Apple, Nintendo, PS3 and Xbox, however to complete the series Peiterson has painted most of the images for fun and an exploration of what I think to be quite a unique idea.

The image itself depicts something organic within a cold hard inanimate shell. It is simple yet really accurate and familiar and the use of dull and metallic colours to represent the outside of the gadget as we usually see them contrasts greatly to the vibrant “living” colours we see used for the inner organs and tissue matter.  The natural and life-like workings of the anatomy has cleverly been thought out by Peitersen and links to the specific functions of the gadget.  For instance, the buttons are linked to the inner nerve endings and moving parts are linked to muscle and bone. Each floating app has effectively been visually wired up to its respective organ, suggesting that the phone is indeed alive and feels / uses its own organs just like we do. Humanising an in-human object in this way makes clear how easy it is for us to have these subconscious and sentimental relationships with our belongings and what they mean to us.

Although I think Peitersen created this piece in humour and almost a homage to his love of technology and how “advanced and cool” gadgets are today, I think there is also a serious message within his work.  “There has been more technological improvement in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000” (Bowman, 2010); and these vast jumps in improvements don't seem to be stopping anytime soon. With this comes the harsh reality that it is hard to imagine life without that mobile phone in your pocket or life without the internet and google on your laptop or tablet. Gadgets are increasing in their intelligence daily, learning to work with our consciousness, creating new applications specifically designed to improve the very senses we were born with and therefore it should come as no surprise that “technology is not just serving us, but in ways changing us as well” (Lund, 2012). 

Life has been made easier and is now full of cheats, the world has been made smaller and more accessible and it is because of this that I feel we treat certain items as almost an extension of our own living body, thus in some ways forgetting "the basic principles of being human” (Robinson, 2011). To a very large extent we now rely on technology for the very basics of living, to meet new people, expand our knowledge and simply communicate with the world and everyone in it around us. New technology and its progression goes hand in hand with our consumer society and the obsessive need to keep up with trends and have the very best, latest and newest thing. Its what keeps this ball rolling.

I chose this image as I feel it really helps portray a current and very relevant issue within society today and how its growth and progression is becoming more and more lifelike and organic and more of an extension of ourselves than just inanimate objects. This image (and the others Peitersen has created within “The Anatomy of Gadgets” series) are so striking in their boldness, accuracy and simplicity that I feel it forces us to ask the question of how we personally treat technology and these inanimate objects in our own lives. How the use of gadgets and the relationships we build with them are ultimately shaping our living experiences in this “Technological Age” and how they are becoming an extension of who we are, a reliance, an addiction as well as "weapons of mass distraction” (McFedries, 2013).

5 Related Images

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Bibliography

Bowman, J. (2010) ‘The Lightning-Fast Pace of Technological Advancement.’ [Internet] U.K., Daily Reckoning. Available from: <http://dailyreckoning.com/the-lightning-fast-pace-of-technological-advancement/> [Accessed 20^th November 2014].

Lund, B. (2012) ‘Retail Conundrum – Looking Up?’ [Internet] U.K., Global Toy News. Available from: < http://www.globaltoynews.com/2012/09/retail-conundrum-looking-up-.html> [Accessed 3^rd January 2015].

Robinson, M. (2011) ‘Where Do We Draw The Line?’ [Internet] U.K., WordPress. Available from: < https://writing4media.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/where-do-you-draw-the-line/> [Accessed 21^st November 2014].

McFedries, P. (2013) ‘We’re Being Driven to Distraction by Clamorous Computing’ [Internet] U.K. Available from: < http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/embedded-systems/were-being-driven-to-distraction-by-clamorous-computing> [Accessed 21^st November 2014].

Fig.1, Peitersen, M. (2012) ‘Art Meats Technology – The Anatomy of Gadgets’ [illustration] D.N.K. Available from: <http://madspeitersen.com/4x3rlk1ufbwpsrxun4a4xs9bgc0kvd>.

Fig.2, Klarenbeek, J. (2013) ‘Passive’ [poster] A.U.S., Positive Posters. 

Available from: <https://www.behance.net/gallery/11314027/Positive-Posters-design>.

Fig.3, Luchi, F. (2012) ‘Digital Jailhouse’ [illustration] B.R.A., Go Outside Magazine.

Available from: <https://www.behance.net/gallery/3790149/Go-Outside-Magazine-Jailhouses>.

Fig.4, Thibault, A. (2013) ‘Cops vs Hackers’ [illustration] U.K., Readers Digest.

Available from: <http://sebastienthibault.com/READER-S-DIGEST-Cops-Hackers>.

Fig.5, Jonca, P. (2012) 'Big Brother' [Illustration] P.L., Wprost. 
Available from: <http://paweljonca.com/150145/1217122/portfolio/big-brother>.

Fig.6, Gross, A. (2014) 'Future Tense' [Painting] U.S.A., Available from: <http://www.alexgross.com/paintings/index.html>

Possible themes

- Dependancy on technology
- Relationship with technology
- Mental health issues as a result of technology over-exposure
- Addiction to connectivity
- Social media impacts