So at long last I have finished my visual artefact to conclude Block 1 of Education and Digital Cultures.
I’ll admit that I spent most of the week dithering over what topic or theme to focus on and how well I would be able to create my aretfact given I know very little about creating graphics.
Anyway, without further ado, may I introduce “The network of humans”
Visual Artefact – The network of humans
I reviewed my Lifestream content over the past few weeks and noticed that cyborgs and technological intervention seems to be a topic that has been of particular interest to me. So too has the impact of cybernetics on our lives and how the human race has evolved because of it. Therefore my artefact is a blend of the two themes. I have tried to add a timeline overlay to give a feel of where we are now and where we may go in the future
Note: the sound on the video is a little quiet. I would suggest listening with headphones.
Hi Stuart,
I really admire the professional quality of your visual artefact. I like its clarity and the way that the message builds from technology as enabling the body to be medically restored to a suggestion of facilitating something more sinister. I still seem to talk about technology as “enabling” or “facilitating” when really what I’ve learned is that it is the human/technology assemblage that has the agency.
Cathy
Like you, I spent much of this week dithering: your dithering has paid off: this is great! I really liked the last message about technology having the power to change evolution and the responsibility that brings. I echo Cathy’s comments on the high production quality here too!
Stuart, I really like the interaction of visuals and sound; the reworking of the familiar (e.g. Six Million Dollar Man intro) with new visuals; and the overlay of symbols on pictures. A rich mix, befitting the theme. Thank you!
Loving this Stuart. The very quiet music throughout give an eery, slightly scary background while the images and sounds build a great picture.
Really well thought out, that dithering was worthwhile.
Gotta love Adobe spark 🙂
Eli
Great theme, powerful message and very well executed. Each element is carefully outlined. This reminds me somewhat of a trip through a gallery, or in one of the “multimedia” type installations. I’d love to see more this through a VR head mounted display, or indeed, in reality as an exhibit somewhere.
Nicely done sir. I loved the audio, it has a Hitchcock esque feel to it. Listening to the soundtrack I had the feeling of the soundbites emanating from an old TV somewhere off camera and this gave the piece an almost vintage quality. I liked it a lot!
In much the same way that the people pictured were augmenting their bodies your visual artefact is augmented by sound.
May I suggest an experiment just for amusement? Change the soundtrack to see the change in emotional tone. Maybe this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rEMQ5a8YQ
Stuart, a wonderful piece of work! I think is was great how you chose to focus on the body. One of the key aspects you hint at is how the body has been the inspiration that drives the technology technology forward. A unique perspective.
Echoing everyone’s comments here, this is great, Stuart.
The layering of different types of visual content worked really well for me: it was like the graphic icons were a kind of commentary or signposting of the underlying photographs.
I also liked how the soundtrack was a mixture of what seemed to be dialogue from science fiction, technology, popular TV and the more scholarly: I thought this worked really well in showing how our understanding of cyberculture (and in turn the relationship between education and technology) can be shaped by ideas from a broad range of places. In each of the clips, the depiction of the relations between human and machines would have been presented with different interests.
As everyone has already said here, great work Stuart.