1. Proposal Refinements →

    Some final tweaks to my thesis proposal I’ve been meaning to post are finally here! A thesis outline will be coming in the near future before I dive into some primary research.

  2. iPad, Flipboard & PBS MediaShift

    This is my first post to this blog since receiving my iPad as my Christmas present from my wife this past December. I had no idea that she was planning on purchasing such a gift for me, and, needless to say, I was quite surprised. I had been talking about it for a while as a necessary component of my research, but didn’t have the gumption to purchase it myself. That was always a half-joke, but that was only because I didn’t realize what a difference the iPad would have on my understanding of the topic.

    I knew that one of my first app downloads should be Flipboard. In a nutshell, Flipboard is a digital magazine that aggregates information from different online outlets such as Wired, Good and PBS. As I was flipping through categories to choose magazines (all of which are free) I stumbled across a PBS magazine called MediaShift. It’s rare that something should occur with such serendipity as MediaShift is all about how our changes in technology impact our media environment. Essentially, it is a collection of articles that are almost all relevant to my thesis exploration of media ecology.

    One article stood out to me this past week; it was all about self-publishing. Our graduate class had talked briefly about whether or not authors like Milton or Spenser would have have flourished in our society. It was quickly mentioned that they were funded by the wealthy, and only the elite could afford the luxury of their works. This article on self-publishing offered a unique perspective. Technology like the printing press offered written work to the masses in their own language…they now afford the same books as the elite. With the emergence of self-publishing, individuals have recently been able to put their words into print for the masses without going through a publisher.

    What does this mean? Well, aspiring authors can now demo a book before approaching a publisher to have it put on bookstore shelves. Not only that, but they can ePublish their book and let it survive on its own merits in the growing eBook market. Think of all the apps and their developers that could not have published their software were it not for such a market. With barriers to entry being reduced for authors and developers, the future of literature and software development is paving the way for large cultural changes…all due to how technology impacts our media ecology.

  3. Top Invention of the 19th Century? Invention.

    In Chapter Three of Technopoly, Postman looks at how we shifted from being a Technocracy into a Technopoly: what precipitated it, and what it changed. Prior to the machine, we were a society that made with tools. There were small shops that made artifacts by hand, and we lived as humans.

    With the advent of machined mills in the 19th Century and Taylor’s work in the early 20th Century,  man moved toward being subservient to machine. As Postman puts it, a calculator never makes mistakes, the careless human does. If we could only be machine-like, then our lives would be more productive and efficient. From a Technopolist viewpoint, our lives would be better if we were more like our machines.

    While I think this is all very interesting, I want to focus on a point that he makes which is more fundamental and perhaps a little easier to overlook: the greatest invention of the 19th Century was invention.

    With an explosion that has never ceased, from the light bulb, telegraph, telephone, computer and on, we live in an era that is filled with invention. We are so surrounded by it that we often see it as common place. Right now I’m watching and reading articles on “tablet wars” which started with the Apple iPad. As other manufacturers jump in and adapt, we’re seeing a technological arms race that is redefining interfaces and media for us…but we mostly see the shiny screens and the technical specifications.

    I think Postman is right. Ideologically, we’ve come to expect and, consequently, need invention. It’s probably something we wouldn’t think about unless it suddenly disappeared. Our machines help us invent better machines. The cycle is exhilarating, but it is also vicious. Invention is one of the cornerstones of a technopoly. I think I know where Postman is going with it, but we’ll have to wait and see for now.

    In the meantime, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying screen printing. It’s been theraputic to print, work with chemicals, get ink under my nails and not stare at a laptop screen.

  4. Technopoly: Chapter One

    I have finally opened the cover of my first big read for my thesis research: Technopoly by Neil Postman. A few years ago I read his book Amusing Ourselves to Death which, I my opinion, was a very good read. There are overlapping concepts between to two, but the focus of this book is the critical examination of technology and how it changes all of life for both good and bad.

    That is a point that Postman is adamant within the first couple pages. Technology changes everything for both good and bad. Yet his primary concern, so far, is that this dichotomy is not carefully considered. He illustrates this concept with an excerpt from Plato’s writings where Socrates is telling a story. In the story a wise Egyptian king is commenting on inventions. When the inventor reveals writing to him, he is dismayed and says that it will unleash all manner of error into the world. People will no longer have memory, they will merely recollect. Wisdom will be confused with knowledge, and knowledge that is obtained will be assimilated without proper instruction. Yet the king is not truly wise, according to Plato, for he failed to see the benefits that writing would, and has, created.

    Right now I am very concerned with my own thinking as I understand Postman’s perspective which he put into writing in the early 1990’s. His view on computers, for example, is without an understanding of how the Internet has reconnected loner computer users. He sees the computer as a burden to the common man with its only real application in business. Hindsight is 20/20, so it is simplistic for me to discount his arguments based on his inability to divine the future. I bring this up because it makes me realize that technology very much redefines life. This would is entirely different from Postman’s but there are truths that remain. That area of truth is where meaning lies.

    Finally, he discusses why it is about “ecology.” He creates an analogy where caterpillars are removed from from an ecological system. What you are left with is not simply the same system sans-caterpillars. The system itself is fundamentally different due to their absence; everything else in the system must adjust to the change. The same is true for society and technology. Here we have “media ecology.” 

  5. The Platinum Standard

    I found this article on Wired’s Science RSS feed and thought it was worth sharing. To give a quick overview, it discusses the current physical standard for the kilogram…which is a platinum cylinder which is stored outside of Paris in a glass jar which is then inside another glass jar in a vault. Apparently it gains 50 micrograms of mass every century which is considered scientifically unreliable. The Germans are responding with a silicon sphere who, if enlarged to the size of the earth, would only have a maximum hill height of nine feet. An accurate miniaturization of the earth…a racquetball. It’s understandable as they’ve been polishing the sphere for two years.

    I find this fascinating. In our postmodern world of wireless everything, we still have a deep need for something physical.

    Here’s the full article.

  6. Can Technology Put Us in Reverse?

    I was reading an interesting post in my RSS inbox today looking at how the iPad really is “changing everything.” Perhaps, however, change doesn’t always move us forward?

    The article considers iPad adoption and the subsequent flurry of applications built specifically for the platform. In a sense, this flies in the face of open source web development meant for use by all without a buy-in. Is iPad the new Flash?

    Check it out.

  7. Analog Printing

    I spent the entire day today doing the final setup and initial tests with my screen printing exposure unit. After spending several hours rigging black curtains, a liner around my sink and stretching about $20 worth of silk, I managed to ruin a yard of nice 160 monofilament silk. Today made the usual troubles with my photo printer seem trivial.

    Using my mitre box and backsaw, I sized about 40 feet worth of 2x2’s and had prepared several frames. Here’s a quick tip: the glue is what holds the frame together. Anyway, those turned out nicely. Then I started doing burn tests.

    Spreading the photo emulsion went well. Everything looked good. Then I set up a simple film that would mark burn time increments from 5:00 to 45:00 in increments of five. Tried to wash out the screen, and the shortest exposure barely cleared out. Naturally, we tried another film with :30 increments from 1:00 to 4:30…still had washout problems. Now I’m thinking I need to back my UV lights off by about 5 inches and test from 2:00 to 10:00 in increments of one. Meanwhile, I need to stretch more silk because I forgot to buy emulsion washout fluid which won’t come until the end of the week.

    To summarize, the setup looks good, but I don’t have it figured out after my first evening of testing. There’s tomorrow to get it right.

    How does this apply to my thesis? When I make a design and print it off on my Canon, it goes well, and it looks good. But how much effort went into that? Does it convey the same thing? It certainly is easier, but I’m still going to spend about five hours tomorrow doing more test exposures so I can start screen printing.

  8. Two Thesis Ideas

    I just wanted to get these two ideas out quickly. They’re still in a “meta” stage, so there’s really not a specific research objective or deliverable yet.

    1. Media Ecology - This refers to the study of media environments. While this is a very broad definition, it can be narrowed to focus on how shifts in delivery methods effect the information that is conveyed. For example, if we put our college textbooks on the iPad, how will that affect college students? Will the information they obtain be the same as with a physical book, or, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, will the medium change the message?

    2. Healthy Living for Individuals with Random/Recurring Symptoms - For individuals who have diseases or disabilities with recurring symptoms that are unpredictable, fitness is very difficult…yet essential. Suppose you have a disease like Rheumatoid Arthritis, and you’re trying to follow a fitness routine. If you plan on exercising in the afternoon on weekdays, you might find that your RA spikes three afternoons out of the five thereby preventing you from following your workout plan. This would be extremely discouraging and might convince you to neglect exercising entirely. My question is: “How could we use technology to enable individuals in these situations to maintain a healthy lifestyle that takes into account the random nature of their illnesses?”

  9. Quick Introduction

    Hi. My name is Nate Mucha. The purpose of this blog is to document my MFA Thesis process. I’ll be posting anything and everything relevant to my thesis from proposal to completion.

    Here is a quick introduction to who I am and what I’m doing…

    I was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. My education includes studying at Grove City College in Grove City, PA where I received my B.A. in Philosophy with a Minor in Business, participating in the Undergraduate Program at the Kent State University School of Visual Communication Design for two years and now the Graduate Program at Kent State’s School of VCD. I am pursuing my Master of Fine Arts while teaching as an Adjunct Professor. I am currently teaching Intermediate Computer Graphic Design and Illustration which is a Sophomore-level class focusing on web design.

    I am also very involved in AIGA Kent — our school’s student chapter of AIGA: The Professional Association for Design. This year I am the Interactive Chairperson at Kent. For more information regarding AIGA Kent, visit www.aigakent.org.

    You can find an online selection of my work as well as my resume and digital portfolio by visiting www.natemucha.com.