The massive problem of e-waste

We've all got some old electronic equipment stashed in a drawer somewhere, a broken mobile that hasn't made it's way to the bin yet, but before you chuck any of that stuff out, spend a moment considering where all that obsolete and busted technology ends up.




as people who are exploring all this new technology, we're frequently upgrading and expanding our collection of electronic equiptment - if i count up all the gadgets i've bought since first getting into this 'digital life' 5 years or so ago, its quite some figure. Add to that all the ink cartridges for the printer, batteries for cameras and music players etc, film canisters, photo processing chemicals, cd's and dvd's in their big plastic stack boxes, and it starts to get quite alarming. Thats after 5 years. Imagine what it'll be after 20 years as a media professional. Jesus H Vishnu, thats a shed load of dodgy plastics, chemicals and assorted toxins i'll be getting through.



We've really gotta start being more aware what we're doing when we use stuff and throw it out. Living in the land of plenty, it easy to just go on consuming and chucking out the remains, but continuing with this way of behavior can't be sustained, the effects are now too severe; we've gotta get with the programme.






I hope people watch these and take note. I'll blog later about where we can recycle our old mobiles, printer cartridges(which are also highly toxic) etc. I'm sure we've all got a few we need shot of. Some places send out freepost bags to post them off old stuff to recycle-if anyones interested, let me know and ill get a pile of them sent for us all.

Final Project

For the self directed project, I'm going to do a poster campaign around the ideas of e-waste and energy consumption of todays technology. With a single computer chip doing more harm to the environment than the average car, and your Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as a real life Brazilian, it's probably time we started to consider our energy consumption a whole lot more.
15 million mobile phones are discarded in 2004 (im looking for more recent figures) with only 4% begin recycled, and with a billion new handsets being sold in the last year, the global stats for discarded phones must be pretty staggering. Should be a concern when you consider mobiles contain the 10 most dangerous substances known to man. Much of our electronic waste ends up in developing countries, and the resulting environmental impact in some places has been catastrophic.

will also look at viable energy alternatives, with the population growth out of control, the demand on already overburdened energy supplies continues to grow. The cost of oil is climbing fast, with analysts predicting that we reached Peak oil , reserves are running dry. makes no sense at all that we are at war over the scraps that remain.
Biofuel has come under fire recently after reports of it being inefficient, I'm interested to learn more about solar energy -it's the biggest source of energy out there,and must surely be a strong contender for a future energy source for mankind.

dissertating

My dissertation was entitled :
The Reality of Digital Photography.
Authenticity and the Pervasive Image in
Contemporary Culture.

I discussed the idea of the photographic image , and how digital technology has supposedly given rise to the 'loss of real', - digital images are inherently mutable, and can now be created from completely artificial content and this, some argue, has destroyed our faith in the authenticity of the photograph. I argued against this theory, stating that photography has never been able to show an objective view of reality, as a photograph comes into being as the result of a series of subjective decisions by the photographer- choice of lens, film speed, lighting, camera position, etc etc are all used to effect the way the image comes out. Photo editing software may now make it simple to manipulate images, but these developments are far from revolutionary, photography exists because of manipulation. whether a scene is arranged prior to image capture, or affected in post production traditionally in the darkroom, or digitally on a computer, they all ways to manipulate the final image, and present only the view of the author. Therefore the idea of a photographic 'truth' or authenticity becomes problematic.
I discussed the idea that digital technology has given back an element of control for the author, where previously roll film production, developing and printing were handled my large companies, now the photographer has more control over the whole process.
I suggested that more radical a change to photography with the development of digital technology was how it has changed the way we consume images, with cameras finding their way into ever more portable electronic devices, and personal computing allowing a greater flow of images through the home. The internet provides the means for self publishing and distribution, with staggering number of images uploaded each day. People are presenting themselves online in social network sites with snapshot photography. Images are flooding through our daily lives in larger tides.


What did i learn, other than i should probably leave dissertating to those that are good at it? Well i was stunned at the amount of images being uploaded to various sites. Its impossible to get decent statistics as there are so many places to upload images to, but hundreds of millions each week, increasing at a phenomenal rate. With more and more devices to capture, store and distribute images, the flood tide is sure to swell.


I found it very painful to write this essay, It's not something I'm naturally good at. I find it difficult to get down what I'm thinking about, without sounding like it's written by baboon. I also seem to use commas like vinegar on a bag of chips, sprinkling liberally all over the place until everything is soggy.
Glad it's handed in now though, quite a relief.

bjorks new 3d video

check out Bjorks new 3d video. the inspiration for the director came from trip into the woods with a belly full of psilocybin shrooms. the video is a visual feast, with different media and techniques used in its creation. luckily ive still got some 3d specs left from the interaction project, so i can appreciate it in its full (miniature) glory. Theres a 2d version as well if you don't have the glasses, but for the full effect of seeing it at its very best, then its advantageous to ingest a handful of Liberty Caps. (and going out into the woods) .

Easter Break

Back to school again after the Easter break, time to get back with the programme. Micheál asked for an example of something that has been a source of inspiration, or good research material for the course. This was a difficult question, as I've had a really very uneventful couple of weeks- didn't go away on holiday, didn't visit anyone, spent some of it struggling with the current projects, but not making the progress that i should have really.
Ok, some of the things I've seen recenlty are some awesome animations I discovered on YouTube, by a chap called Grickle. What i like about them is they are very simple, just a few lines used to create a great visual impact without overly complicating it. The characters have great expressions, the animator has made them very expressive - theres no doubt about what they are feeling or thinking at any given time. Check out the one below It's fantastic, you'll probably want to check out his others, he has many at 'Grickle Channel' on YouTube.







This following YouTube video I've been familiar with for some time, but included it here because i recently saw it again, i can't help finding it both fascinating and scary. But at the end of the day, both dogs and robots are cool, so to have them both together in one package is always a joy.


Recently, a friend sent me another version, that i thought was equally as bizarre, and just as funny and scary.




I guess one other thing recently I've been looking into further is working for some ethical company. After subverting the D&AD army recruitment, it really felt important to me to be doing something that i believe in. I think that when working in the multimedia industry, there will potentially be lots of briefs for advertising and marketing, you need bread and butter money as artistic endeavours won't necessary pay the bills. The whole advertising thing can be selling your soul to the devil though, - 'all marketing guys are sons of Satan who ruin all things good in the world, and they should kill themselves'. (thanks to Bill Hicks for his wise words) . I like the idea of producing some anti-advertising, doing some culture jamming and getting a wee bit subversive. I would find this far more satisfying than corporate promotion and dealing with all that.

D&AD advertising tomfoolery

(click image to enlarge)

D&AD Student Awards. Army Recruitment Brief.

We decided to do the Army recruitment brief as there is simply not enough killing and suffering in the world. What better way to hook the nations youngsters into the army than with a language they are familiar with, computer games. We didn't actually make the game itself, there was no need as there are plenty of computer games available already that glamourise war, as mentioned in a previous post - but instead we just made the advertising campaign in the graphic styling of a computer game. Screenshots on the back showed various stages of army life, and plenty of warnings of the graphic and violent content of army life were given.

This was a great project to do, though at times difficult to stomach when the horrors of war and injustices of army life were uncovered again and again, but in many ways these things just made it all the more important to complete the project and deliver something a little different from normal army recruitment campaigns. We just wanted to show some of the things that someone joining the army could experience - the things that they don't usually show potential recruits. This week saw the army in the news again for going into schools to recruit children, and reading some of the comments that the public had responded with, shows that this issue polarizes peoples opinion, I don't think I've seen such heated comments in reply to a news item before.
We were very satisfied with the results of our project, we believe we made an important point in way that still managed to fulfill the brief,- I would love to be a fly on the wall at the D&AD judging process, to see what the reaction is of the advertising agency that set the brief, though we have as much chance of wining as having the British Army withdraw from Iraq tomorrow morning. But as George Bush Jr might say, it's not the winning, it's the taking part that's counts.