An interesting tool that I was recently introduced to is the wayback machine at www.archive.org. It allows any visitor to type visit websites in the past. First a visitor enters a hyperlink and then he is prompted with a menu of dates. By clicking on a date, the visitor can view a specific website from a limited array of dates in the past, depending on the site. Depending on the date, the navigability of the website may be limited or restricted. My initial reaction to this tool was that it could be a very helpful resource especially for research. However, it could have access to social networking websites such myspace or facebook which may or may be negative to certain individuals. I know many of my friends are thinking of eliminating their facebook profiles as we attempt to get internships and jobs, but with a tool like this, are we completely safe…from our mistakes in the past?
Our discussion on mass media started out how television and radio had a major impact on people’s lives; we saw this blown-up in one of the most famous scenes in movie history in the film Network. Today we realize that radio and television don’t have the same power that they used to. This is also true with magazines, newspapers, and any some may even argue the internet. There is no doubt that there are challenges today in order to target a general audience when everything has become so fragmented in terms of ways to reach audiences. One way that advertisers, marketers, and public relations personnel are reaching audiences is by using guerilla tactics to reach audiences. I saw some amazing guerilla marketing done by the American Red Cross in an old issue of Communication Arts. This is a link to a blog that posts some interesting guerilla marketing and advertising to entice potential consumers to famous name-brand items.
http://www.funnymos.com/guerilla-ads.html
Guerilla and viral marketing and advertising are areas that I see myself in the future. I’m intrigued by how creative people can get in hope for you to recognize and be aware of their product. Some see this approach as just more “noise” or a desperate approach, but in their defense, this approach has to exist today since we’ve become so numb to conventional methods of communication that radio and television once utilized in the past.
Taste is an interesting concept. Over time, our experiences and our history denotes and informs us as to what is considered tasteful. In a sense, it is a social convention that represents our culture and or represents the culture of another time. For me, taste often time goes hand in hand with fads. Someone who has style in the 1970’s, may not be seen as having style in the 1990’s. Especially in the realms such as fashion, taste can refer to things that are currently “in”. Every thing else can be seen as dated.
After viewing some art work of David Hockney and Paolo Ucello, I could appreciate how you can look at artwork and estimate the date in which they were created due to the use of perspective, organized space, and color by the artist. However, I questioned whether if Ucello intentionally decided to disregard the idea of perspective on purpose or because he was not educated in the mathematical achievement of that era. It is said that Filippo Brunelleschi was the initial inventor linear perspective in the early 1400’s. Ucello’s series of paintings known as The Battle of San Romano, were all complete at least fifteen years after the introduction of linear perspective. The Battle of San Romano series clearly lack perspective and spatial organization. Unfamiliar with Ucello’s work, I do not know if this was intentional or not. After the development of linear perspective, some artists took it upon themselves to use artistic license and eliminate persepctive on purpose. An example of the intentional lack of perspective can be found in the infamous painting Birth of Venus by Botticelli; created almost 80 years after the introduction of linear perspective.
