Distance Education

Distance Education aims to teach students that are not physically present using technological tools. This thought dates back to 1728, where distance education first began at the University of London. Charles Wedemeyer is said to be the front runner for modern distance learning with his creation of AIM, the articulated instructional media project which used new communication technologies to teach those his distance students. This change in emphasis to online classes has been greatly increasing as of late. The five types of distance education are correspondence (via mail), internet (synchronously- real time, or asynchronously- with a delay), telecourse (via radio or tv), CD-ROM, and mobile learning (via hand-held device or wireless server). Online Education is described by a physical separation between student and teacher, with a connection simulated by the internet. Blended education combines these methods, alternating between face-to-face meetings and online ones. Virtual Education is offered completely online. Two types of systems may be used: CMS (content management) or LMS (learning management). The former uses computer software to manage, edit, and publish content. The latter uses software tools to manage learning interventions. Its advantages are that you are allowed to work at your own pace, it's flexible, it incorporates multimedia applications, there's no travel time, and it allows for greater universal access. The disadvantages are seen as its cost, the lack of online security, the radical change from traditional learning methods, encouraging audience self motivation, lack of socialization, and keeping track of attendance and participation.

I plan to use distance education everyday of my artistic career. I cannot fully express how appreciative I am of websites like eHow, Instructables, youtube, and sculpture.net for their insight and explanation of various processes. Since projects often take you into places you never knew you'd go, it's necessary to call upon the help of other experts; thus the artist remains a student for life. The cheapest, most efficient, and direct method to fulfilling this requirement is through the help of informal distance education in its virtual form. The websites I just brought up are incredible in their variety of delivery methods. They include written and pictoral instruction, video and oral instruction, and even forums for direct discussion of a particular issue one may be having. The only issue I can imagine facing from this method of education is the greater amount of research time put into finding a reliable source from which to learn from. You have to wait for responses on dicussion boards and you have to make sure that any how-to guide you are watching or reading is in accordance with the exact process you wish to learn about.

I highly recommend sculpture.net whenever one is facing a dilemma having to do with materials or project ideation. I like this source most for its connectivity to real, live people, with the ease of access of virtual distance education. There have been a few times where I placed a post with a very specific issue -like trying to cast very fine, delicate materials- and gotten 4 to 5 various methods within hours. The community is made up of sculptors from all different media backgrounds, willing to offer their expertise among their corresponding areas. This variety, and the point system that rewards all those offering sound advice to the asker, combine to create a highly successful system of cooperative support beneficial to all those involved.

Digital Technology

Digital and analog devices are similar in that they both take your input, whether it be your voice over a phone line or your favorite tv show through your cable device, and convert it into something else. What that something is, is all the difference. Analog tranfers data in what the readings describe as "electric pulses", while digital information is transferred into a binary data incorporating the numbers 0 and 1. The reason digital is often preferred is because it requires a lot less information than analog, because it is composed of a series of those two numbers. A small variation in the order of these numbers creates completely different data, and the possibilities of creating new series of coding are endless. Photography is a good example that is given. The first cameras, which were analog, are often revered for their excellent quality. Light sensitive paper kept in the dark inside the camera is 'exposed' to any light outside where you press the button that opens the lens. Because the data is not converted into a series of numbers, but is a "chemical process", the picture taken retains its initial integrity and it can be blown up to larger scales without any damage to the quality. But digital is still preferred because of the massive amount of information the camera can hold, while still taking high quality pictures. The data is captured and transferred into this numerical data through CCD's, Charged Coupling Devices. Often when you are buying expensive cameras, you are buying them for a better quality CCD because it gives better resolution, or image quality, to your pictures by offering more pixels to fill with that binary data. Look at a picture up close, and you'll see the effect of low resolution through the jagged edges, which are actually the pixels. Increasing pixels per square creates smoother edges. More pixels does not mean better color quality, but a sharper image with more details captured, along with larger file size requirements. Expensive cameras need much larger sd cards to store more information, with a higher class grade. Because digital photography has an internal processor to convert data from pictures you take at an instant, you can view your images right away rather than going through a chemical process to see if your pictures turned out well. Digital video is similar, this is why so many digital cameras can now take short videos also. Normal quality videos turn out 30 frames of moving data per second, like taking 30 pictures in a row every second. These play at 24 frames per second, meaning some quality is lost. Any fewer frames that 12 per second creates a choppy effect, like a stop-motion video. Video compression is used to convert data from your camera to smaller, more usable sizes, which also leads a drop in picture quality. Lastly, PDA's, personal data assistants, are like mini computers in that they store data, work as organizers, and can be used to make phone calls.

Knowing the workings of digital technology is imperative to my art field. Just like painting or printmaking, I've learned that digital technologies are just tools in creating the far more profound concept of art itself. Beyond that, I've learned that digital technologies are very different and unique kinds of tools, because the options are virtually endless. You can manipulate any photo, sound file, or video so much further than its original form, or reality itself. I forsee myself using photography and visual software often in my future art career so I can stretch the limits of even my own imagination in my works. There is also a certain tone in the medium you choose to create your works. To use a digital technology versus oil paint raises the question of 'traditional', or 'fine' art. Because of the associations the mind creates when looking at a piece of art, I must consider what it means when I use digital technology in art creation. This has already been an interesting concept for me, and I recently created a digital piece called Limited Edition where I went out in nature and photographed pieces of paper litter that I had found and signatured. I mounted all 50 of these photos and arranged them as one would expect in a gallery setting -signed, numbered, and dated. This work examined the cyclical, absurd nature of 'art' as something valued through the author's signing and the edition of the piece. The duality of paper, as its value changes in its setting is also considered, especially considering the role of the 'gallery'. This piece first came into mind in my digital imaging class when I was trying to define value in digital art. I was very skeptical of how an intangible work, or something printed onto paper, could ever find value (monetary, not emotional or conceptual value) in the art market. When I use digital technology in my art in the future, I intend to fully comprehend the purpose of the medium itself.

A fantastic digital artist I've recently discovered is Maurice Benayoun. He created large-scale interactive installations, often using highly complex virtual reality softwares of his own design. His works mostly comment on the current state of media and the systems of society, and how these elements relate to the new technological age. More specifically, he tries to place human characteristics onto the cold nature of technology. This is exactly what I mean by using the digital medium with purpose. My favorite work of his is SFear. Maps of emotions are extracted in real time from the internet. These words used to describe emotions are projected onto a helium globe, with their sizes correlating with the number of hits on the internet according to the 3200 biggest cities around the world. Small discs below the projected globe show tangible maps of e-mapping stills. This work uses technology, something absent of all emotion, to describe the most human qualities. Does the tangible presentation of emotion make us feel like the machine is connecting to us, or is it simply spitting out information to satiate the most primitive form of emotional contact? Even the discs are made to look like skin, the peaks like the goose bumps we feel when experiencing surges of emotion. These stills are simply another way for the machine to try and make us believe we are connecting to it; thus the machine is a deceiving, sly, and intelligent entity, but it will never have emotion.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applications, as they are used in educational settings, promote interactive social learning. Users are able to share the knowledge they have while also profiting from the knowledge of others. Another guideline of such programs is that they be relatively easy to utilize by the user while also encouraging collaboration.

In 2000, Victoria Vesna greeted the new technological millennium with Project n0time, an interactive installation solely based online for the similar purpose of web 2.0 applications. Vesna wanted users of this program to create online personas, one or many, whose key objective was presenting all the knowledge they had to offer the online universe. People with a particularly populr set of knowledge gained more friends, while those offering very little usually had less "hits". Out of the many ways to socialize online now -dating sites, facebook, twitter- creating one based solely on the acquisition of knowledge brings the concept of internet technology back to its original purposes. That's where the title 'n0time' comes in; to create a community of people with no time. It refers to the ease of acquiring information when such social site is strictly set around the premises of supplying data through real-time human contact.

Visual Representation of Project n0time users' avatars that describe the amount of knowledge they have to offer through a network of keywords, or "tags":

21st Century Skills

What are artists of the 21st century doing to ensure their work becomes well known? The availability of technology means that even the most traditional artwork must become familiar with its innovations and learn to incorporate it into their skill set so that a much wider audience will become available to them. The framework described by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills can be applied to not only our new generation of students, but also to the artists that are just beginning to see technology infiltrate all facets of their work environment; because when they do, all new kinds of media and creative methods to show their artwork will open up.

Digital art is becoming a respected field of the art industry. Graphic Designers, some of the most profitable of artists, are very experienced with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. Video artists must know editing and audio software, along with knowing how to handle a video camera. All kinds of artists today typically have their own webpages, so many choose to become well rehearsed in Dreamweaver. Above all, the idea you should gain from this is that in successful contemporary art, the artist has become a jack of all trades when it comes to incorporating all kinds of media into their work, especially technology and software.

The essential skills pointed out in the guidelines of the Partnership for the 21st Century skills include: critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Successful modern artists encompass all these. Their work always transcends mere aesthetics and face-value imagery; so one might call them critical thinkers. They comment on contemporary issues and often try to design solutions through creative means, thus they are also problem solvers. Their artwork easily communicates to the audience in a specific, purposeful, and highly meaningful manner. And, finally, they often try to work in other medias, and in doing so, enlist the aid of their fellow artists; so they are collaborators.

We are molding the next generation of artists in a profound way the more we expose them to the importance and manipulation of technology. Today's artists are the students that need to be taught the ideology of programs such as the Partnership for the 21st Century.


The following is are two excerpts from a documentary television show called Art:21 on PBS that highlights innovative art being produced in the advanced, technological societies of the 21st century.

Paul McCarthy - Multimedia Intallation Artist


Cao Fei - Video Installation Artist