Einstein

Portraits.

Here is a collage I just made by adjusting the opacity of peoples faces while placing them over Yoni Netanyahu's portrait.
In the second image I adjusted the hue and saturation of a couple of the faces to show how it might look once rolled over.

Putting something out there...

We talk about people having two identities, those online and those offline but what about a third identity? Can the computer itself have an identity? and what does it take to give a computer an identity? is it merely that we form a connection to it? that we identify with it as being unique from other computers? or perhaps that it is conscious? What would it take for a computer to be conscious and have free choice? Is it even possible for a computer to have free choice? after all the algorithim or perhaps living cells that would give it the ability to progress and advance with its decisions would have been created by a human, so does that free choice not stem from somewhere?

Ok, so perhaps it does but that dosen't mean that the computer is not't thinking for itself. Are we thinking for ourselves? or is everything predetermined? Is what I am writing at this very moment predetermined? the speed at which i write it? the time of which I upload it? the time when you read it? what you think of it? the mark that I will ultimately receive for it? Did I actually have any control over what mark I receive for this blog?

This concept is different to that of living in a computer simulation, or is it?

Perspective.

Is it a persons identity that determines a perspective or the a persons perspective that determines the identity?

How is it that one identity can be viewed in so many different ways when really it is the same thing? Everyone sees a person in their own unique way for example, a religious person may be considered secular to an ultra orthodox person while to a secular person he is considered ultra orthodox. A car thief to a judge and the owner of the car might be considered a criminal though in comparison to a pedefile or a rapist he is a saint.

Perspective is an approximate representation on a 2d plane of an image as it is perceived by the eye. Perspective, whether used in reference to graphics or psychology is an approximate representation, never exact.














It is not the identity but rather how people see them, it is these peoples identities that form the way they perceive in the first place.

Overtly Stereotypical!!!

A few very preliminary, basic, and extremely stereotypical thoughts on who succeeds online and who succeeds offline. What I was trying to convey is that nerds typically feel more comfortable and therefore succeed on a computer. There is an outlet for everyone, a skill that each person is better suited to and if these are found then hopefully success will follow.

Finding a Path.

9 weeks into this semester and I still feel that my ideas for this project are far from advanced. There are a few paths that I am considering taking for this project each reflecting different though similar takes on the theme identity.

The first idea that I have written about in my posts is that of Schizophrenia or rather having multiple personalities, those which are on the internet and those that are not and whether or not there really is a difference between the two.

Another take on the theme is that which revolves around religion and ones belief in G-d. Is there free choice? Are people navigating through this site by choice and making their own informed decisions as to which page to lead to or is it all perhaps predetermined? Perhaps in having a site that on the navigation itself could pose these questions.

Another take is that of the Matrix, one would enter the computer which would lead into a virtual reality which appears to be reality though they are still online.

So as you can see I am still searching for a path to take. What if what I focus on is 'searching'? or maybe I will just stick with what I have been doing until now.

'To work with the medium, you need to work within the medium' - Gianni.
Ok, enough writing, time to begin with the medium!!!

Web Site Theme:

Hi, so since Wednesday I've been working on a website layout. Through this layout I am trying to convey the multiple personalities and the distinction between them. I'm trying to do this by having contrasting styles, one dark and gloomy while the other is bright and happy. Also with the freedom to animate in both Photoshop and Flash I can better explore this theme through movement and how the moments create a feeling, be that sharp and abrupt movements in contrast to gentle bouncing movements, reminiscent to a child jumping.

Anyway, I'll post the link here to the file of this website I am working on:
http://www.box.net/shared/r52pvr55t8

Hope you like it.

2nd Life

I've been watching a film that I took out of the library a few days ago, "You Only Live Twice", and no this is not a Bond film. So what is this? It's a film about the online virtual reality world 'Second Life', a place in which people can interact with other people, convert US money into Linden (the currency of Second Life) and visa versa. It is a place in which some aim to make a profit while others do it for the social interaction, some buy virtual real estate while others have virtual sex, it is a place where everything is transparent and everything can be seen. It is with this philosophy that they hope to avoid introducing rules and laws. Though despite this, rules have been introduced, rules to prevent rape and child sex offences despite them being virtual.


Julian Dibbell the author of 'Play Money', wrote: "People pay real money for these imagenery things because they have real investments, social, pshycological investments in these fake things and that's what's real".

There is an interesting similarity between ones real world and ones virtual world and where they merge creating a persons identity which is formed by both of these worlds.

No Strings Attached.

For the past 30 minutes we've been working on our own, though I really should have continued working work masking and layers and all of the other GREAT things that photoshop has I took what for me was the easier and more enjoyable option, I drew. There was a tablet with a pen on my desk so I plugged it into my computer and began drawing. They really are pretty cool things, this one was pretty basic, very small and didn't have any pressure sensitivity though regardless of this it was still good fun and I'm pretty happy with what came out. I've had this idea for a while, that of a person running away from their puppeteer and breaking the strings that until now were holding them back and restraining them.

The profile of the face was just a quick sketch, the eyes pretty bad, maybe its for the obvious reason that the eye isn't really drawn in profile.

Beatle.

I know that this post is above the other two though really I made this image after the other two. This was once again a photograph which we modified in class. We first selected parts of the image, i.e. the car, saved the selection, masked it, and then adjusted the hue and saturation of it which is what gave us the many different colors that our cars now are.

Joining Photos.

One cool technique that we were shown today was how to load a few photos and let the computer join them together, making one large panoramic image.

How to: Assuming that you are in Photoshop, click on File, then Photomerge and then Browse and upload your images. Why I found this so interesting is because it has the potential to merge images in a sphere and in essence create a 3d room which can be navigated in Flash.

This image was created by joining a few separate photographs which as you can see has now come together to form one single image.

Basic Masking:

Ok, so at the moment I am actually in class, we are having a break so I figured what better time than now to upload some of the images that we have made today and write a bit about them.

Today we have focused on masking and how to blend images together.
The following two images were the ones we were given. We then masked them so that they would appear blended. The predominantly blue image is simply the same image though with a blue overlay and the one that is next to it was just messing around but I like it.

Concept & Sitemap

What I have presented here are two A4 panels that help convey my concept, both what it is and how I wish to portray it. The first panel explains my concept and where I wish to progress with it while the second panel is a collage of images that help explain the different identities that one person may have, both online and offline.