Technology {Essay}
Jones’ thesis is “New forms of art and technology are frequently cast in the mode of old forms, just as other aspects of material and symbolic culture have been. Only when these new forms become available to the larger population can they affect cultural patterns of maintenance and change” (Jones, 21). This means that even though technology develops at a very fast rate, the basis, or the foundation of the technology stays about the same: “It is a premise of this paper that old cultural patterns do not die. They may fade or become more evident; that is, they may be deemphasized or emphasized” (Jones, 21). I believe we see this is very evident in a lot of things we do today, which I will mention in the last paragraph.
One of the three historical examples Jones mentions in this paper is: “At the Second West Coast Computer Faire held in 1978, several projections were made. It was proposed that small computer systems… be used by individuals to create unique furniture, fabrics and prints suited to their special requirements” (Jones, 23). She states later, “computers have been used to customize the tailoring of suits in West Germany and of bikinis in southern California. Although these products are customized to a client’s body, individual conceptual design differences are not employed—that is, earlier concepts of the designer and tailor as experts remain” (Jones, 24). In this example, the process of the earlier tailor and designer are still in effect, just in a different way: through technology.
There are multiple examples of Jones’ thesis coming into play today, one of them being animation. Nowadays, computers are used for most of the animation. However, they still use the old technique of drawing the graphics: “The animator draws objects and characters either by hand or with a computer” (Roos). When animation was first starting out, they would have to draw each frame by hand, then put it all together to make a movie. Now, some still do that, but the use the computer to enhance the images. One other example includes Polaroid cameras that are coming back into style. They have been enhanced using modern technology, but still produce the image on the polaroid photo paper just like when they first came into use.
Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.
Roos, D. (n.d.). What is Computer Animation? – HowStuffWorks. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/computer-animation1.htm