Beverly Jones writes, “It is a premise of this paper that old cultural patterns do not die. They may fade or become more evident… Only as part of the general ‘nonexpert’ culture can such patterns contribute significantly to maintenance and/or change” (1990). Her piece has been written to bring to attention the idea that origins, especially those of computer graphics, have been present throughout the medium’s evolution and will continue to do so, but these origins are reinvented each time they are caught by the eye of a “nonexpert.” Jones provides several examples of this theory, one being the gerbil habitat created by MIT. These homes were “experimental computer-controlled environments” created by Professor Nicholas Negroponte. In his SEEK project, the purpose was to “problematize the role of computation in design,” while diminishing the roles of the creators (Vardouli, 2011). In a small box were a couple Mongolian desert gerbils and many small plexiglass blocks. Accompanying these little creatures was a robotic arm that would constantly rearrange the blocks and record the gerbils’ responses to the arrangements. Tracing of the gerbils’ behaviors allowed the machine to determine the “living preferences” of the animals.
In today’s culture, we have produced computer programs to reinvent the realm of hairstyling by allowing people to create a visual of themselves with a new hairdo. An example of this is utilized on the TLC show What Not To Wear, where clients are able to play around with new cuts and colors before actually committing to a style. In today’s society, hair has become a medium for art, where different textures, colors, depths, and styles have been applied and from where professions have been developed. The ability to use a computer to bridge the hairstyle with the human before actually receiving a haircut is a re-inventing of this art form. Programs like this are available on the Internet, and there have even been apps created specifically for this including, Hair MakeOver (Touch Apps 2011). This app appeals to its audience by stating that one can “try on” different hairstyles in less than a minute. For most of these programs, users must first upload a picture of themselves, and then computations are made to determine the outline of the face and to then apply a new hairstyle that fits the face.
Sources
Hair MakeOver (2011). Touch Apps. Touch Apps 2010. Retrieved from itunes.apple.com/us/app/hair-makeover-new-hairstyle. March 1, 2015.
Jones, Beverly (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins, Leonardo: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, p. 21-30.
Vardouli, Theodora (2011). Nicholas Negroponte: an interview. openArchitecture(s). October 27, 2011.