Abstract

I wanted to look at the next step from “experience captured” (Sontag, 1977) to
the online art forms about ‘experience shared’ and therefore networked in our
participatory culture, which conceptually inspired project two. My work will be
experimental so that I can explore sharing (and communicating with) images
and possibly audio on a particular subject or theme.
My assertion is that we are innate communicators with a natural desire to
connect with others. It has been customary for us to communicate and
connect since ancient times – from drawings carved out in caves to tales told
around communal fires and from Plato’s shadow-playing to religious
preaching. We have always communicated/connected throughout history by
reading books, listening to the radio and watching the television. Now we are
embedded in the World Wide Web ‘public sphere’ where images have
become a part of our sharing culture. Thus photo essays and photo sharing
are other mediums to communicate and connect. Civic engagement to
connect has shifted into a shared online socio, economic, cultural and political
space. Historically we have developed from a local geographical community
into the ‘digital commons’ - a global landscape of web 2.0 digital media
(Merrin, 2008).
My project plan is to research and evidence to inform my mobile phone
capture idea. I wanted to understand mo-blogging and the method of
producing a photo essay. According to an online photography and social
media organisation creating a photo essay is an art form as well as
journalistically communicating a message.