Week 12 ~ Photojournalism

‘It is one of the central contributions of photojournalism that it goes beyond the limits of imagination. It makes the unbelievable believable” ~Harold.Evans.

 Give five rules of ethical photojournalism.  Why is it important?  Should the photojournalism be the compatible with ethics?

Photographic tampering and ethical violations have been around almost as long as the camera itself. The history of photojournalism includes many examples of ethical breaches.

Photojournalism is a type of journalism that relies on images to narrate a story. It is not classical photography as the pictures taken are entirely related to a news story. They are not usually for entertainment but more for conveyance of a news event.

According to the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Code of Ethics, the basic premises of the NPPA's nine standards are but I will mention only 5,

1.    Accurately represent subjects

2.    Do not be manipulated by staged photos

3.    Avoid bias and stereotyping in work; provide complete information and context

4.    Show consideration for subjects

5.    Editing should not give the wrong impression of the subjects in the photograph

Why is it important?  Technology has almost changed the face of photojournalism. News can travel the entire globe in just a few minutes nowadays. With the advent of smartphones, videophones, internet and terrific printing technology, photojournalism has become exceedingly famous.  This is the reason that photojournalists have the responsibility of bringing in photographs that are objective but not subjective. Because of the technological advancement, now people can manipulate images. That is the reason ethics plays an important role here. Codes of ethics have been set up for addressing such issues. 

On August 8th, Time magazine ran a controversial cover photo of a disfigured Afghan woman accompanied by the headline ”What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan.” 

(Cover and abridged article can be found here.) 

The editor of Time,  Stengel, explains 'the image, headline and story are intended to lend emotional truth and insight into the lives of women in Afghanistan. He further claims 'the piece is a neutral attempt to further the debate and is not intended to express a position on the US involvement in Afghanistan. For the critical reader interested in furthering the rights of women, these portrayals are misleading and need to be questioned'

Reference:

Zelizer, B. (2005). Journalism through the camera’s eyes. In Allan, S. (ed.),Journalism: Critical issues (pp. 167-­‐176).Berkshire: Open University Press 

http://EzineArticles.com/1662083

http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html

http://sparksf.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/photojournalism-or-war-porn/

Week 11 ~ Information Graphics

'A reporter writes using precise language, a graphics reporter uses the ‘right’ images to convey the most
precise meaning to tell a story' ~ George-Palilonis,

The consideration which I made in designing the information graphic is firstly to follow the rules and guides of making graph. The rules that govern all graphs like standardize the methodology for replication and giving clear information.  In order to let the users, in this case the shareholders, to attract their attention to view the report using information graphics, showing this graphs to them is not just for imaginative direction and fun, I consider it as a creative and fantastic mode to take complex or reports and deliver them in simpler ways that remain appealing and interesting to the shareholders.  

Using these charts, I believe the shareholders will not lost interest in the information that I am showing since information graphics is tended to assist with that a great deal.  In this situation this will help the shareholders connect with the information in a way they would not have necessarily been able to previously.

Ideas that might otherwise seem abstract like the complex IATA report, to the shareholders can be brought into more familiar and identifiable places through the use of common, everyday imagery. Using this information graphics can help the idea evolve in a way. The shareholders can be assisted in the connection of the related information to them in ways they had not been able to see before it is visually spelled it out for them. Hence, will further allow relating the information to other areas that the shareholders might not understand is impacted by this idea.

Reference:

Petterson, R. (1993). Visual Information (2nd ed.) (pp. 169-175). New Jersey: Educational technology Publications.
Lester, P. M. (1995). Informational graphics. Visual communication: Images with messages (pp. 187-­‐211).

California: Wadsworth Publishing.

Week 10 ~ Games and Avatars in the Information Age

'[Kurzweil admits the potential perils of a cyborgian future. He cites the 2000 essay,] Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, ... We are being propelled into this new century with no plan, no control, no brakes.' ~ Bill Joy

Nowadays, we live in a world of cyborgs, cyborg society. Cyborgian technologies and systems pervade nearly every aspect of our modern lives. In fact, that you and I most praobably don't even aware, or even regard them cyborgian. There is a very high probability that we are a cyborg and are not even notice of it. In this modern world it is no longer a question of "if you are a cyborg," but rather, "what kind of cyborg you are."

We often watch film related to science fiction story about the progress of human technology in the future. But we do not deny that the human imagination as outlined in the film became an inspiration for future technological advances. 

For instance, the Star Wars films making inspiration about robots created in the present and this becomes a reality where there is now a real robot. Artificial Intelligence or AI is defined as intelligence exhibited by an artificial entity. Such systems are generally considered to be a computer. Intelligence was created and put into a machine (computer) in order to do the job as a human can do. Several kinds of fields that use artificial intelligence expert systems, among others, computer games (games), fuzzy logic, neural networks and robotics.

Although AI has a strong science fiction connotation, AI forms a very empirical branch of computer science, dealing with behavior, learning and intelligent adaptation in a machine. Research in AI involves the manufacture of machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent behavior. Including like, is controlling, planning and scheduling, diagnostics and the ability to answer customer questions, as well as handwriting recognition, voice and face. Things like that have become separate disciplines, which focus on providing solutions to real life problems. AI systems now commonly used in economics, medicine, engineering and military, as it has built in some home computer software applications and video games.

Cyborg, is the designation for the figure of a human-shaped robot and have tissue and blood like a human being, it's just that Cyborg uses the expertise of the system processor as the brain works. So the Cyborg can be identified with the human machine. Scientific predictions about the Cyborg set out like in the movie Terminator, AI, I-Robot, Star Trek, Alien, and several other films.

Differences with Humans and Cyborg?

The question now, 'Do you agree that you are cyborgian in nature?' Well, I myself unsure about this.  When Cyborg was highly ​​sophisticated technology can even be like a human then what's the difference robots with humans? This is true if you know. Is it possible that humans could create something similar on their own?   One thing we have to distinguish here is that robots do not have a soul like our living God's creation. Spirit robot is just a logic circuit which centered on the pattern of the system expertise.  

So that the robot does not have a heart and feelings, he did not know the pain except when prescribed for pain, do not know the sad, in love, not crying, hungry, thirsty, have children, want to pee.

But with technological advances in the next few decades, Cyborg will be made like that, have feelings and even could dream of during his sleep. But is this possible? Not to mention the sci-fi film AVATAR which was a Box Office in 2009, the film was even shown that people can make a replica of a human by using transplantation of human DNA with alien itself (in this case the planet Pandora Navi or human), thus the birth new human form. Hence, it is not possible in humans ultimately replicate itself with a network of robots so comes the real Cyborg (half-human half-robot or robot).
But whether this will happen? Still do not know because man himself is still developing the concept of Artificial Intelligence which is the forerunner in creating it a robot with expertise in advanced systems. We are looking for the truth later in the future…

Reference:

Robins, K. (2000). Cyberspace and the world we live in. In Bell, D. and kennedy, B.M (eds.), The cyber-cultures reader 

(pp. 77-95). London: Routledge.

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/bill_joy