Read and React Week 6

     Well lets see.  I sort of reacted to the reading by doing an inspiration board to the article (rather than an artwork)  but as with all such things, elaborations is important.    Id like to start with the basic encounters I had with the myriad of technological software's.
       Between Pinterest, Delicious , Inspiration and Popplet,  I by far preferred Delicious and Inspiration the most.  I do not like Popplet AT ALL.
     I love Delicious because I could more or less keep a digital file cabinet of things which interest me. I also like that people potentially researching similar things can share in this way.  For me this is useful and I see it working well in collaborative instances.  I also find it beneficial if people are collaborating over longer distances.
     I liked inspiration because I found it more user friendly than poplet and I do not like all the movement in and out that occurs with poplet.  It actually makes me dizzy.  Its a personal preference really.  I like to see the whole thing straight on and not bounce in and out.  I do like the layering poplet allows and perhaps with some perseverance I can learn to like it.
     Pinterest is actually very cool but for me could easily take my attention for a very long time.  As I noted in the previous post, I do think it might be useful for students in gathering inspirations and ideas.  Again though, I would have to figure out how to keep age appropriate images in front of them....  is there a setting for that?
    As far as the article goes, I found it very intriguing and scary at the same time.  Of course a lot of this is old news, but having it brought back to my attention certainly makes me re-think how to get kids thinking about the visual culture they live in and help them understand the manipulation that is occurring.  The quote "When images offer arguments that reflect back our own views, our own ideological positions, they offer the pleasure of confirmation." (pg 8) This raises the question where did our own views come from in the first place?  Is this an example of which came first?  The chicken or the egg?
     I believe raising awareness's such as the seven principles are equally as important as the elements of art and principles of design.  Really its like the third set which unifies all of them.   Be an interesting project to make posters for the art room (like the ones we can currently buy which explain art elements and principles) which portray these ideas.... be fun to actually have the students themselves make them....  That would be one way for them to really learn and explore these concepts!  They could work in groups each tackling one and then share...
    On a side note, in the intertextuality section, the explanation of hypertext was the first time I ver fully understood what this was.  Thinking about it the way it is visually represented on the page was perfect. A major ah ha! moment!