eEtiquette snippets:

10:1
Turn off your phone in airplanes, hospitals, and particle accelerators to avoid disrupting heavy-duty electronic equipment.
Here is a rule that I'm not sure why everyone does not follow.  It seems pretty clear that if just by turning your phone off, you can completely eliminate even that very slight chance of interfering with equipment that is responsible for keeping yourself and more importantly everyone around you alive, you should do it.  Still somehow people like to get away with not doing it because they think they know better.  I'm sure most people are guilty of this,  I definitely am and mostly because I remember reading that cellphones most likely do not interfere in any way with aircraft equipment, however, Is it really worth the risk?  I even overheard a passenger on my last flight talk to her friend about how she was still able to text her friend while mid-ascent and was going to try as we were beginning to descend for landing. What do we gain by getting away with that?  Bragging rights?

15:4
Start a video conference with warm chitchat. Set the conversation scene with a short 360º pan shot.
This particular rule I just found interesting just because it's something I wouldn't immediately think of (mostly because I rarely video conference) but it makes complete sense.  The warm chitchat I think is a given however the 360 pan shot is a great way to make the situation more comfortable.  By sharing each other's immediate environment, you create an understood mutual environment which will probably promote a more productive conversation.

24:4.
Flashing a mobile phone screen in a cinema can be louder than any ring tone.
This entry I'm particularly sensitive to as I see it at movies as well as theatre productions.  Last time I could remember was at a ballet in St. Petersburg which was totally irregular for me but unfortunately the only seats that were available were in a small box top row behind a small family.  Being that this was probably the only time I would experience anything like this, the fact that I had a 6" wide crevice between heads did not bother me... Of course, the two teenage girls in front of me were not at all interested and instead of watching they were actively texting and facebooking during the entire performance.   The mother did not say a word either.  Maria and I wanted to kill them.

I also wanted to mention too that there were far easier ways to build a fire.

The most simple way is with a clear water bottle:  Just fill it up and use it as a magnifying glass against dark paper (dark absorbs the energy much more efficiently).  On a sunny day, this can take as little as 2 minutes.  The main issue obviously is that it needs to be done during the day so its not completely practical.

The other quick way involved using a 9V battery and some steel wool to essentially make sparks to catch on some kindle of some kind.  This too seemed pretty easy but because it involved batteries, I let that idea go for this particular project.

Thinking about technology and the on/off assignment, I  let go of the iPhone and internet as well as all other electronics for a short period for the last two nights.  During the week I had been thinking about what the number one thing I would need when these things were gone.   What would I need if ALL technology was to fail?  It quickly became clear (and I have actually thought about this quite some bit over the last couple years but never did anything about it because i love gadgets so much!)  that I needed to know one of the most basic of all survival skills: How to build a fire.

My project was to go out and find things in the garbage that I could use to build a fire with the exception of any readymade firemaking devices like lighters, matches, etc.  Now, I did have some insight as I said that I have thought about this before and have researched different ways online to do so but I thought this was a perfect opportunity to execute what I had found.  So, looking for what i thought to be suitable objects (wood, strings, etc) was incredibly easy in an urban environment becuase of constant construction and cheap manufacturing so it was really how to choose the objects and what i could carry easily.  I had to try many variations to finally settle on what worked best.
I settled with a pine board ("fire plank"), a towel hanger and shoe string (bow), and a broomstick (spindle).  I would then use some aluminum foil for a ember catcher and some shredded papers and wood from carving the pieces for the firestarter.  Unfortunately after these two nights I failed to successfully raise a fire.... HOWEVER - I did create enough friction to develop smoke which means I'm really close.

I will continue to blog about this as time passes.  There is no doubt that this can be done.

Over the past week I have been thinking about technology and how it affects my everyday life - which of course seems to be a common thread in this crazy tech-filled time.  The first thought and most integral piece of technology that I use every single day is certainly my cell phone.  Up until recently I've had a second hand iphone limited to wifi (not really that limited at all actually!) but a couple months back, I contacted T-mobile for a low end data plan so I can now use the phone anywhere I go with internet via 3G.  Monday, I took note of how I used it throughout my regular rituals.

~6:00am : Wake up to an alarm on the iPhone - check weather and email
~6:20am : Upload news/articles for train ride to work
~6:45am : Read articles using the app "Pulse" that I had downloaded earlier (so i can continue when i                    go underground).
~3:00pm : reupload current news/articles for train ride.
~3:30pm : while walking to train i got directions to a gallery event for this upcoming friday.
~9:00pm : used phone to email classmates with our collective phone numbers and emails
~9:15pm : reupload current news/articles for train ride.
~10:00pm : played "Dots" on train
~12:00pm : set alarm for next morning

All of this in addition to periodically checking and receiving phone calls and text messages.

It is clear that just this one piece of technology greatly affects my everyday life - mostly positive through organization and ease of information .

Rhizome

Rhizome is an organization that supports a wide range of new media artwork.  Because new media work can be entirely accessible by the average person with a computer, they have a vast online database of a variety of different types of images, .html, games, etc that can be found on their website (what is somewhat a gallery) Rhizome.org.  If features a collection of different projects that were uploaded by members of the group and can be downloaded and experienced instantly.  The website also offers scheduled community projects and exhibitions, both online and live, and serves as a kind of base for contemporary digital art.  Rhizome also is now affiliated with The New Museum.

(image from Petursson's work : Conversations, 2001)

For my media artist, I chose Finnbogi Petursson.  Petursson's work involves primarily the manipulation and exhibition of sound in various ways and techniques.    What particularly interested me about his work is how he involves sound in ways to both compliment and enforce a physical presence. Many times a strong visual aspect is actually created by the sound in some way through various means.  Within his work there seems to be no separation between physical, nonphysical and conceptual media; in fact, all characteristics are interdependent and integral to one another.

Although I'm still not 100% clear about what constitutes "new media,"  Petursson uses what i consider to be nontraditional media such as sound, video, etc in a very formal, minimalistic way.  Further, he employs "new" technologies such as radio broadcasts and streaming recording techniques to develop concepts of time, communication, and memory.

My name is Joseph Sossi.  This is my first blog started in my first class, New Media, New Forms.  I am currently enrolled in the Masters in Art and Art Education with Initial Certification program at Teacher's College.  I received my BFA from SUNY Purchase with a concentration in painting.  Since then, I have been active as a painter and currently work out of my small studio in Brooklyn.  Although I have friends who are working with new media in one form or another, I have very limited experience with using new technologies in art.  My only real experience is with simple tasks with GIMP and Inkscape though even then, the work wasn't itself part of the art but in some way as support to my paintings or pictures.  I am super excited to learn about new media and how we can use these new resources as materials for projects and learning.