maria_tro

** About me **
Name: Maria Trostyanskaya Major: Political Science, and The Government Experience with computer: pretty experienced when working with general programs (nothing specific); quick-learner/ self-explorer Experience with art: not too experienced; occasional interest Interesting about me: I would rather explore things on my own and make mistakes than have people tell me the "simple short" way Artistic interest: I enjoy war time art; sketches and drawings made by ordinary people

** Week 1 Homework **
The article definitely highlights a lot of the copyright nuances. Prior to reading this article, I have never realized the complexity of the copyright system. It is clear that the system is very tricky, and it is essential to be aware of the issues that may arise when incorporating someone else work (even accidentally). Besides, I really enjoyed the way the article was structured in terms of the order of the questions and concerns presented throughout the entire discussion. All of the ideas are relevant to the current state of popular culture. Below you will find my thoughts and examples of bad appropriation, stealing, and fair use from my knowledge and observations in the recent years. I never thought about the constitutional goal of copyright prior to reading this article that is “to encourage people to make and distribute new works” (p. 29). This idea made me think about copyright from another perspective: not only as the way of protecting one’s work from stealing and appropriation but also as one of the tools of the promotion and diversification of the art works. One of the examples I can think of speaks to the russian social website, VKontakte. Until recently, any kind of music was available for VK users. Any user was able to listen to music, add the songs to their own playlists, and even download them. However, in the past year or so, the popular artists started reporting on the illegal usage of their music. These separate cases were followed by music companies Universal Music Russia and Warner Music filing appeals against social network that led to two consequences. First of all, most of the popular songs were removed from the music database of the social website. Secondly, new remixes of the popular songs appeared on the website that speaks to the idea of encouraging people “to make and distribute new works”. Another example of bad appropriation(and, possibly, stealing) comes from a couple months ago when my instagram picture was used on the instagram page of the cafe I used to work at.The picture was very vivid and it reflected the fun atmosphere that was in the store that day. Personally, I would not mind providing my photo to the admins of that Instagram page. However, besides the fact that noone referenced that photo, I was not asked the permission to use it, and I did not know someone used it until I found it on the cafe’s instagram page. Finally, “… creativity is impossible without a rich public domain…… Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: culture, likely science and technology grows by acceration, each new creator building on the works of those who came before.” (p. 33). While the article highlights the importance of raw material for other artists to create their work, the fact that most of the new works are built on the previous works is somewhat disappointing. Among such examples are the movies Tarzan (2013) which is the “modern” version of Tarzan (1999), or the episodes of Star Wars that keep coming out in the past two years and based on the same plot as the earlier movies. As a person who watches a lot of movies, especially those, that were released in the beginning of XXI century, it is very disappointing to see the “modern” versions of the movies as the creators usually incorporate jokes and dialogues relevant to the modern society that leaves out the values and the important lessons that the older version of the movie was carrying.

** Presence/ Absence Exercise **


__** Project 1: Surrealist Composite **__

** Manovich Homework **

 * Questions: **

Do the real space and the dynamically presented information add up to one single coherent phenomenological gestalt or are they processed as separate layers? l when are information and space perceived independently from each other — would you still call these occurrences Augmented Space? l when are information and space perceived as separate but related layers? l And when and why do they add up to one single gestalt?

In the article, // The poetics of augmented space, // Lev Manovich emphasizes that the perception of information and space as one coherent gestalt depends on whether we want to create a significantly different experience, or to add new information to the existing one: “ ….. whether we   should understand a particular situation in terms of immersion or augmentation depends on how we understand the idea of addition: we may add new information to our experience – or we may add an altogether different experience”(p. 225). For example, reading a text message while being in the park, on a metro, or at an important meeting might add new information to the existing experience, thus, diversifying the perception of the space through the new feelings and emotions by immersing two independent layers into one space. Receiving a romantic text while walking in the park in a beautiful weather creates an augmented space. However, one might be so overwhelmed by the romantic text that she/he would completely forget about the space she/he is in, and focus on the information. Thus, one might separate him/her - self from the current experience in order to engage into the other one, consciously or unconsciously.

I believe, that L. Manovich will respond similarly to the second question. There is no doubt that when information and space are perceived as separate but related layers, these occurrences can still be called Augmented Space. However, unlike the independent perception of information and space, there is less chance that the individual would want to create a completely new experience out of the information received. In other words, related layers will complement one another. For example, listening to the lecture about architecture or constructions while walking in the street. If the individual is   interested in architecture, then, it is most likely, she/he will try to apply the information she/he just heard to the space she/he is currently in.

To answer the final question, the layers add up to a single gesture any time when the user can and would like them to do so. Whether he/she wants to perceive the information completely separate from the space, or wants to add up two experience depends on the individual, and her/his ability to   absorb the information and the space simultaneously. Lev Manovich talks about shopping malls in urban areas that are covered with electronic screens and signs. Depending on the background the observer is coming from, she/he might become completely overwhelmed by the individual layers of   information, or experience the information and the space as one gesture. This is one of the possible reasons why there are occasions when the information and the space contradict, or seem to contradict, one another. In such cases, the layers cannot add up to a single gesture, requiring the observer to perceive the layers of information and the space individually, or putting in an extra effort to put both layers into one single coherent gesture.

To sum it up, I would like to point out that the concept of Augmented Space allows one to experiment with a variety of layers, and create the experiences she/he is able perceive. ** Final Project Documentation ** **General Description** The goal of this project was to show the shift in my perception of life in GWU by reflecting on 4 locations on campus, and especially, my experience related to them, over 4 years: freshman dorm (Thurston Hall), Political Science Department( PSC Dept), library (Gelman library), and University Yard (UYard). I did not aim to focus on the experiences directly related to the specific locations. In addition to comparison of my perception of the specific place 4 years ago and now, in this project I incorporated such aspects as personal values, importance of the priorities, constant struggle to grow and become independent. The main aim of the project was to convince the observer to realize the variety of emotions, and personal reactions one can experience in relation to any given space. Even though this project aims to tell a narrative, I believe that my project is multi dimensional, and represents variety of perspectives, and voices of college students. In the following section I describe the technical details of the main components of the project. I divided into the subsections (Audio, Video, Photos/ Pictures, Text, & Tools), each of which is divided into 5 groups (Thurston Hall, Gelman Library, & UYard). As a visual aid, I provide screenshots and short videos in the end of the detailed description. **Technical Details:** __1. Audio Components__ -> Sources: archive.org; acapela-box.com; oddcast.com; personal collection //Thurston Hall//:the audio for the intro statement, that says: "The place you don't want to be at, OR the short introduction of how I started the 4 years of torture by living in a place I did not like, with people I could not handle", was generated through acapel-box. The following audio support is generated from the parts of the cartoon "Make Mine 1948", "Axel Crazy Frog", and " Inside Out Deleted Scene" taken from archive.org. //Gelman Library//: the audio for the statement that says:" This is a good place that offers your a printer, sometimes filled with paper, and a stapler, sometimes filled with staples" were generated through oddcast.com. Music: Marshmallow - Alone. //PSC Dept:// The audio for the intro statement that says: "Whatch out! You just entered the political arena. Stay focused, and don't talk to political leaders" was generated through oddcast.com. The kids' voices were modified from "Kids React to Election 2012" //UYard//: the audios for the final statements that say: "I still don't quiet get the purpose of the UYard. However, you can cut your way through it, or maybe study and get distracted. Or just sleep there on a nice day..... And, then, you wake up. wake up after 4 years of undergrad, and its time to get out of DC. RUN" were generated through oddcast.com. Part of the speech on the important things is taken from "The Philosophy Professor". __2. Video Components__ -> Sources: archive org; personal collection //Thurston Hall:// parts of the final version of the video were taken (and modified) from the following cartoons: "Make Mine 1948","Inside Out Deleted Scene"; the intro to the project comes from personal collection. //Gelman Library:// parts of the final version of the video were taken form "Nisekoi S2. Episodio 10", "Girl's Scout Book Camp", "Infinity Train". //PSC Dept:// animated reflection on my experience was found in the parts of the following cartoons: "Three Ring Government" by Schoolhouse Rock; "Duck and The Turtle". //UYard:// personal collection short videos; __3. Photos/ Pictures__ -> Sources: personal collection; Google Images //Thurston Hall:// personal collection; //Gelman Library:// personal collection; Google Images //PSC Dept:// personal collection; Google Images //UYard:// personal collections of photos from around campus Yard, and form back home

__4. Text & Signs__ -> Sources: personal scripts; //Thurston Hall:// personal scripts //Gelman Library:// personal scripts //PSC Dept:// personal scripts; wax museum exhibition //UYard:// personal scripts

__5. Tools__ The entire project was created and generated with the help of Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Premiere, and presented through Aurasma.


 * Visual Aid for** **Documentation:**

1. Thurston Hall

2. Gelman Library

3. The Department of Political Science



4. The UYard.