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It's a big question of media integration: how information will be made in
new media formats and how communication will be part of our communities.
There has been a lot of talk how Internet and digitized material world
should be construct. But the main developers are now big multimedia
companies, not users or even content providers. Internet is not growing on
at users needs, merely on capitalist hierarchy to make more money in the
market.
But Internet is social, communicative hypermedia. Multimedia applications
are more commercial content oriented; Internet is more context-oriented
media where content is rising from user interests.
Information economy
Media industry has shout out some magic words to establish the commercial
use of networks. But actually digital arena is changing so fast that nobody
has solid clue what would be the real killer applications in market forces.
But these general areas are focusing market forces right now.
- Media on demand / infotainment
- On line Web casting, Web TV/Radio
- Public records, library archives
- Education and training
- Packaged information (tech. literature)
- News services and reports
- Entertainment, "just for fun because we have nothing to do" activities
"Killer applications"
- Video/radio on-demand / web TV
- Home shopping
- Games, interactive games
- Direct response advertising
The last few year gold rush times has glitter in most of the commercial
company's eyes but expect game industry nobody seems found out real working
goals. Web TV is development stages; home shopping has start but is still
very small section of sales market. New advertising tools that's seeks more
direct needs of consumers are still in very early stages.
Corporate level social technology
I don't want to say that all what big companies are doing are bad or not
interesting. There is huge area of activities where are real meaningful
operations where the practice of digital networked projects is very
helpful. Mostly they are inside these thematic fields.
- Tele medicine
- Tele learning
- Tele communities
Civil Society
And in the level of civil society has some active hot fields where our
needs and industrial efforts can find same interesting structure.
- Public information services
- Local community information and community programs
- Self learning and adult education, life learning programs
If we ask people what they really want (usually they don't know it if they
don't see it) I think that most of us don't want new entertainment
services. We want more information let's say our healthcare system, local
information about independent activities, environmental news services and
free email together with Internet access as we have public libraries in
Finland.
Social hypertext program
If Internet is more large social hypertext program, the agenda for cultural
work inside networks has to be clear and strong. Community publishing and
information flow from libraries, cultural institutions, electronic cafés,
information flee markets, digital money and "green dollars", open culture
planning system from down to up model; you name it! Why don't we ask people
what they need and then do co-operation inside media-integration with old
and new media institutions and independent activities?
ART AND ART INSTITUTIONS IN A NEW WORLD ORDER
Picture is not new!
Picture has nothing new it self: content oriented work and interaction is!
Picture is not a surface that looks better if we clean it.
There has been a lot of talk about week surface of pictures: literature
(magic 1000 words) is always more deep than a picture. We think also with
pictures and that is based of course written common language. What we see
and how we see is related our language; we don't see just in our eyes,
actually more in our minds. Jean-Luc Godard asks in film Manuscript:
Carmen: "Can we see the law?"
Digital picture is a simulation about possible worlds. In this sense
digital technology can offer a tool to build up possible realities,
alternative ways of seeing in very concrete ways: to show them as we could
see it in our eyes.
In communicative media picture it self is not meaningful. It comes that
when it touches readers/interprets possibilities to re-orientated world, to
put self in new community and when it gives new tools to re-organize
reality around every of us.
Computer mediated world are one of this metamediums that could organize our
second nature (means culture) in new formats.
Fight about the picture
In art history we have always find camps and fields where old and new
symbolic relationships face each another.
There are these battles at
- Text versus picture
- B/w picture versus color
- Still picture versus moving
- 2 D picture versus 3 D picture
- Reality picture versus virtual picture
- Reality space versus virtual space
But what world is definitely to us? It's a 3 dimensional interactive,
immerse, colorful sound and picture space that has organized it self in all
the time changing language based symbolic systems.
And inside that process interesting its not just to have information about
it but to interact with in, to communicate with it.
Digital museum (term and concept)
There are several areas where museums have defined digital world and start
to organize daily activities in new media formats. These efforts has been
named in different ways:
- multimedia museum
- web museums
- simulated museum
- interactive museum
- virtual museum
All of these terms has a different histories and relationships when
installing media technology in museums. Some times it seems to be all the
same points of views and actions under different terms. There is no point
to stick on these terms because in the end we are using all possible
technologies anyway.
Art push network (our chance)
But inside all technology fuzz and hype we need a clear program and
co-operation plan how we'll use networks as a part of our daily work. Here
are some suggestions:
- national (language based) art push network; museums, art institutions and organizations
- international art push network, art web casting
- basic art information
- international sound art radio station
- on going video&media art festivals
- on line projects and temporally workshops
- artists media lab's together with artists in residence programs
It's of course easy to say and list these kind of activities. But all of us
who works in media art field know that there are all ready too many
festivals, too many big or small institutional based international events
where same people speaks same ideas. And where we are showing same works
(but of course many cases there are good reasons to move same works in one
place to another). Its not my place to say how to chance this but we can
help situation if we could know better what and when we're doing projects
and if we have more concentrate model of linking events and projects
together.
European network of contemporary art
I have suggest simple model of distribute information with art institutions
and independent artists organizations that could help us at organizing our
work. The model is using both; pull (normal web pages) and push (email
posts lists and actual push programs).
Pull network:
- art and artists registers
- on-line museums
- institution interest groups
- VR-museums
Push network:
- art calendar and art news service
- new corporate audience and friends of the museum on line visitor service
- virtual communities inside virtual museums
- co-operation information about on going projects and plans
- self-organizing audiences activities
- on-line interest groups
Questions about media related art and museums
Inside all this public work there also lot of normal museum on hand job's
that have to be any way handle. But new media technologies and media based
works give us many new problems to solve in same time that they are giving
us possibilities.
- Who can be sure that works "last" next 100 years, even 10 years?
- Do we have to archive and conserve hardware as it is related to works and also software or can we transfer works always in to latest technology?
- What kind of staff do we need to keep the media related works running in normal museum conditions?
There are all ready taken some starting points for answer these questions;
some small active groups and meetings has already start to work and they
could lead soon some kind of international proposals and co-operation
models.
Copyright issues
Museums utopia is to be meta memory time machine; now we can do it by open
digital archives. When we pay for the works of art we have to pay also for
the use of digitalization and the network rights. The ownership it just not
enough for public institutions, we have to also give our large audiences
possibilities to see all collections, not just those that could show "live"
inside museums walls.
Artists points of views
But what does it means when we can distribute worldwide images and sounds
from our collections archives in broadcast standards? Artists can sell
their works just once (because it's in the linked international network).
So in that sense we have to figure out also new economical level for art
institution models where it leads status where real open co-operation is
needed more than ever before.
Money
The technology costs of media works could be very high. Keeping the works
running is also very costly and intensive process. The need of technology
back up and technical staff is higher than you can imagine. Interactive
artworks and artists fees are high priced. Work are usually hard to plan,
programmed and construct, one work could take months or years to be
produced. This forces us also to think how co-production models that is so
"normal" already in European film- and television level everyday has to be
part of process in museum co-operation level also.
"I have seen the future and its beta version"
Work in media related art world isn't going to be easy. Technological
infrastructure, archiving and distribution standards and interfaces are
often "under construction" and "beta -versions". Specialized people to take
care at computer based systems are too few in museum world. Commercial
sector of business can always beat us when we start to talk with money.
The copyright issue has to be solved very soon because digital archiving
process can't wait too long or the job will be growing too massive. The
question about economical policy has to be clear. Lets say in Finland we
heard all the same story especially on small town museums - cutbacks in all
levels are normal way to answer economical problems. Will museums be part
of state or communal cultural policy and try to keep collections and
services free as possible or do we have to start to rise new kind
economical structure where states and towns are providing just one part of
economy? And museums have to rise more income from sponsors and service
prices?
End: Ideology of development
The development is always fragmentary, contradictory and usually not-equality.
Developments real nature is to chance our first environmental space
(natural environment) to second nature (culture); to culture objects,
culture spaces like towns, culture landscapes like urbanism and culture
peoples and then organize a communication with these metaphors. We can not
go back to trees but we need to have trees back to our friends.
When you talk in western societies about development and democracy you're
in fact discussed with development that means unstructured and undemocratic
winners history. Parlamentarism has always been parlamentsarism if you look
it in level of ordinary citizens.
Technology is based on politics of economy growth ideology. But it is also
giving us inside weapons for critical possibilities of representation and
alternative politics.
It's a hard way to realize utopias to reality. But we need to try, always.
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