Lecture
The topic is why I hate wikipedia
- We were introduced to how wikipedia can be misleading and false , an example being the Lee Cox and Stockwell feud.
- I think the students didnt fully understand the talk prof Stockwell had regarding the Whitlam government, what i think he meant was that important information cant to this day be accessed and is left out of the encyclopedia.
- We saw how most of the wikipedia articles are not refereed by experts in the field of the topic searched and are therefore not scholarly and obviously can be false, and for refereed info journals should be used.
We then discuss the reading, which i will discuss shortly, and how it relates to the lecture in progress.
- Correspondence theory- What we observe, facts (The sky is blue)
- Coherence theory- Does it make sense? (The ants ate the dead bug)I know this without seeing it
- Performative theory- I do declare (I am heterosexual) therfore i must be because i say i am..... i guess unless i was lying , WHICH I M NOT
- Social theory- What can we as society agree on (Its a hot day) society can agree
These however are obvious theories but how can we know that what we sense-smell, see, hear, touch-is real ....the matrix theory tells us that we cant that easily distuingish the real from the non real..
Readings
The readings by Jorge Luis Borges was intresting as it brings to our attention how wrong encyclopedias can be ...distant lands that do not exist are put into factual books, this obviously goes hand in hand with how the truth is easily distorted especially in an age where people use wikipedia as there source of info.... this is a problem , how do we know that what we have learnt in hand copies of encyclopedias is true? Four additional pages existed in a later copy of the same encyclopedia....these pages held the Uqbar story and there was no other change...
according to Tlon
On Tuesday, X crosses a deserted road and loses nine copper coins. On Thursday, Y finds in the road four coins, somewhat rusted by Wednesday's rain. On Friday, Z discovers three coins in the road. On Friday morning, X finds two coins in the corridor of his house. The heresiarch would deduce from this story the reality - i.e., the continuity - of the nine coins which were recovered. It is absurd (he affirmed) to imagine that four of the coins have not existed between Tuesday and Thursday, three between Tuesday and Friday afternoon, two between Tuesday and Friday morning. It is logical to think that they have existed - at least in some secret way, hidden from the comprehension of men - at every moment of those three periods.
Tutorial
Given question on how Walter Benjamins article applies today?
Q- How do the ideas from Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" apply to contemporary digital media?
A- My understanding of the article is that Benjamin see art as something that has always been able to be reproduced however it can still be unique. As with photos the negative is unique.
Q- There was a time when "Art" was made by artists who were skilled professionals. Now that anyone with a computer can create things digitally (music, images, videos, etc), what does that mean for "art"?
A- Art has just become broader and classifying it just becomes harder... an example is the DADA art period, it was conceptual but only trained artist were recognised as they held the nessecary skills an artist needed and they decided that somethings were art just standing conceptually.....
Q- Is a photoshopped image "authentic"?
A- I agree with Benjamin in that something can be reproduced but still be unique therfore it would be authentic as you have changed it but now it is authentic on its own , it is unique from the previous photo and from the next that might be even more edited but still authentic.
So i can deduce through the lecture, readings and tute that wikipedia can be false and should not be used as an accurate source , however it has its uses and its place....oh and that i should question what is real?
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