Wednesday, September 8, 2010

2010…or 1984?

I don't know if you think about technology much, but I have become mildly obsessed with what I would consider our contemporary "digital revolution" (as compared to say, the industrial revolution). I think that perhaps we are in a time of change to human society that is difficult to see or understand because of our proximity to it. But at least I have enough years under my belt to know what it was like to carry a quarter in case I needed to call my parents from a pay phone. I wonder if in 50 or 100 years the world will look back at this time to critique or perhaps even reconsider the ideas and notions that we are muddling through now in terms of technology and access to information.


Something on my radar recently is the new Arcade Fire video, The Wilderness Downtown. I had heard about its use of new HTML 5 web coding technology. What I didn't suspect is how seductive, yet creepy the "film" would be. Try it for yourself and see what you think (using Chrome or Safari). Is it cool, or are you a little scared?


Oh, "Brother"!

Prof. Darrell Kincer

1 comment:

art gal said...

I found it scary that you are required to put in an address that could be used to track your individual identity, and some of the technology itself -- global, satellite mapping -- is likewise pretty frightening to me, for a variety of reasons. But, I was mesmerized by the film . I couldn't wait to see what my old neighborhood looks like now.