Our Second Task: Digital Imaging (Whoopee!!)

No matter how hard  I try it seems as though the topics given are not topics that inspire enthusiasm in me. I am struggling to find/develop any interesting ways to present this information (you may have seen this coming through in my last post as well).

This week’s topic is Digital Imaging (just imagine it’s like uni-level show and tell):

Now, with computers and programs and the internet there are almost countless ways that digital images can be shared, stored, transformed and manipulated.

I’m not actually technologically savvy enough to name heaps but I can manage to name the 3 examples of (1) hardware, (2) software and (3) “use of digital information to provide information and learning” that is required in this post.

(1)    Cellphones, iPods, webcams and digital cameras.

(2)    Paint(of course, who hasn’t used paint!), Photoshop, macromedia dream.

(3)    Flickr, Youtube, A Blog(such as this).

And onto the next part: a new technology is rarely superior to the old one in every feature – debate this argument.

Personally I dislike digital cameras over the ones we used to have in the good old days, (I’ll expand on  that later).

Briefly the positives:

Can view photos immediately

Can take many photos

Instant photos

Transferable

More memory

Multiple copies

Better Zoom

Better Aim

Better Quality

And the negatives:

If any part of the CD’s, Hard drive, memory card or anything malfunctions = photos goneburger.

I dislike the loss of integrity that comes with digital cameras, you no longer have to be skilled to take good pictures, the camera does most of it for you.

To be totally honest it is not so much the digital camera I hate, rather I am a hater of what digital cameras have created:

those people that take a million photos without aiming properly;

those people that take a million photos without focussing properly;

those people that pride themselves on their ability to take unflattering closeups;

and further posting those horrendous images on the internet because everyone’s lives would be incomplete without them.

Once again we arrive back at the ethical issues.

Of course there’s privacy, manipulation of photos and the resulting scandals.

The fact that once things are on the internet they’re out of any one person’s control.

On the internet photos are viewed out of context – peoples actions are open to whatever interpretation the public would like to make, not necessarily the interpretation that would tally with what actually happened.

And as for relating it back to OT check out some of these links:

Selling technology and adaptive equipment on the internet. http://www.adapt-technologies.com/

Wheelchair Gear:  http://www.wheelchairgear.com/.

Groups of people on Flickr are united by the content of their phtos http://www.flickr.com/groups/wheelchairs/pool/.

Or a parody/explanation: How an occupational therapy presentation would happen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vymLwUsTHp8.