Summative Evaluation and Presentation Boards

This research driven project has allowed me to explore the effects that use of social networking sites have on our ability to develop interpersonal relationships. This has also led to me explored networked publics as spaces in their own right, the idea of self and self disclosure, as well as the psychological effects that over use of social networking sites has on us and the ability for us to form deep meaningful bonds with other people.

The practical research and work that has come of this research project has helped me understand more about the work that I resonate with most, and how I want to develop my practice in future projects. I feel that it is integral to image making to create illustrations that contain a level of authenticity and honesty, creating a creative community where talk of emotional states and personal feelings is not taboo, as well as encouraging others to be more honest with themselves and those around them.

I feel that this module has help me develop my research skills above all else, I have discovered how research can really inform my practice when I follow my own initiative and explore subjects that genuinely interest me, even if this means the work or research reflects a level of self-disclosure from myself.  I believe that this mindset of working will be something that continues to accompany me throughout my remaining months at university and hopefully will continue to inform my practice in a positive way.

500 Word Summary - No.4

 Throughout this project I have discovered a lot of things about my chosen topic, my interests in illustration and my own practice. I am intrigued by how we form relationships and bonds with other people and how a state of constant connection can affect our day-to-day lives. I am also interested in the idea of self and self disclosure and how these two things affect peoples perception of themselves, perception of others and how other percept them. I feel that my research was broad and covered a lot of different topics that I managed to dwindle down to a more specific area of research, allowing me to explore an interesting subject in a way that suits me as a practitioner.

Overall, I think the thing I’ve gained the most from undergoing this research project is how I want to inform my own practice, and I feel that this could be something that I continue exploring throughout other modules and in my personal practice. It’s also given me more confidence to be more honest and authentic in my own work, a quality that I believe to be integral to image making.

I believe that this has also changed the way I approach work, and think that thoroughly immersing myself in research before creating work will help lead to more fully developed outcomes in the future. The research aspect is something that I usually skim over with an eagerness to create practical and I’m now realizing that delving into this further can help inform my outcome to a fuller extent. I would also like to be creating more work that stems from human experience as I feel this contains a level of authenticity. It would be interesting to expand on a few more projects and start to take on board my own feelings and opinions as well as the feelings and opinions of others. I would also like to continue exploring how my work sits in a digital and physical environment and how I can translate between the two. Whether this be in terms of process or where the image eventually exists, online or in the physical world. Both avenues can reach different audiences and certain topics and themes will suit one above the other.

Overall, I think that I’ve managed to complete this module to a decent level. I do think I should have given myself more time, started research earlier and developed practical work sooner. I’ve always struggled with COP, it’s not a module that I enjoy and is something I continuously put off. I have really enjoyed the research aspect of it though and feel that if I hadn’t done the usual thing of avoiding it I would have been able to further push and develop my work to a fuller extent.

Visual Responses to Context and Themes

I've been further developing some ideas that i've been exploring in my sketchbook. These three images focus on the themes of connection, communication and identity online. With the aim to be posted online, these images are intended to get people to reconsider the relationship they have with the internet and the relationships they have with themselves and the people around them. 

Final Images and Layout for Zine

Compiled in this issuu document is the final pages and layout choices for the zine. I chose to title it IRL, an internet acronym that stands for In Real Life and conveys the idea of self disclosure, false presentation of self and how this impacts our hoensty within interpersonal relationships. I'm quite happy with how the overall aesthetic of the zine has turned out, I feel tha tmy colour choices work well, complimenting the drawings whilst not overpowering. I felt it best to use softer colours as I'm working with more personal subject matter, soemthing that should possibly be dealt with a little more delicatley. If I had the time I would like to delve into this subject matter more, possibly proposing to continue this zine series, focusing around the idea of anonymity and other internet phenomena. My zine aims to focus on the first hand, personal experience that online culture can give people, using primary research to inform the practical outcomes.

Development of Imagery from Responses

From the responses I got to my questionnaire I selected ten confessions that I thought would work well together in a zine format, whether that be the content of the confession, the humour behind it, the level of emotion contained within or the type of imagery it conjured up. The process of roughs allowed me to explore different formats and layouts before finally settling on my chosen ten images. The issuu document below shows text for the front and back cover, designs for the end pages and the ten confessional images I chose to create. I chose to use the enter and esc key as end pages as I found it metaphorical of entering into the non-spaces that social media is, using it as an emotional outlet and then in a sense escaping into the real world.

Questionnaire Responses

I've managed to get 31 responses to my survey and I've found the results really interesting, people are very open to disclosing things when placed in a position of anonymity, whether this is something highly personal and secretive or something thats kind of funny. I've narrowed down my choices for the zine pages I want to create and have decided to make imagery around the following statements. I have also added one of my own confessions in as a way to take part in that experience of anonymous confession. 

"If I'm not seeing my boyfriend, I spend my weekends alone. I hate it."

"I make people laugh because I'm kinda sad"

"I dont actually hate pineapple on pizza as much as I say I do. In fact, I dont think I've ever tried it... It's probably not even that bad."

"I'm extremley unhappy about where my life is going"

"My housemate kept stealing my juice so I kept topping it up with wee"

"I dont think I actually like the boy I've told I love" 

"I slept with my brother in law"

"I see dead people" 

"I have an STD that I wont even get rid of"

"I feel like I constantly disappoint everyone around me"

Future Minds - Richard Watson

'the average person spends 45 percent of their waking hours on media and communication'

'furthermore, our attention and our relationships are getting atmoized. We are connected globally, but our local relationships are becoming wafer thin and ephemeral. We are in danger of developing a society that is globally connected and collaborative, but one that is also impatient, isolated, and detached from reality.' -pg 3

'but constant connectivity means that we are replacing intimacy with familiarity, and this can also make our physical relationships with other people more ephemeral' - pg 7

'the anonymity of the web is eroding empathy, encouraging antisocial behaviour, and promoting virtual courage over real emotion.' - pg 7

'personal communication is changing too. Want to dump your boyfriend? Just alter your profile status on Facebook from 'in a relationship' to 'single'. After all, if you'd wanted to speak to him in person you'd have sent him a text.' - pg 14

' if you need to communicate with someone it is usually unnecessary to see them physically. These are people ( to paraphrase Nick Bilton, author of I live in the Future and Here's How It Works) who do not see any distincition between real-life friendships that involve talking or looking someone in the eye and virtual ones, where communication is through email or text message. Facebook and Twitter as well as virtual communities such as Second Life also feed into the desir to be reassured that one is not alone, so screenagers use this kind of site to check o their own existence and coalesce around an ever changing universe of friends and online culture.' - pg 14