Tom suggested The New Copy Book from D&AD website. Need to log in to see the briefs, but will sign up.
Janine suggests research into the opinion that social media means that children are actually writing more now than ever before to use as a counter argument to what I have so far.
I have found the National Literary Trust's paper titled 'Young People's writing: Attitudes, behaviours and the role of technology. A study on 3001 9-16 year old school children, 75% of young people said they wrote regularly; 82% said they text messaged at least once a month, 73% wrote instant messages (such as AIM or MSN) and 63% wrote on a social networking site.
Read the study here
It's conclusion was that children who blog or use facebook have higher literacy levels.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
The Implications of Baudrillard's conclusions on advertising
If everything that is created through art and design is a representation of something else, then there is no such thing as an original thought for design. So anything designed for copywriting or art direction is not original. So, when considering the use of iconography or semiology within advertising design, Baudrillard's conclusions would imply that advertising itself is merely a simulacra, not having its own reality behind it. If advertising has created a total screen over society, then society itself is screened by simulacra. In fact, if advertising has become inherent in society, and is now just a mirror image of society rather than a method of communication, then hasn't advertising become a simulation of society? So, if all the reality of society and advertising erodes away we are left with nothing but simulacra. How confusing.
When considering how advertising is to reach a target audience, Baudrillard's conclusions imply that we should be veering more towards use to cybernetic communication to reach the public. As he states that advertising communication has been over-shadowed by the more exciting computer language communication; We should be using digital media, social media, cybernetic and internet based methods of communication to tap into the thrill the public are experiencing from the increase in technology and its simplicity of communication.
Nevertheless, Baudrillard did also state that the public do comply to the ideal that advertising still works as communication. So as long as no one else reads Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulation' then we should all be just fine.
Summary of Baudrillard
Absolute Advertising, Ground Zero Advertising
Baudrillard is of the opinion that advertising is superficial, has no depth and is a triumph of lost or misinformation. He argues that it is unarticulated, instant and instantly forgotten. However, it still holds power.
He refers to the public as a, "bewildered audience" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 88) of advertising, as advertising is everywhere. It has imposed itself into society, enveloping it and thrives at the expense of everything else.
He also argues that advertising no longer excites the public as a form of communication, as now that cybernetic and digital communication does so much more to simplify communication for us than advertising ever did. So, the increase of computer science language is rendering advertising useless. Baudrillard suggests that, "the 'thrill' of advertising has been displaced onto computers and onto the miniaturisation of everyday life by computer science" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 89).
To go further, he argues that advertising is in fact no longer a form of communication at all. What it once was, has been lost and now advertising lies within society in all its forms. The message it once sent out about commodity purchase is now more of a reflection or a mockery of society and culture. The message that was, "'I buy, I consume, I take pleasure' today repeats in other forms, 'I vote, I participate, I am present, I am concerned'" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 91).
To repeat a similar argument to that of his other chapters, he concludes by saying that the absolute cover over society by advertising leads of over saturation of information, leading to confusion and eventually emission of any meaning. The language we believe to be communication, is in fact staged and so becomes a hyperreality.
Baudrillard uses the example of the city of Las Vegas; as the city appears from the desert into the bright lights of billboards and advertisments, it is not the adverts that brighten or decorate the city, but instead wipe out all things that are solid- the walls, the streets, the buildings and any depth and, "that is the empty and inescapable form of seduction" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 92).
Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, USA: The University of Michigan.
Baudrillard is of the opinion that advertising is superficial, has no depth and is a triumph of lost or misinformation. He argues that it is unarticulated, instant and instantly forgotten. However, it still holds power.
He refers to the public as a, "bewildered audience" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 88) of advertising, as advertising is everywhere. It has imposed itself into society, enveloping it and thrives at the expense of everything else.
He also argues that advertising no longer excites the public as a form of communication, as now that cybernetic and digital communication does so much more to simplify communication for us than advertising ever did. So, the increase of computer science language is rendering advertising useless. Baudrillard suggests that, "the 'thrill' of advertising has been displaced onto computers and onto the miniaturisation of everyday life by computer science" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 89).
To go further, he argues that advertising is in fact no longer a form of communication at all. What it once was, has been lost and now advertising lies within society in all its forms. The message it once sent out about commodity purchase is now more of a reflection or a mockery of society and culture. The message that was, "'I buy, I consume, I take pleasure' today repeats in other forms, 'I vote, I participate, I am present, I am concerned'" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 91).
To repeat a similar argument to that of his other chapters, he concludes by saying that the absolute cover over society by advertising leads of over saturation of information, leading to confusion and eventually emission of any meaning. The language we believe to be communication, is in fact staged and so becomes a hyperreality.
Baudrillard uses the example of the city of Las Vegas; as the city appears from the desert into the bright lights of billboards and advertisments, it is not the adverts that brighten or decorate the city, but instead wipe out all things that are solid- the walls, the streets, the buildings and any depth and, "that is the empty and inescapable form of seduction" (Baudrillard, 1994 pg 92).
Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, USA: The University of Michigan.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Summary of Baudrillard
The Implosion of Meaning in the Media
"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 79).
Baudrillard states three hypotheses to explain this statement.
1- That information produces meaning but, as a result of the loss of signification, meaning is lost and meaning cannot be put back into content before it devours itself. This is the ideology of free speech, ie pirate radio.
2- Shannon's hypothesis states there is no significant relation between more information and less meaning as information has nothing to do with signification.
3- There is a strong link between the two; information is directly destructive of meaning and signification based on the dissuasive action of the media and mass media (including advertising?)
Baudrillard believes the third hypothesis is the most interesting, because it goes against every commonly held opinion. He explains that, "whoever is under-exposed to the media is desocialised or virtually asocial" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 80). Basically an elaborated version of the metaphor 'living under a rock'.
He argues we, as a public, believe that information is there to create communication. We comply to this myth; we believe that without the media our world would collapse as as we believe information=communication, the opposite in fact occurs.
"Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 80). Baudrillard has two reasons for this:
1- Instead of information creating communication, as we believe it to, it exhausts itself by staging communication, as is all a simulation as it pretends to communicate.
2- Behind the mise-en-scene of communication, information dissolves meaning and the social in the masses. Therefore, the media are producers of the implosion of meaning in media.
"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 79).
Baudrillard states three hypotheses to explain this statement.
1- That information produces meaning but, as a result of the loss of signification, meaning is lost and meaning cannot be put back into content before it devours itself. This is the ideology of free speech, ie pirate radio.
2- Shannon's hypothesis states there is no significant relation between more information and less meaning as information has nothing to do with signification.
3- There is a strong link between the two; information is directly destructive of meaning and signification based on the dissuasive action of the media and mass media (including advertising?)
Baudrillard believes the third hypothesis is the most interesting, because it goes against every commonly held opinion. He explains that, "whoever is under-exposed to the media is desocialised or virtually asocial" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 80). Basically an elaborated version of the metaphor 'living under a rock'.
He argues we, as a public, believe that information is there to create communication. We comply to this myth; we believe that without the media our world would collapse as as we believe information=communication, the opposite in fact occurs.
"Information devours its own content. It devours communication and the social" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 80). Baudrillard has two reasons for this:
1- Instead of information creating communication, as we believe it to, it exhausts itself by staging communication, as is all a simulation as it pretends to communicate.
2- Behind the mise-en-scene of communication, information dissolves meaning and the social in the masses. Therefore, the media are producers of the implosion of meaning in media.
Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, USA: The University of Michigan.
Summary of Baudrillard (or Baudrillard as I see it, which is probably wrong)
Hypermarket and Hypercommodity
Baudrillard is talking, once again pessimistically. This time it is about product consumption, media messages and the hyperspace of commodity, which he names the hypermarket.
He argues that our objects (or the things we own) are no longer commodities (something of use, advantage, value) but that they become something we have to answer to as they take over our lives. He also says of media message, including advertising, that it is no longer a communication or information but, "referendum, perpetual test, circular response" (Baudrillard 1994 pg 75). What I make of this, is that he is saying advertising no longer does what was intended; to inform and communicate. Instead, it becomes part of the system of the hypermarket, a controlling power of social order and commodity culture.
Baudrillard continues to say that billboards act as CCTV systems, surveilling our lives. We are forced to look at them, and so in turn see ourselves in them (similar to film theory of 'the gaze'?). Eventually, as mirrors of the consumption of our commodity culture it "closes this world on itself" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 76). He argues that billboards are employees for the hypermarket system, and their role is to keep intact the total screen that we consider our reality, so all we can see is the products and the billboards that advertise them.
Ultimately, Baudrillard argues that the hypermarket is about more than consumption of products; it is about social relations and acculturation (a word he uses at the start of the chapter to describe the process of adopting cultural patterns and social traits of another group).
For Baudrillard, the hypermarket explains the end of modernity. During 1850-1950 there was a great increase in the amount of large, modern stores developed in both large cities and more suburban areas. He describes that as fundamental modernisation and has no real problem with it as it does not, "overthrow the urban structure" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 77). However, where the cities remain cities, the new cities- which I'm assuming to be the more suburban areas- become, "satellized by the hypermarket [...] serviced by a programmed traffic network" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 77).
Effectively, the new shopping centres become in control of how suburbanisation moves; houses built near the new large stores, movement of people and flow of traffic towards these new stores etc.
As the hypermarket grows and takes over it loses it's qualities of a market.
Baudrillard is talking, once again pessimistically. This time it is about product consumption, media messages and the hyperspace of commodity, which he names the hypermarket.
He argues that our objects (or the things we own) are no longer commodities (something of use, advantage, value) but that they become something we have to answer to as they take over our lives. He also says of media message, including advertising, that it is no longer a communication or information but, "referendum, perpetual test, circular response" (Baudrillard 1994 pg 75). What I make of this, is that he is saying advertising no longer does what was intended; to inform and communicate. Instead, it becomes part of the system of the hypermarket, a controlling power of social order and commodity culture.
Baudrillard continues to say that billboards act as CCTV systems, surveilling our lives. We are forced to look at them, and so in turn see ourselves in them (similar to film theory of 'the gaze'?). Eventually, as mirrors of the consumption of our commodity culture it "closes this world on itself" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 76). He argues that billboards are employees for the hypermarket system, and their role is to keep intact the total screen that we consider our reality, so all we can see is the products and the billboards that advertise them.
Ultimately, Baudrillard argues that the hypermarket is about more than consumption of products; it is about social relations and acculturation (a word he uses at the start of the chapter to describe the process of adopting cultural patterns and social traits of another group).
For Baudrillard, the hypermarket explains the end of modernity. During 1850-1950 there was a great increase in the amount of large, modern stores developed in both large cities and more suburban areas. He describes that as fundamental modernisation and has no real problem with it as it does not, "overthrow the urban structure" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 77). However, where the cities remain cities, the new cities- which I'm assuming to be the more suburban areas- become, "satellized by the hypermarket [...] serviced by a programmed traffic network" (Baudrillard, 1994, pg 77).
Effectively, the new shopping centres become in control of how suburbanisation moves; houses built near the new large stores, movement of people and flow of traffic towards these new stores etc.
As the hypermarket grows and takes over it loses it's qualities of a market.
Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, USA: The University of Michigan.
Definition of 'cybernetics' as I never quite understood...
–noun ( used with a singular verb 
)
)the study of human control functions and of mechanical andelectronic systems designed to replace them, involving the application of statistical mechanics to communication engineering.
So therefore, in the cybernetic communication theory, it it thus called as the communication from target audiences is done through new technologies, and social networking, sharing online etc. For example, the Old Spice Twitter campaign took the target audience voice and represented it through 'tweets'.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Still Points, Turning World BBC Radio 4.
"When WH Davies wrote his celebrated poem 'Leisure' a century ago, the myriad stimuli assaulting people's senses now and the demands that sap humanity's powers of concentration in the digital age were unimaginable. But he rightly gauged the detrimental impacts to the human spirit of failing to find moments of peace in a busy world: 'a poor life this, if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare'.
In this 'composed feature', producer Alan Hall embroiders together the experiences of a range of people for whom still points and daydreaming provide an escape from the increasingly invasive nature of the turning world about us and offer a foundation for reflection, rejuvenation and creativity.
Hearing from Canon Lucy Winkett of St Paul's in the heart of the City of London, an installer of 'energy pods' that offer 'corporate fatigue solutions', an hypnotherapist, staff and pupils from a school that champions 'the Pause' and Kieran MacFeely, a singer-songwriter from the world of pop music (or 'high-end racket') who sought out the peace of the countryside.
'Still Points, Turning Worlds' relishes moments of reverie in an attempt to reclaim the powers of concentration.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4."
In this 'composed feature', producer Alan Hall embroiders together the experiences of a range of people for whom still points and daydreaming provide an escape from the increasingly invasive nature of the turning world about us and offer a foundation for reflection, rejuvenation and creativity.
Hearing from Canon Lucy Winkett of St Paul's in the heart of the City of London, an installer of 'energy pods' that offer 'corporate fatigue solutions', an hypnotherapist, staff and pupils from a school that champions 'the Pause' and Kieran MacFeely, a singer-songwriter from the world of pop music (or 'high-end racket') who sought out the peace of the countryside.
'Still Points, Turning Worlds' relishes moments of reverie in an attempt to reclaim the powers of concentration.
Producer: Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4."
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