The cultural context includes ways that people and communities express themselves as well as how they live, travel and associate together in a digital society. (IB. Digital Society Guide, 2022)
4.1.A
4.1.A. Arts, entertainment and popular culture
"Entertainment gives you a predictable pleasure. Art… leads to transformation. It awakens you, rather than just satisfying a craving."
"The term ‘popular culture’ holds different meanings depending on who’s defining it and the context of use ... pop culture involves the aspects of social life most actively involved in by the public: styles of dress, the use of slang, greeting rituals and the foods that people eat are all examples of popular culture ... Popular culture consists of the aspects of attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, customs, and tastes that define the people of any society. [It includes] ... popular music, print, cyber culture, sports, entertainment, leisure, fads, advertising and television."
The Deep dream generator is an online AI that intuitively joins images together.
This is an image of Derek Ray, author of this website, that was created by the generator. It took the AI interface about 1 minute to join two images together.
The image is static and it's easy to think "it's just two photos overlaid together," but a closer look reveals more. The AI has recognized lines and shadows, bringing in some defining shading and highlights.
Activity #1: Create your own image in Deep dream.
To what extent do you accept that your image was created via an artificial intelligence?
Do you consider Deep Dream to be a method of expressing of yourself? Does it communicate something about the way that you live and who you are?
How much do you consider Deep Dream and images to be an art, entertainment or pop culture?
Activity #2: Create your own image in Craiyon.
How does Craiyon compare to Deep Dream? Which tool is more clearly using an AI?
How much do you consider Craiyon images to be an art or an entertainment?
How might such a tool be used in popular culture?
Refik Anadol has created a digital work that engages the public in a way that draws in crowds of people.
Watch this video of the work of Refik Anadol.
(just watch until 4:18)
Activity #3.
To what extent does Refik's work resemble entertainment, art and popular culture?
Compare and contrast Refik's work to that of Deep Dream and Craiyon.
Do you consider Refik's work as something that people would travel large distances to see?
In what way might Refik's work define culture?
Beeple NFT Artwork Sells for $69.3 Million in Christie’s Auction.
"Crypto artist Beeple, real name Mike Winkelmann, has sold an NFT for $69.3 million at Christie's auction house, breaking records in the digital art world.
There were 353 bids in total for this artwork, with bidding reaching $1 million in the first hour. It's the 3rd most expensive artwork sold by a living artist (No. 4 when adjusted for inflation).
[Digital art can take] ... the form of a non-fungible token (NFT)—a unique digital asset that provides verifiable ownership of digital items, such as art or in-game items. They are typically held on the Ethereum blockchain, although other blockchains such as Flow also support NFTs."
(source)
Activity #4.
Discuss your understanding of NFT (You may want to follow the NFT video link above).
To what degree are NFTs affecting a cultural change in Art?
"Video games are getting better and better and new smartphones and digital devices are released every day. In 2020, live streaming became a huge thing, and according to most experts, live streaming is here to stay.
Companies and businesses involved in other industries will also rely more on Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies including the video gaming industry.
More entertainment industries will rely on VR and AR technological advancements, to create augmented and virtual sets, virtual studios, virtual models, and whole virtual worlds with 3D avatars and landscapes that look very real.
With everything in the industry being very dynamic, emerging entertainment technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality are expected to become the main part of most production sets.
According to a report on the global entertainment and media industry by PwC, the usage of VR and AR reality technologies will significantly increase in the years to come.
Other rapidly evolving sectors include OTT video technologies, data consumption, internet advertising, video gaming, B2B technologies, and cinema."
Activity #5.
To what degree are future digital entertainments going to enhance communities, or create new communities?
How long-lasting do you think these communities might be?
Digital Pop Culture
(source)
Online communities, or mimetic networks (online groups gathered around sharing funny political images), thrive across a number of platforms, hashtags and threads. This diffusion is partly down to people becoming more comfortable paying for independently-made digital content, but also the parasocial relationships that people cultivate on social media, where artists, writers and content creators communicate directly with their fan bases on Discord servers.
A result of this ultra-niche content is the rise of the online micro-celebrity. Think Red Scare, Honor Levy, Joshua Citarella. As anyone who’s ever peered into the Discord server of an internet [celebrity] (many of whom seem to hail from New York) can attest, these fandoms are highly active and insular. Packed full of memes, in-jokes and self-referential anecdotes, they feed into a vast network of cross-platform content via Twitch streams, podcasts and newsletters. “The motivating factor is not necessarily the value or the quality of service, but a belief in these small creators,” says Sean Monahan,
Activity #6.
Discuss the future of digital pop culture. How do you think new cultural groups will develop.
(source). March 2022.
‘Web 3.0’ came from Ethereum’s co-founder, Gavin Wood, who dreamed of a future browsing experience in which large companies, such as Google, wouldn’t have control over which data is retrieved and presented to specific users.
Web 3.0 will change how billions of people relate to the mobile technology available at their fingertips. One of the largest industries set for an overhaul is entertainment, with gaming and Hollywood set for the biggest overhauls.
The most lucrative industry related to online entertainment is iGaming, which Statista estimates will be worth over $90 billion by next year. This covers online casinos and poker platforms. With a global pool of gamers estimated at over one billion, according to a UK study, the sector is a prime candidate for new applications on Web 3.0.
Activity #7.
Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of Web 3.0 on the future of art, entertainment and popular culture.
4.1.B
4.1.B. Home, leisure and tourism.
4.1.C
4.1.C. Heritage, customs and celebrations.
4.1.D
4.1.D. Subcultures.