Week 2 : Confused Coffee Beans - "Image" by Mitchell

Cellphone against Digital Camera picture ? What is the meaning of a picture taken with a phone camera compared to a film camera? What is the relation of images and media ?

According to Edgar Dale, professor at the University of Ohio and the creator of the Dale’s Cone of learning, we retain 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear and 30% of what we see. Images that are retained build on what we perceive of that image. As this is part of the basis of advertisement, it is understandable that images and medias are closely connected. It started with the invention of the printing machine of Gutenberg. This innovation changed the importance of information. People from everywhere and any social class was now able to access information. The most common printed information was about religion. Stating that “human beings are created in the image of God”. That human beings should not makes images, because “human-made images are vain, illusory things”. In this perspective, we can see how mass-media use the same principle. Companies bombard the general public with promises, “If you buy this, you would be more confident” or “ by using this product, you will be more happy”. This increases our dependencies on mass-media as they have decided what our reactions to their products are before, us the consumer.

Trust in images has become more and more superficial. We each interpret images differently which means every interpretation we make is “fake”. On top of this, media creates illusions, of image and of trust. As we can see in people’s privacy and faith. Therefore, with the arrival of contemporary gadgets and technological innovation, our approach with our environment tends to disturb our “real” connections between what we see and what we trust. The definition of an “image” is no more of a simple concept of looking with the eyes and touching, it’s a whole new world of interaction and sharing over the digitization of its process and the ambiguity of its context. This has caused many problems for famous people or companies concerning their actions and thoughts on the web. Mainly affected by idolatry, maybe we should review our concept of idolism ? Has images affected our daily life?

Dana Ryashy, Sol Paul, Xavier Champoux, Rose-Marie Dion