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Description
ASSIGNMENT.

1) Create a graphic essay that is the equivalent of 1,500 words, which elucidates this unit, and write a compelling 500-word text (in hardcopy form and online) to accompany it, arguing why the images are equivalent, which must include a mini-summary of this unit’s main themes. Then publicly publish your graphic essay (with complementary text) at Deviant Art and provide a digital hyperlink to it. You can be as creative as you like, but remember that this is still an essay question, which should have some form of recognizable argumentative structure within it. Tip: please don’t use the term or concept of a picture being worth a thousand words or you may lose marks.

I modelled the form of the graphic essay similar to that of a propaganda poster. The ideas I wished to convey with the collaged images that would make it equal to a 1500 word essay is to represent the overall theme that we have explored in Digital Futures: that of whether the invention of the digital, and its progression, is really a good thing or an aberration of the human condition and whether that makes humanity obsolete. To begin, I started with an image of the human female body, which has been construed as a symbol of innocence, then changed it by merging images to assemble a technological construct that generates a perversion of the organic. The decision to use collage is to create a sense of confusion that represents the uncertainty of where technology is leading towards in the future. This uncertainty and the tension between whether the increasing reliance on the digital is a good thing or not has been the undercurrent theme explored in the unit Digital Futures.
The graphic essay utilises symbolism as the defining characteristic that conveys meaning. The use of the photo that depicts a windows system error was purposely inputted into the design of the cyborg to suggest the concerns that we, as humanity, have towards progress and the consequences there-of. The purpose of the manufactured cyborg holding a sword is to create a threatening undertone to the image, which is then contrasted with the pose of the body, which is meant to represent vulnerability. The purpose of this is to showcase the differing perspectives involved in technological advancement. While the graphic essay leans towards the perspective that the progression of the digital has, is, and will be something that encourages the decline of the human condition, it still has enough enticement within the image that reflects our desire for progress that is prevalent in our contemporary society.
The inclusion of words into the collage was a way to reaffirm how the digital is possible due to the creation of the alphabet. The specific words included were chosen as a way to directly address the viewer and the worries inherent with the advancement of technology. Words such as ‘weakness’ are a driving factor of technological progression: the idea to remove weakness has been a staple throughout human society. Historically, it is the want to become stronger, better, which fuels advancement. Weapons manufacture in the World Wars is an example: The need to become more powerful lead to inventions such as the nuclear bomb. This then leads to the question: Are we quickening our own demise? Is it necessary to have such a technology? This further removes us from our ancestors. We have lost that sense of animal grace, that of an innocence and naiveté. That will to live, rather than to complicate it with things that are unnecessary.
The graphic essay demonstrates through symbolism that the theme I believed the most crucial to understanding the unit Digital Futures is that of the consequences of the invention of the digital, and whether it is something that is beneficial or harmful towards the human condition.

Description
ASSIGNMENT.

1) Create a graphic essay that is the equivalent of 1,500 words, which elucidates this unit, and write a compelling 500-word text (in hardcopy form and online) to accompany it, arguing why the images are equivalent, which must include a mini-summary of this unit’s main themes. Then publicly publish your graphic essay (with complementary text) at Deviant Art and provide a digital hyperlink to it. You can be as creative as you like, but remember that this is still an essay question, which should have some form of recognizable argumentative structure within it. Tip: please don’t use the term or concept of a picture being worth a thousand words or you may lose marks.

I modelled the form of the graphic essay similar to that of a propaganda poster. The ideas I wished to convey with the collaged images that would make it equal to a 1500 word essay is to represent the overall theme that we have explored in Digital Futures: that of whether the invention of the digital, and its progression, is really a good thing or an aberration of the human condition and whether that makes humanity obsolete. To begin, I started with an image of the human female body, which has been construed as a symbol of innocence, then changed it by merging images to assemble a technological construct that generates a perversion of the organic. The decision to use collage is to create a sense of confusion that represents the uncertainty of where technology is leading towards in the future. This uncertainty and the tension between whether the increasing reliance on the digital is a good thing or not has been the undercurrent theme explored in the unit Digital Futures.
The graphic essay utilises symbolism as the defining characteristic that conveys meaning. The use of the photo that depicts a windows system error was purposely inputted into the design of the cyborg to suggest the concerns that we, as humanity, have towards progress and the consequences there-of. The purpose of the manufactured cyborg holding a sword is to create a threatening undertone to the image, which is then contrasted with the pose of the body, which is meant to represent vulnerability. The purpose of this is to showcase the differing perspectives involved in technological advancement. While the graphic essay leans towards the perspective that the progression of the digital has, is, and will be something that encourages the decline of the human condition, it still has enough enticement within the image that reflects our desire for progress that is prevalent in our contemporary society.
The inclusion of words into the collage was a way to reaffirm how the digital is possible due to the creation of the alphabet. The specific words included were chosen as a way to directly address the viewer and the worries inherent with the advancement of technology. Words such as ‘weakness’ are a driving factor of technological progression: the idea to remove weakness has been a staple throughout human society. Historically, it is the want to become stronger, better, which fuels advancement. Weapons manufacture in the World Wars is an example: The need to become more powerful lead to inventions such as the nuclear bomb. This then leads to the question: Are we quickening our own demise? Is it necessary to have such a technology? This further removes us from our ancestors. We have lost that sense of animal grace, that of an innocence and naiveté. That will to live, rather than to complicate it with things that are unnecessary.
The graphic essay demonstrates through symbolism that the theme I believed the most crucial to understanding the unit Digital Futures is that of the consequences of the invention of the digital, and whether it is something that is beneficial or harmful towards the human condition.