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From: eugene@ames-pioneer.arpa (Eugene Miya N.)
Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc
Subject: Re: Getting people to use communications systems
Message-ID: <1408@hplabsc.HP.COM>
Date: Tue, 10-Mar-87 02:08:33 EST
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.1408
Posted: Tue Mar 10 02:08:33 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Mar-87 23:38:54 EST
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Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
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>Looking at the situation from my current perspective I notice that there is not
>much involvement by artists and people with arts backgrounds in electronic
>communications in general.
...
>I suspect that if they tried it they'd like it.

You might think this, but try to imagine the case where they did not.

This topic was discussed two years ago in the human-nets-digest (which since
appears to have died).  At that time I was living with a daughter of two 
artists.  Her father is the art chairman at Claremont and her mother is a 
distinguished artist in her own right.

There are certainly some performance artists like Laurie Anderson who
use computers, but you should see her film "Home of the Brave."  The
artistic community does not think as scientists and engineers do.  The
basic values they have differ considerably, but they they might use some
of the same technological means toward their ends: self-expression.
Yes, many are Extremely fearful of our technology (part of the
expression in "Home").  Others adopt the technology wholeheartedly (my
near in-laws would call the "Commercial Artists" ;-).  Much of the
artistic community wants to defie labelling and categorization (part of
the harm of modern science).  Just when you think you understand some
people art, they purposefully dodge and change their opinions.  This is
their way.

Well, what can you do?  Well, not much right now.  Teleconferencing and
mail systems are too crude for some of the visual arts.  Many artists
are NOT verbal people, flaming would only force them further into
burrows and Hobbit holes.  If you could add visual and audio media this
would be a start (Imagine Picasso using RCS to save "Girl before
a Mirror?").

You can certainly show ACM/SIGGRAPH slides and video tapes, but this is
the commercial art world and strictly visual (like MTV).  You can let
them play with things like Macs (also helpful, but not enough).  By all
means, do not brow-beat.  It only reinforces some of their negative
views of technology.  Play it by ear.  Don't force the particular use of
an application, I saw Scott Kim do some fun things with applications
beyond what was intended (in terms of animation).

--eugene miya 			Bay Area ACM/SIGGRAPH