Individual Project Proposal

Sarah Ab Kadir

088678K17

CS8206 – Individual project proposal.

    Zombie boy being admired by onlookers.
(source: http://www.tattoodonkey.com/pics/z/o/zombie-boy-tattoo-thumbs-zonx-22-a-t-tattoodonkey.com.jpg)

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Main direction of Final Project: Collated Group work

In our project, we intend to discover and learn more about the tattooed people in our community in Singapore. With the exploration, we aim to investigate the influences and perspectives of body art, specifically of tattoos, in today's society and culture.

We propose four main directions:-
1. Taboos about tattoos
2. Culture & History of Body Art
3. Body Art & Media
4. Misconceptions & Removal/Concealment


In the Singaporean community, body art (tattoos in particular) had once been considered taboo, as a sign of gangsterism and also as body vandalism. Due to today’s technology-savvy world, these perspectives have also been influenced by international cultures and social media. Therefore, do these previous misconceptions still exist today, or has body art evolved into something that is accepted in our society now? We investigate this by exploring the different aspects stated above. By our exploration, we aim to provide information and knowledge about these people living in our community, and also help to clear pre-existing misconceptions.


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INDIVIDUAL PROPOSAL:

- A title and synopsis of the storyline:

TATT(ered),

taboos about

Tattoos.

Living in this modern society, tattoos have always been looked upon as taboo and questionable. Tattoos, also known as body art, started out with the simple idea of having a permanent and personal expression marked or etched onto the body. It definitely takes a lot of effort, skill and concentration to complete a good tattoo. Tattoos are viewed as a sign of rebellion, connoting ideas of trashy and evil as well. Albeit the negative depictions, tattoos to some are not about being rebellious or even showing discontent or disrespect. There are numerous misconceptions springing up with concerns to getting them and also about people who already have them.

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Additional detailed information:

- The direction of my part for the group article.

One of the most common misconceptions about tattoos would be the cost price of actually getting a new piece of ink. Many interested patrons are constantly being manipulated into thinking that one is able to get inked at a very low cost by doing it DIY style. They fail to realize that getting it done by someone unprofessional could cost them their entire arm, leg, or even their life. Patrons are much more interested in saving $40-$60 without understanding the dire consequences about noting the quality of work. This industry can be quite corruptible and people need to take precautions when sourcing out a reputable or in this case, reliable tattoo parlor.

Another common misconception about tattooing would be the tattoo artists’ themselves. Again, interested patrons are more concerned to source out the better tattooist because they have some form of background in tattoos or because they have inked celebrities or people who are of status. What they fail to realize is that there is no school for tattooing. One does not need to be able to draw well or to be good in art or any sorts to be able to draw tattoos. In certain countries, tattooists do not own a license but instead they must work for a business that has up-to-date licenses. There of course are apprenticeship programs available in tattoo shops for a price, and their rates vary from shop to shop and artist to artist.

Many patrons are not aware of the consequences of reusing needles which brings us to our third misconception about tattooing. Of course it is pretty much obvious that needles are not supposed to be used twice but sometimes the tattooist assures the patrons that it is absolutely okay, betraying and being untruthful to their customers by taking the risk to save on the cost and trouble of changing it itself. The dull needle does not pierce well into the skin as it should and it leaves choppy or uneven lines. Again, most ignorant tattooists do not know the basic health and sterilization protocols that need to be addressed and adhered to thus endangering the lives of their patrons. It is imperative that a hospital grade autoclave be used in the sterilizing technique and that the equipment used be tested on a regular basis to ensure that it is functioning at an optimum level necessary on par with the local health department around.

The last and most trivial misconception about getting a tattoo would be to not be able to get a certain design done. If a patron enters a parlor and requests for a specific piece of design or even brings in his/her own design and is rejected or is told that it is not possible to get that tattoo, then the tattooist is highly likely to not be telling you the truth. They are either being lazy or they just are lacking the skills needed to fruitfully produce the design. All designs can most definitely be tattooed with of course minor tweaking or improvising of the current design.

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- Why the angle chosen is newsworthy.

The misconception of getting a tattoo itself can be misinterpreted as well. Usually, 

when people read or talk about the misconceptions of getting a tattoo, they relate it more towards the social aspects, stigma or consequences rather than the technicalities of it such as the procedures and the tattoo artists’ themselves who in most cases, do not have an art background. People are much more concerned about the social aspect that they blur out the smaller yet equally important information such as the ones described above (in additional information). This chosen angle leans more towards a fresher take or note to the ever popular topic of tattoos rather than reading the usual suspect of societal based problems over and over again. Even so, the societal based problems are to be touched on by another group member in their direction of the article. As a group, we are trying our best to not overlap information and to also attain a much more holistic article.

- Who you are going to feature and how.

As discussed with my groupmates, we all decided that I should interview a tattooist as it would be the most direct and credible type of information attainable. This is because for this particular part (misconceptions) of the entire story, it would be good to squeeze out the juice from the fruit itself thus getting to the core of the type of misconceptions available would deem the report to be much more credible. Also, I would most likely be interviewing a number of friends who have tattoos and probably get them to answer via survey or so, to questions such as ‘Did you know that tattooists’ are supposed to accept all designs and rejecting or telling you it’s not possible actually means they are lazy and inefficient?’

- What media elements you are going to use.

I’m probably going to be using a voice recorder but I feel that video recording would be much more appealing in garnering more views. This is definitely proven from sources such as youtube and vimeo where people randomly search for certain videos because they prefer watching and learning or absorbing information visually rather than reading about it. Once I was interviewed by the Malay newspaper Berita Harian for an article and they asked me permission to snap a picture of me. At first I did not want to comply to their rules but they insisted that if I do give them a picture, it would be deemed as a much more credited article that could grab the attention of the higher authority to help me out with the situation I was going through.

Screenshot from the video of youtube star Mancow interviewing Kat Von D, one of America's top notch tattooist who has been in the industry for years now.

Characterising the inanimate.

As human beings, I believe we tend to give character to certain inanimate objects depending on how memorable or close to heart it can be to us. Like say a teddy bear or a computer mouse and even our phones these days.

About two months ago, I visited the Singapore Art Museum(SAM) for their Video Art installation series to which they showcased a number of SEA as well as American popular video art that has been copied or recreated over the years. They also showcased a number of works by re-known artists such as Bruce Nauman, Bill Viola and Nam June Paik. 

During visit to the gallery installations, one particular piece caught my attention. The one that characterizes and gave life to helicopters. 

The piece was by Dinh Q. Le, titled, 'The Farmers and the Helicopters, 2006'

 “A three-channel video installation consisting of interview footage of Vietnamese farmers inter-cut with clips from Hollywood films that capture the fear inspired by helicopters during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam-American war was the first war in the world where helicopters were extensively used (over 12,000 American helicopters). At the same time, another narrative within the video tells the postwar story of how a modern day farmer and self-taught mechanic built his own flying machine and created an affordable helicopter that could help evacuate people in emergency situations and assist in farming. Our early response to the helicopter as a symbol of terror gives way to more muted, ambivalent sentiments. “

The video installation produced by Dinh Q. Le revolves around the geopolitical idea, history, memory and archive of the victims involved in the Vietnamese war. The installation by itself acted as a video documentary for the audience to learn about the fear and the tragedy the victims of the war had underwent. The installation was built in an entire room, approximately 15metres wide, with three 2metre tall screens placed side by side. The videos appeared to be in a non-linear format but always corresponded to each other. The focus of the audience watching was shifted from one screen to another purposefully with a certain flow. Some scenes were more powerful than others. Some were clips of the war survivors who are of age. The length and size of the screen itself was able to engulf the audience and to enable them to feel like they were actually experiencing the war at that very moment. The sound from the digital sound system was placed strategically around the entire room to make sure the installation serves its purpose of injecting fear as well as empathy to the audience.  

I believe that it is arguable that the divided screens could possibly serve as a purpose to be telling different numerous stories or events that were happening during the war. It becomes like a metaphorical idea of portraying the events that ultimately came about for one reason.

The documentation and the entirety of the documentary also gave life to the helicopters, making it seem as though it had two personalities within. Somehow, it is characterized the helicopters to make it seem like that of an American soldier. Either the American hero to their home nation, or the elite capitalist bastard to the rest of the world. The narration of the entire video documentary as well as the eerie traditional tune playing in the background was enough to blow life into the helicopter itself. It felt as though the helicopters were self-controlled.

I think as a whole, I really ‘enjoyed’ or shall I say, understood the installation because the projection was not just a typical set up whereby only one screen was used. Watching a video documentary such as that on a normal television screen or on a smaller sized screen definitely would not have triggered the same impact as it did to the one over at the SAM. The choice of the medium (size of screen) used to portray or relay the message of the video installation shows that context of the installation has depth and an important meaning to it.

What is the place of Web Documentary in Journalism?

Firstly to my understanding, web documentary consists of the numerous productions of the different mediums used to dissemminate or spread a certain piece of news. This could be through the form of audio recordings, text, images or photographs, video recordings or even animation as well. It's definitely different from the traditional form of documentary such as those aired on the television or on the radio.

Getting with the times, more people are off their television sets and are on their computers, laptops or even mobiles. We want to be able to reach or hear about news from the touch of our fingers. It's no wonder that all these areas of web documentaries have taken to arise and have become a very important aspect to garnering the attention of viewers.

People want excitement, exaggeration, a much more clearer story that could be visually or graphically pleasing or even disturbing. It's only then that one would be able to pass on the news much more efficiently and productively. This also boils down to the idea of viral videos to where it takes the same stand as to how it is being passed around.

Web documentary also functions so that it reaches the masses. A piece of news from China could reach Russia under a few seconds once the journalist clicks the 'upload' button. Everyone would be able to know what is going on no matter the distance and the time.

An example of a very successful global 'story' that has been followed from everyone on the Web would be the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977.

A few hours to the leak of that piece of news and there were already videos springing up everywhere around the world based either on personal views, DIY documentation and even reactions of those from other countries such as this one:

http://youtu.be/6zQAjMAFq8w

Then again, even though web documentation can be much more interesting than your average broadcasted news on television, one would have to measure the reliability of the source itself. If the piece of news is even credible or if it has been tweaked as it could be unofficial news as well.

The opening quote of the article titled 'When community and journalism converge' by Katerina Cizek says,

‘… I am bypassing the predictable, often sensational headlines to explore the profound ways that digital storytelling can be a force for political mediation.’ - Katerina Cizek.

This quote itself made such an impact to note that news and events that circulate via the world wide web can be a source of tranquility in some sense because it includes personal views or opinions about the given issue that could either be laced nicely or exaggerated mindlessly to the rest of the world.

Photoshop not an Opp?

Click the link to see the full article:

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2010/06/photoshop_and_photojournalism_yet_again/

It's interesting that the article itself seems to be more of a useless, redundant argument or fight within the same community itself. It is as though two leaders from the same party argue over who is supposedly much more authoritative or holds the main power. I think the article I read seems a tad too silly because really, when it all boils down, there really is nothing to argue about. Considering this modern era, I believe that both Photoshop and Photojournalism need to work hand in hand with the purpose to not just bring across the news to the audience but to create more of an impact or to affect the audience themselves.

Rephrasing from what the writer in the article wrote, Photoshop ruins the true picture instead. The additional post-production and advanced editing causes the photo to lose its true value of that particular moment itself.

"personally think that without the diverse Photoshop filters used by the photographer, the images would have been even better. The framing of the action and of the subject was just perfect. He didn’t need to change anything in post-production."

I choose to believe that Photoshop enhances the picture. Yes of course it creates, adds and exaggerates the drama existing within the photo itself. I don't think that it devalues to picture but it serves as a purpose for an ordinary picture to make it more impactful perhaps, to the eye of the audience. An old photo taken during the 50s or 60s would be deemed as much more deep, vintage or meaningful because of the rich historical background it probably possesses but compared to the many sprucing new age photographers out there, I'd say that it takes more than just an average photo to stand out from the crowd. Thus, that is why Photoshop is needed to help with Photojournalism in this modern era. Not having it is like running a race with one leg - you lose out in the end.

One size fits all!

Click link below to read full article:
http://www.david-campbell.org/2010/10/15/thinking-images-v-1/

I chanced upon this article when I was browsing the net and I remembered the previous discussions pertaining to subject of visual data. The optimistic value of having interesting, coloured visual data as compared to words or figures.

Despite it being colourful and much more appealing aesthetically, it could be credited less due to the fact that the figures given are probably not as close to the actually digits or proximity of the real numbers. Since visuals usually include graphics, this thoughtful map that has been doing the rounds surrounding by those who want a more elaborate view of 'Africa'. When comparing a continent with a country, it runs the risk of perpetuating the homogenization of Africa's 61 political territories into one entity.

Interesting how all the countries and continents could actually come together to be pieced up nicely only, showing the dexterity or proximity of the entire continents'.

The perks of visual data

Visual data found on the web has always been graphically challenged as there has always been competition from different sources in order to garner web audiences to view their sites. Usually, the theme or format of the sites differ greatly from your typical newspaper and magazine formats and lean more towards the less technical side of data reporting. These days, minimalist and more attractive presentation of data is required to be able to not only garner the attention of web audiences but to maintain or to keep them coming back for more. Data is no longer clustered and messy and all over or just wordy and boring. Data presentation has moved on into the 21st century realm of looking like a stud rather than a gentleman.

Edward Tufte, the developer and creater of the layout for Recovery.gov has done the array of web audiences a great big deal of help by breaking down technical terms or big boring words into something more street per say. Finally as an average concerned citizen, one would be able to understand the big boys wall street talk with simpler fundamental terms as seen on the site.

The symbols chosen to represent certain topics or groups seemed to fit rather well with the concept by itself. It was still serious and somehow could seem fun and much more appealing to look at rather than wordy or scientific words that would just put the web audience off.

Once, someone asked what the difference between Art and Design was. It was simply the fact that for art, opinions were not necessary at all. You could hate the installation or the piece by itself and the artist did not need to care at all, but it would've still be known as art. For design however, the target audience is supposed to like or appreciate it. If they aren't on the same page as the artist for the design, then it's pretty obvious that the design has failed.

In this case of course, the #1 rule of getting a certain design layout right would be picking the right colours and format to match the target audience for the website. The website needs to be easy to navigate around as well as the working class citizens don't want to fuss around wordy sites. Another important note is that the website doesn't depict a colouring book or a cartoonish comic strip which is good because adults don't want like to mix business with past time. They usually want their serious/important work kept aside on a different shelf from their toys. A clean and coherent organization of content would suffice greatly for a visual data website so Tufte has done a rather spectacular job in garnering and keeping his audience glued to their seats for this one.

Also, depending greatly on the nature of the website, Tufte matched the design aspect towards the type of data that was needed to be presented. As a web audience, one is immediately presented with relevant information from the beginning(home/main page) thus we are able to interpret the reliabilty and truthfulness of such websites knowing how direct the given information with the plus point of the site hosting a very user-friendly interface.

E - Lecture on Data Visualization and Journalism

Numerously democratic, democratically numerous.

As an individual, I've always been fascinated with the theoretical aspects and the wonders of Numerology. Although the world's statistics for population and death (and other sub-related counts) do not link well with numerology, I believe it is equally thrilling to watch the numbers roll up for head count and roll down for finance. You get live feedback/updates of certain data around the world that could or could not be important, may or may not affect your life, yet you become drawn to the figures naturally because it just sparks some form of indescribable interest of numerology from within.

The chosen examples were taken from http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/.

Albeit the amount of numbers sprawled across the screen, one would not be turned off by the digits or figures as it strikes interest instead if disregard. This website is much more literal than those that depicts pie charts or colour coded parts that conveys a narrative for the data. Although those websites that bang more on the visualization part seems less boring and much more attractive and aesthetically appealing, one would start questioning the proximity of the figures.

What's interesting about websites such as those that are colour coded and more visually aesthetic is that, one can never know how credible or reliable the sources really are. Maybe the figures are somewhat close to the actual count but one can never know the trueness of such websites. However, websites such as this (poodwaddle) may sometimes be used to credit certain statistics because it appears to be much more reliable in terms of the given data that is pretty close to the actual count. Somehow as well, journalism consists of raw data. Once this has been met, people tend to believe or buy the idea that the source is credible.


With the given examples, one can note that data is made available to any average joe for them to gain an insight on their own political, economic and social situations as well as what is going on around the world. Furthermore, data visualization and journalism is a new form of democracy in terms of current information unlike the olden days where these figures were merely used as data kept within the four walls of the ruling capitalists for the sake of power and money. This day and age, the idea of sharing such data shows how we have evolved morally and ethically as a society. Even though the information may not be deemed as important or useful, it is up to every individual to interpret the importance of that piece of information.