Photosynthesis? Not Quite: Second Meditation on Media

Photosynth is less of an actual media than part of the medium. This technology features a new way to interrelate collections of photos. When this technology is introduced to the internet, its pool of photos grows and something really unique emerges. Photos are linked in three dimensional space on a grand scale.

If you have seen Jeff Rutenbeck’s introduction speech as a new Champlain student, you may already know what Photosynth is. When I had a class of his three years ago I showed him a video on the technology as it was developing. That technology in now a reality and is being integrated into programs like Photoshop.

To really understand what Photosynth does you need to see it in action:

 

Cool stuff, right? Now here comes the better part. You can play with Photosynth online. Just follow this link.

Because this is something that will change the way we relate to photos, events and locations, I though it would be proper to meditate on it as a new media.

Facts:

Well, it exists and it’s fun to use.

Triune Brain:

The neo cortex part of your brain will love Photosynth. It allows you to explore places in detail through your photos or the photos of others.

The limbic part of your brain can be pleased by the fluid transitions between the photos as Photosynth turns and stretches them in three dimensional space to fit them together. This helps make you spatially aware of the places these photos are of.

The reptilian brain may not be engaged until you find something you were not expecting, like a face in a photo or change a rapid change in season (for those outdoor places).

Eight Shifts:

Photosynth is a highpoint of the technological shift. Photos have become digital, and now we can take that digital information and relate it to a network of information. Photos now can be something more than their sum when placed together. Now entire replications of places can be made through photo collections.

There is an Aesthetic shift occurring with photos. Now there is more of a reason than ever to bring your vacation photos onto the web to share. Have some pictures of Notre dam? Add them to the online collection and watch as they become part of a nearly perfect recreation of the real thing.

This leads to a cultural shift. Now instead of sharing your photos with friends you are now a collaborator in a collective project. Any photo now has more meaning that what it means to you. It may be possible in the future to navigate entire cities through photos exclusively.

Seven Principles:

Reality construction/trade-offs – Photosynth technology can bring the reality to anyone. Real people take photos of some place and then anyone can view it. When there is an event involved, lets say the Olympics, it can bring an inside look at what happened. The trade-off to this is a loss of privacy. If everyone became involved there would be no public place that your face could become a part of. This may be good, this may be bad.

Ownership comes into question when a company hosts a tool like Photosynth. While no one person can claim ownership on a collective project, who controls it and who makes decisions for it? This is all part of the flimsy copyright laws that we have to deal with in the internet age.

Individual Meaning – While everyone brings individual meanings with each of their photos, another meaning can be garnered from the collective experience. You can view other people’s photos of the same location and find meaning in them for yourself.

Persuasive Techniques:

While this technology doesn’t speak to itself there are some techniques that can be seen.

Simple Solutions – Photosynth technology provides a simple method to interrelate your photos. While your photos can become part of a larger scene they can also pick up meta-data from the collection as well. All this is handled automatically.

Plain Folk – The collections of photos that make Photosynth work over the web are all taken by plain folk like you and me. That fact makes me willing to use the technology and see what it can really do. It feels like a corporate venture and more like a group project in an after school program.

Nostalgia – This one is hit home with anyone who holds some place special to them. If you visited Notre dam and really enjoyed it, you can visit again through other people’s photos.

Group Dynamics – This one is easy. Everyone is becoming a part of a collective and it’s time for you to get involved too.

Photosynth is only one of the new emerging technologies that uses photos in a new way. There is also Seadragon, which changes the way photo data is loaded and displayed, and there is content-aware photo resizing technology that changes the way photos are scaled.