Plus Ça Change

distinctive take on the study of photography, yet in From Snapshots to Social Media: The Changing Picture of Domestic Photography they set themselves a challenge.Attempting to find a "middle ground" between interaction design research, which they find "technology-centric", and the Cultural Studies-influenced Visual Culture, they aim to address perceived imbalances between these differing approaches in their survey of domestic photography by drawing together literature from both sides.The authors argue, in their favour, that photography studies are inherently interdisciplinary, stating "Few systems have had the privilege of being studied in the arts and humanities, engineering, design, the social sciences and business studies".(p.183) With an awareness that "issues such as privacy, power, social structures and economic factors are almost missing from design-oriented science and engineering research" and that "historical, cultural and political contexts are often absent" from technology studies, (p. 3) this book is their attempt to provide historical and cultural photographic context for their intended readership: "researchers, engineers, and designers of digital imaging technologies, social media, and Web services or other products relying on mediated social interaction."(p. 2)The authors pursue this aim by following a structure that sections the history of photographic technology into three consecutive periods, which they label 'The Portrait Path (ca.1830s-1890s)', 'The Kodak Path (ca.1888-1990s)' and 'The Digital Path (ca.1990-)', but not before they have spent a chapter defending their approach.Arguing for a Kuhnian model based on an understanding that technological changes are non-linear, non-cumulative and non-incremental, but are instead based on paradigm shifts, they posit that changes in media come about cyclically.They state that change begins when established technological patterns are disrupted, leading to an "era of ferment", and ending with a new path "characterised by a dominant design".(p.14) At pains to defend this method from accusations of technological determinism, they spend some time in the early chapters of the book detailing what they are not claiming: that "the inherent qualities of the technology are the sole determiners of the path".(p.18) They state that reductionist historical readings, and a lack of attention to social and economic factors, has led to the creation of technological myths, particularly in relation to Kodak, and that this is an approach that they will be careful to avoid

Philosophy · Photographic and Visual Arts · Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media · Visual Culture and Art Theory

• Dialogues et réceptions interdisciplinaires

  Open Access•Patrick Fraysse, Carole Bonnet•Anabases•2024

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