Valentí Sanjuan

On Thursday afternoon a guest speaker lead a discussion in Journalism 2.0. His name was Valení San Juan. We had conducted some research before he arrived, watched his videos, heard stories about his fearless escapades from our professor (Pipo Serrano), but nothing could have prepared us when we actually met Mr. San Juan.  Valentí San Juan walked into our classroom, pointed a camera at us, after asking permission, and began his discussion with our class asking us what his job title was, or what exactly he did for a living. I was immidiately intrigued. Blogger? Adventure Specialist? Journalist? T.V personality? I too, along with the rest of the class was stumped. I’d watched his videos, I knew what his work very well, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on what exactly it would be called.

Surprisingly, Google isn’t very helpful with this question either. When you look up Valentí you can see his repitiore of various videos and segments on “Visto Lo Visto (VLV), or his television show “Etiquetats” but nothing really tells you specifically what he does, or more importantly, what it took to get him there.

Valenti’s road to success was not a conventional one, nor was it easy. Some may think because he gets to pretty much work on his own schedule, and do “whatever he wants”, people may think he lives the dream life. And while that may all be true, he had to work much harder than one would imagine. There was a long journey, with many obstacles that lead to his current success. Starting off as a broadcast journalist on Catalunya Ràdio, to many cases of trial and error sampling multiple demographics and other various combinations of audiences, topics, and coworkers, to working alone, to spreading his talent worldwide using just his camera, Valenti’s career path is unlike any one else’s. Sanjuan has a total of four Youtube channels – vistolovistoTV with 135,956 subscribers, ETIQUETAGS with 10,660 subscribers, ValentiEstaLoco with 60,590 subscribers, and Mercè Sanjuan with 7,816 subscribers.When you see each of his videos you can see the true genius that is behind them. You can tell the detail that goes into every segment, the hours of film recorded and not used, the demographic tests, the countless sleepless nights that go into being one of the most successful “Youtube-ers” on the Internet.

Using a television-type-format his show looks just like a high quality program on television with a live audience (200 online viewers per month). He has created a new frontier of what one is capable of or what the internet today is capable of. There are so many career paths like Valenti’s that have not yet been discovered. So many people that are too afraid to take the leaps of faith that Valentí did to get to where he is. So many people told him no, as he explained, but he didn’t listen.

Even after his contract wasn’t renewed for Catalunya Ràdio, he persevered. Rather than broadcasting his show on the radio, he streamed it through the Internet, he knew the product had to change in order to attract financial funding. This was Sanjuan’s first step in joining the worlds of radio and television.
He knew his dream, maybe not in a job title or within the bounds of what is considered “acceptable” in society, but he knew what he was meant to do and he went out and did it.

So many people today have dreams outside the realm of doctor, or lawyer, or other more common professions. What a dream it is to be able to create your own brand, be an “adventurer”, to be able to run thousands of miles in honor of your mother, to complete an Iron Man, to fly to New York to do an ad for Turkish Airlines, to do an ad for Coca-Cola.

 To be able to spread your message to so many people, to be your own boss creating your own site, to truly live your own manifested dream, rather than what someone else envisioned for you. And, more than that, to be able to not just settle for one job title. Valenti gets to have at least seven jobs at once and, according to his website, by combining his various projects, Sanjuan has over 7 million YouTube views each month and nearly 3 million followers on his combined social networks. With such a wide reach and ability to influence that many people, he is an expert at digital marketing any brand, whether his own or another company’s.This knowledge and experience catalyzed the creation of Sanjuan’s own media agency/production company called Gordon Seen. Gordon Seen marries people like Youtuber’s, Bloggers, Instagrammer’s, with companies who want their content produced. It seems as if his work is limitless, like he can do anything he sets his mind to and encourages others to do so too without fear of failure or rejection.That is purely “a part of the journey”, as he so astutely explained in class. He is a true inspiration and example of how lucky we are to be a part of this generation and what we have access to. So often we use just the minimal amount and don’t understand the true impact we can have or people we can reach with one Youtube post or keeping a video diary. Our adventures, like Sanjuan’s, can motivate and inspire so many other people, we have so much more power than we realize and Valenti is a true leader of that concept.

Multimedia Report

Some of the most influential books, sayings, poems of all time were published with no name. They are out there, on people’s bookshelves, framed on walls, quoted in movies, with no one to claim them. They transcend without ownership. This concept is easily applicable in relevance to the anonymity of street art and what it means to typical art culture and viewing practices. Much different than traditional art and even early graffiti, the anonymous works that are found on construction walls, street corners, and shop grates rather than hung in museums, and pose a difficult yet exciting complex for the street art, or, art-history enthusiast that happens upon them.

Often hilarious, poignant, or simply gibberish,  anonymous street art works, whether wheat-pasted, spray-painted, hand-painted or a combination of all three, project a purity of artistic expression, singularly representing art for art’s sake. On the other hand, they may lack a point whatsoever, which is an idea equally as intriguing. No matter the case, they remind society of the freedom of art, how it can mean everything or nothing at all. It is absent of profit, of fame, of definition, it exists for the sake of self expression.

Thinking about the impact of anonymous street art can warrant a tremendous amount of varied, and maybe even contradictory thoughts, which may come out as a jumbled mess with no end. Like anonymous street art itself, no conclusion can truly be made or question answered. Street art, in a way, demands to be felt. It demands to be noticed. It provokes thoughts in every person that wanders down a street and come across a beautiful piece of art near some bags of garbage.

First, what exactly is anonymous street art? It is simply impossible to determine an exact definition. If one were to Google “anonymous street art,” the first two pages are filled with various articles on Banksy. Is Banksy really anonymous? Nobody knows his (assuming it’s one person) real identity, yet, he has become enough of a celebrity that many argue that his work, which was first created illegally, should be protected or preserved. Clearly, Banksy is not anonymous in the traditional use of the word, but in the street art culture, he invented it. The style of his art revolves around his hidden identity and his signature, a route which many street artists have copied. Both Keith Haring’s subway drawings to Shepard Fairey’s OBEY were anonymous until they were discovered. Perhaps that is the idea after all, a game avoiding discovery.

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So the question remains, at what point does a street artist stop being anonymous? Is all street art anonymous until it becomes more popular? It seems impossible to truly define what is anonymous street art.

But maybe that’s not the point. Perhaps anonymity comes as a result of artists not wanting to be discovered. Perhaps living in the shadows allows an artist to release all inhibitions and truly self express without being hindered by definition.

Coming across an anonymous piece of street art provokes a certain surge of excitement, finding something new that perhaps no one else has ever seen. Without the artist’s identity, without a date, the work seems mysterious as if it just appeared there by itself. In a world where throughout art history, the work is s0 intricately connected to identity, viewing anonymous street art is an almost liberating, new experience that revolutionizes art and the culture associated.  .

For example, when art is discussed in school, students are taught to memorize the artist’s name, title of the work, and date. For art-history, the identity of the artist is integral to understanding the work and how the artist’s work progresses over their life or in relation to the different art historical movements.

One of the pivotal reasons that anonymous street art appeals to so many people is its backlash, or rebellion against the historical art-viewing process. Many indoctrinated art history students and teachers express they have a tough time processing these anonymous street works, and many of them, as a result, are leaders in efforts to discontinue street art overall. Barring the fact that street art is still widely ignored by universities, the anonymity of the artist is a concept still adamantly rejected by professionals in the art industry.

That being said, imagine if all of art history was taught without the identity of the artist. Suddenly, all of art would be open to wider interpretations without being stuck in a meaningless cycle of artistic movements and personalities. A whole new world of limitless meaning is created without the boundary of a “right” answer. Anonymous street art radically poses the question of how much an artist’s identity really matters to art-viewing.

Separate from both legal art and graffiti, anonymous street art sets up a complex relationship with the viewer who wants to both appreciate the work and find out who the artist is. But in the end, does it matter if the artist’s name is known? What does one get from a name? There are those who may obsessively try to figure out who did the work and where they come from, but for some, the art is enough and the anonymity is part of the masterpiece.

I’m lucky enough to know an anonymous street artist personally. His work can be seen in and around a multitude of cities in multiple countries to which he bears no credit, no permanent ownership, no control over his audience. To him, and others like him, his real-life Clark Kent/Superman-esque secret is far more important than any of that.

The name is Ostertag.

*Disclaimer: I will refer to the artist as “he” throughout this article in order to respect the artist’s wishes to remain anonymous.

This street artist thrives off random thought, impulse, and his incredibly unique pattern making talent. Ostertag is a collection of stickers, in various sizes and shapes, some typed, some individually marked splashed around cities on poles, bike stands, walls, mailboxes, nearly any blank space he can find, really.

The simplicity of his simultaneously intricate work is remarkable. His work is absolutely unmistakable and hard to miss.  An original Ostertag design will either read a certain, quirky random message, or will leave viewers staring, trying to decode a hidden message/language impeded in the patterns. His work is impossible to replicate, not one design is like the next, which is what makes these designs, or any art for that matter, so impressive. Ostertag’s casual approach to displaying his designs, is emblematic of the true essence of street art. A rebellion against pretension.

It wasn’t until I met this artist when I really understood the thrill and excitement of street art. How it is a lifestyle, a passion, a whole secret world, and at the same time one can have an entirely separate identity void of art of any kind. Lawyers, doctors, janitors, just about anyone could have one occupation and life and be a world famous street artist at the same time without anyone knowing.

Leaving a piece of you somewhere is a privlage unlike anything else and that’s exactly what street art is: the ability to leave ones own, personal mark on the world. Whenever I visit this artist I take some stickers with me that, in efforts to spread his work, he lets me post them along my many travels wherever I wish.

I’ll never forget walking down the streets of Paris last month, a city I’d never visited before, and doing a double-take after seeing an Ostertag sticker on a brown pole in the middle of the street. I knew I was walking where Ostertag once walked and that, to me, was when I finally understood what street art is capable of making one feel. It makes one feel a connection, a sense of ownership of unchartered territories, a sense of belonging, a feeling of influence, an unrivaled ability to touch lives, something every human longs for.

Ostertag kindly offered to do an exclusive interview for “Streetheart” last week. Of course, the interview had to be conducted using only audio in order for Ostertag to continue his anonymous crusade around the world leaving his mark on every street corner and street sign for years to come.

Multimedia and Storytelling

From a ship in the South China Sea, to the cost of health care in the United States, to various company websites, the range of subjects is broad, but the common thread is the form of multimedia storytelling: a somewhat new integration of text, video, photography and graphics.

These features, for the most part created in the hours and days after the events, answer the most basic questions (i.e. what and where and when) but also to demonstrate the scale of the news but in a completely new, more efficient way and make information through websites or blogs easily and efficiently accessible to the public.

The visual explanations come in all forms, including video, motion graphics and hand-drawn metaphors. The images and interactivity in these features are the central elements around which the stories are built. Covering nearly any subject, charts, maps, diagrams and tutorials fit into this grouping of visualization features.

Multimedia storytelling, as we learned in class, is definitely not the easiest thing to do but it seems most successful websites and most aesthetically pleasing layouts have an aspect of digital storytelling incorporated in some way. Including video, or voice recording largely enhances the way a story is told which is one reason multimedia storytelling is so impactful. It takes journalism to an entirely new level; it is, in my opinion the new frontier for journalism of all kinds.

There are thousands of examples of multimedia storytelling on the internet. We see them every single day and probably don’t even notice. I know I certainly did not before learning about it, now I notice it everywhere. For example, this past February marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and there was no shortage of compelling multimedia to pay tribute to those who died there. Perhaps one of the most innovative was an interactive video developed by BBC News. The presentation includes dramatic footage, compelling narrative and interactive features that allow viewers to choose which parts of the story they want to explore further. It’s worth noting that BBC editors couldn’t have picked a better story for this format because the enhanced interactivity creates a dramatic sense of connectedness, changing video viewing from a passive experience to one of deeper physical and emotional engagement.

MOCA’S “ART IN THE STREETS”

MOCA’s “Art in the Streets” is generating controversy on the theme of art and crime: Should a museum “glorify” criminal activity? It’s not entirely academic. At least one artist in the show, the French-born Invader, has apparently been placing his trademark video-game mosaics in downtown L.A. For the record, that’s nothing new. Long before the MOCA show, the well-travelled Invader placed mosaics on the Hollywood Sign and Randy’s Donuts (left).

Practically all of the artists in the MOCA show have tagged or otherwise ignored property rights, and many still do. On the other hand, the only illegally created works in the show would seem to be a few Keith Haring subway drawings—which New Yorkers, who know from graffiti, mostly adored. Many Haring drawings were peeled from subway walls by collectors illegally, and preserved as art. That’s probably how they ended up at MOCA.

The MOCA show doesn’t take a position on the ethics of using someone else’s property for art. Which is what most critics are faulting it for. Among those critics, journalist Heather Mac Donald, in the City Journal, condems the “conscience-less amorality of “Art in the Streets”.” She goes on to call everyone in the show a “graffiti vandal” and notes, “many photos feature vandalized property.“

Art shows aren’t generally in the business of offering legal advice and moral guidance. How many El Greco shows take a “position” on the Spanish Inquisition? That doesn’t mean that the curators are secret Spanish Inquisition sympathizers. It just means that they’re chronicling art history the way it happened, not the way we wish it had happened.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed former LAPD Chief William J. Bratton stating, “If you want to be an artist, buy a canvas.”

MOCA representatives have defended this initiative explaining, “We want to put out an inspirational message: If you harness your talent you can be in a museum someday, make a contribution and a living from it.”

To me, street art is a very democratic form of art. If it’s considered “garbage” then someone’s going to paint over it quickly but if it’s a “masterpiece” then no-one would dream of painting over it. MOCA, to me, is simply just acclimating to the times and preserving what might otherwise be destroyed by governments. So much goes into making a piece of street art. Yet its transient nature puts it at risk of being scrubbed out and lost forever. This is today’s art. This is our generation’s art and deserves to be honored and exhibited. 

MOCA San Diego’s Hugh Davies, who did a Shepard Fairey show, is less upbeat but takes a similarly economic perspective:

“There’s an anarchic culture that doesn’t want to go through the chain of going to art school, [then getting into a] gallery and museum. It’s like, ‘I want to do it in my own way, I’m not in it for the market.’“

I think that idea is something to be celebrated, not condemned. Critics can say whatever they please, street art is art just like any other. It is self expression, it is the pulse of our generation and should not be synonymous with crime or any other derogatory term. Nor should MOCA be shamed for deciding to give it the platform it so rightfully deserves.

Guide to Street Art in New York City

“In the wake of the global growth of interest in art in the streets, one form of tourism that may soon be blowing up could be graffiti excursions, street art sightseeing, [and] mural journeying,” Brooklyn street artists Jaime Rojo and Steven Harrington recently stated.

If you are one of the many street art and graffiti enthusiasts who couldn’t imagine a vacation without galavanting around alleyways and buildings, searching for that great piece of urban art, I have the perfect map for you. I’ve compiled a list of my, as well as my family and friends’, favorite street art masterpieces in New York City from the Bronx to Coney Island and created a guide for exploring street art in New York City:

First, Brooklyn! The “mecca” of street art in New York and home of hundreds of up-and-coming street artists today.

1. Coney Island’s Os Gemeos Mural: Check out this locale for a dose of Os Gemeos, the Brazilian twins who’ve been in the street art game since the 1980s. (Location: Stillwell Avenue across the street from the subway station)

1. Red Hook’s Swoon Mural: If you love the wheatepastes of Caledonia Dance Curry, aka Swoon, this spot is for you. (Location: Pioneer Street and Conover Street)

3. DUMBO Walls: Big names like CAM, DALeast, Eltono, Shepard Fairey, Faith47, MOMO, Stefan Sagmeister, and Yuko Shimizu populate the DUMBO Walls, a stretch of eight murals sponsored by DUMBO Improvement District and Two Trees Management Co, along with the New York City Department of Transportation Urban Art Program (NYCDOT) and the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (Location: Multiple locations, see them all here)

D. Bushwick Collective: Bushwick is generally a great place for street art tourism. But the best place to start is the Bushwick Collective, a self-described outdoor street art gallery of artists from around the world. (Location: Troutman Street at Saint Nicholas Avenue)

E. Moore Street: After taking in the beauty of Troutman Street, head a few blocks away to Moore Street for more Bushwick graffiti. (Location: Moore Street between Seigel Street and White Street)

The Bronx

1. Hunt’s Point: This 200-foot long mural is run by TATS CRU. This is a must-see mecca. (Location: Spofford Avenue & Drake Street)

2. Tuff City: This tattoo parlor is a popular spot for taggers. Like the traditional tattoo work done inside, the designs tend to veer into traditional graffiti as well. (Location: 650 Fordham Road)

Manhattan

1. L’asso: Grab a slice and see some street art. This pizzeria is graffiti-friendly. (Location: 192 Mott Street)

2. Freeman Alley: Another alley, another place to see street art. The walls beg for tags, and then you can grab a cocktail at Freemans Restaurant. It’s a win-win. (Location: 8 Rivington Street)

3. Centre-Fuge Public Art Project: This is a rotating outdoor gallery at the corner of 1st and 1st. What more could you want? (Location: 1st Street and 1st Avenue)

4. Houston Bowery Wall: From Keith Haring (above) to Maya Hayuk, this wall is a constantly changing canvas. (Location: East Houston Street and Bowery)

Queens:

1. Welling Court Murals: Murals stretch for blocks and blocks here. Without 5 Pointz, that no longer exists, this is the place to see street art in Queens. (Location: Start at 30th Avenue and Welling Court)

In my opinion, aside from more obvious landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, street art is a must-see if you want to capture the true, modern, heartbeat of the people of New York and the state itself.

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Street Art in Hong Kong: The Umbrella Revolution

A colorful “invasion” of Hong Kong that formerly brighten the days of passers-by has been suppressed by government workers taking orders to keep public areas free from street art. In the wake of Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central”,  government should embrace the upcoming cultural movement in accepting and celebrating more unconventional form of art such as the paintings on the walls that are repeatedly being painted over all over the city.

It all started on Sept. 26, when hundreds of students gathered in a courtyard in Central Hong Kong, demanding an end to Chinese oppression and control. China’s modern history with Hong Kong has been complicated, to say the least. For more than 150 years, Hong Kong belonged to Britain. Then in 1997 Britain handed the thriving metropolis back to China in a political deal called “One Country, Two Systems,” which allowed Hong Kong to maintain some of the freedoms and independence mainland Chinese people do not have, such as freedom of expression, press and the right to assemble.

But this summer China started to backpedal. It announced to Hong Kong that those elections could proceed only if the Chinese government selected all the candidates. To the people of Hong Kong, that meant they wouldn’t have much control over their own government after all.

Soon after this news, the students hit the streets, and thousands from Hong Kong rushed to join them in the days that followed. These protesters have come from all over China and all hold different, yet similar ideologies, all demanding seize of government suppression. Most recently the Umbrella Revolution has focused on spreading their message through various forms of street art. This street art is called the “invasion” and has been popping up all over Hong Kong. The government time and time again paints over these murals and arrests, tear gasses, or punishes any one involved. Such self expression that is celebrated and accepted in most modern societies is a major point of content in Hong Kong. Protestors against the removal of these murals have invaded the city under the Umbrella Revolution and their fight continues even now. It seems as though this will be a long road until street art or any form of true self expression prevails against China’s stifling government.

“Sometimes Hong Kong feels like a non-fun zone,” said student-citizen Every-Wortman. “Some restrictions make sense, because there are so many people here. But I hope slowly government can be not to be too strict on certain rules, and it will continue to change as people fight for public space and expression in said spaces.”

To understand how the protests have escalated to this point, click this link, so as we watch the conflict develop.

Street Art Project, by Google Cultural Institute

One of the many beauties of street art is its ability to reach the most public audience of any other form of art in existence. That being said, because the canvas is mostly a wall and semi-permenant, only people visiting said street get the pleasure of viewing it. That is, until now…

Google recently announced it was bringing street art online through several galleries from around the world, Google  revealed it is doubling the number of high-resolution images available to more than 10,000, while also making it available through Chrome, Chromecast, and Android Wear so anyone can appreciate them.

This initiative is titled “The Google Art Project” and is part of the overall Google Cultural Institute. The Google Cultural Institute is the subsection of Google that has been working with art and cultural institutions to digitize offline exhibits. For street art specifically, Google has been working with 86 art organizations from 34 countries to help preserve some of the cool urban creations on walls and buildings around the world.

For this venture, Google partnered with many organizations such as The Mural Arts Program with the hope of preserving street art long after the paint has faded from the walls. The Mural Arts Program is one of the organizations, aforementioned, participating around the world in the preservation of street art through digital means.

The digital collection contains more than 10,000 images, 160 new exhibits and animated “GIF-iti” art from around the world, bringing street art, of all kinds, off the walls to computers and mobile phones a with just a simple Internet connection.

This new Google initiative to savor the creations of street artists for an even more public audience, utilizes technology and its ability to provide a way to preserve these artworks and make them available anywhere and anytime.
For the Mural Arts Program, partnering with Google was an opportunity to reach an audience beyond a certain state or neighborhood that may not have been able to see its work otherwise.

“Google reported it’s latest venture stating, “last June, we added street art from all over the globe—including 5Pointz—to the Google Art Project. Today, we’re doubling the number of public artworks to more than 10,000 high-resolution images. Eighty-five art organizations from 34 countries are sharing pieces, ranging from Sweden’s most famous street festival, to water tanks wrapped with art among New York city’s rooftops, to the abandoned walls of Buenos Aires that are a source of inspiration for street artists from all over the world.”

Amit Sood, director of the Google Cultural Institute and head of the new art project, went on to note,

“You don’t need to be tied to your desktop to enjoy these fantastic collections. All these images are now available on a device near you with Chrome, Chromecast, Android Wear and your mobile devices. Turn your TV screen into a vibrant backdrop and add some color to your smartwatch with our new Street Art Watch Faces.”

Social Networks

Social Networks, or social media in general is so inherent in our day-to-day lives we often don’t even notice it. We’ve become so social media reliant most of our daily interactions occur on computers or our phones. For instance, even people we’re close to now only send us Facebook messages on our birthday.

And we’ve become such a disconnected society. We’ve become lazy in many senses, we’ve become dependent on technology. We no longer pick up the phone because we feel someone is probably not going to answer and it might be more efficient to use a social network because people are quicker to respond. We no longer leave personal voicemails. In fact, nearly all things using a voice is obsolete, hearing someone’s voice tone and excitement in someone’s voice is very rare nowadays when the only social interaction we get is through social networks. We’ve become a society that’s so reliant on technology we’ve forgotten how to communicate with each other.

The other day, I was in line at my favorite restaurant. There were five people in the line and no exaggeration, every single one was on their iPhone, including myself. Not one person was talking to or connecting with anyone there in front of them. Everybody was tweeting, reading Facebook posts or texting somebody, probably talking about how they’re at dinner or what they’re going to eat. Whenever I feel uncomfortable in a social situation, or I’m by myself waiting for a friend, or even walking down a street my head is looking down at my phone. How can you meet people if you don’t ever raise your eyes off your phone? Trust me, I’m guilty of it myself but when you start to notice it you’ll see how far it has gone. 

Initially I wanted to say we’ve disconnected so much with everything, that we’ve lost real relationships with these addictions to social networks. But, when I really thought about it subjectively, I think it brings me closer to people. It helps me stay connected especially while I’m thousands of miles away from many of my friends and family. It helps me touch base with people I normally wouldn’t have time to call or even text. By “liking” something on Facebook, for example, I’m able to, in a way, touch base with one of my friends that I otherwise would have not spoken to that day. That being said, once I started to pay attention, I discovered I’m on my phone for about 90% of each day if not on the computer.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have all done an amazing job. The creators, in my opinion, are geniuses, they really are. They’ve trained us to completely rely on them, hold all our information, and made us essentially devote our lives to them every single day.

Technology has made the world simpler. We now no longer really need to talk to people in-person. Social media profits off people’s inherent or created social phobias who don’t want to talk to people anyway, and don’t desire deeper connections or relationships. It’s essentially a cop-out. 

When I don’t have my phone and my social networks on hand I feel like I’m missing a limb. I get an uncontrollable sense of anxiety and even loneliness. And I know others feel this same way,but how sad is that? How many of you go out and check your e-mails, your Facebook, or anything else at the strangest hours? You’re about to fall asleep and you think to yourself, “let me check my e-mail one more time.” I know I’ve missed countless hours of sleep at night because I can’t stop mindlessly checking all my various social networks and their constant new content.

We need to be not ruled by social networks. We need to go out there and actually connect to the world around us. Technology has made our life easier, but it’s stopped us from connecting face-to-face. I appreciate what it has done for us, and continues to do for us but I do think we still need human contact on any level. Want to find out how addicted you really are? Click here to get the answer

Los Angeles

This week I returned back to the US for my cousins wedding in my hometown, Los Angeles. Despite the many hours of traveling, I was pleasantly reminded where my intrigue and fascination of street art really originated. Aside from being the birthplace of several pioneer street artists, Los Angeles is home to some of the most important displays of street art in the world. Los Angeles is known as being a creative mecca in many senses; It’s known for its tremendous amounts of creatives along with the inherent importance to which self expression is held in its culture. L.A is covered in thousands of murals of street art representational of all forms, some dating as far back to the 1960’s. From Retna, to Banksy, to the thousands of anonymous displays sprinkled throughout.

Although present in nearly every area of Los Angeles, few areas of L.A. provide a more condensed collection of the best in local street art than the Arts District, located on the eastern edge of Downtown. I decided, with my newfound purpose to report my experiences with street art, to take the famous Downtown LA Art Walk. This free of charge art walk brings together art-lovers from all around the Los Angeles Area and out of state to witness the ever-evolving streets of Downtown LA every month on the 2nd Thursday of each month from 6pm-10pm. Many of the Downtown Art Walk activities take place in and around the galleries predominantly on Spring and Main street, between 2nd and 9th street. Honestly, if you drive to Downtown LA, you can’t miss it. As I walked and talked to more and more people I grew to understand the palpable culture within this monthly celebration. One man informed me that for the true, art buyers and fans, he suggests arriving early to experience a more relaxing stroll through the different galleries and art exhibits. When I initially arrived, I was daunted and semi-overwhelmed by the amount of people that crowded the streets. Everyone was meeting up with friends, indulging in the local experience, dining on the many food trucks, and watching the various street performances. There was a very astounding sense of community, albeit very welcoming, everyone was greeting each other as if they were old friends. Later, I learned the majority of people there are monthly visitors so there is a very strong sense of vibrant community. There are many, many  different galleries and all completely different from one another. I saw then why people continuously come back because there’s no way to see them all in one trip! I left after two hours of walking and once I’d reached the end of one gallery, I thought I’d completed the tour to its entirety. Clearly I was incredibly wrong, but it definitely left me itching to go back and determined to experience every single thing this tour has to offer. Click here for directions.

Citizen Journalism

In January 2011, a news release from Jamaica’s Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) stated that a man who attacked the police had been shot and killed. It was not long after, however, that a citizen of the country began circulating video footage which told an entirely different story. The footage showed the man who was said to have attacked the police, seemingly writhing in pain, being beaten with a police baton and finally shot and killed while still down and unarmed.

The identity of that citizen who videotaped those images resulting in the arrest of the two policemen was never revealed, despite appeals from law enforcement officials. The action by that Jamaican citizen brought into focus the fact that information and communication tools, such as cell phones and the Internet, are bringing about a level of access to information that is unprecedented in daily life. Blogs, forums, uploading of pictures or videos to the Internet, are now being labelled ‘citizen journalism’ as distinct from raditional, mainstream or professional journalism.

The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional or formal training in journalism have an opportunity to use the tools of modern technology and the seemingly limitless reach of the Internet in order to create certain content that would otherwise not be revealed, because this kind of journalism is able to go far beyond the reach of professional journalism.

By definition, “citizen journalism, or “participatory journalism” as it is also called, is the act of a citizen or group of citizens involved in the process of collecting, reporting, analysing and distributing news and other forms of information.” The objective of this type of journalism is to provide independent, wide-ranging and relevant information that is crucial to informing societies.”

Journalist Peter Dooley suggests that “traditional journalism is the outside looking in. Citizen journalism is the inside looking out. In order to get the complete story, it helps to have both points of view.” Dooley’s argument suggests that there is a place for this emerging phenomenon called citizen journalism, as well as for the profession that has been practised for decades called mainstream or traditional journalism.

Citizen journalism, as we know it now, was popularised in the late 1990s as more and more people, in both the developed and developing worlds, became connected to the Internet. The term is viewed as an umbrella term that covers blogging as well as other institutional practices such as the opportunity mentioned before, provided by one of Jamaica’s three free-to-air television stations, CVM Television. CVM’s “I-Watch Report” segment allows viewers to send in reports of events or activities in their location. Other definitions include any form of user-generated content or contribution to the debate that is taking place in the public. These would include postings on personal websites and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.  Nationwide news stations and networks , have made these sites a regular part of their commentary as they solicit views, in forms of videos, or tweets from listeners and incorporate these in their current affairs programs.