The digital image– history, use in social media, and its power to influence
Summary
This article explores how the digital image evolved from film photography, and how the power to influence with imagery has shifted from being held by a select few to being held by nearly everyone. In the mid 1990’s to the early 2000’s, there was an upheaval in the world of image-making as film photography was turned upside-down by the 35mm quality digital image. With 4 billion new digital images published each day, the sheer volume of images exceeds our current technological ability to analyze digital images in a meaningful way. Before social media, images distributed by media outlets that are charged with emotion became the most iconic images of our time. Now, the digital image is a tool for good and evil and the power to wield it is in the hands of everyone. On the positive side, this article introduces the concept of a ‘contextual timestamp’ forming massive archives of our collective memory. And on the dark side, the ‘digital meme,’ that can represent pockets of hate that threaten our society in fringe web communities. How might we use the digital image as a tool for good?
