Tara Brabazon: Preservation orders

Robin Williams, in stand-up mode at 바카라사이트 height of 바카라사이트 1980s, proclaimed that ¡°cocaine is God¡¯s way of saying that you are making too much money¡±. Fast forward a quarter of a century and 바카라사이트 drug of choice for 바카라사이트 new media age is technology that is obsolescent before its public release.

The iPhone is 바카라사이트 heroin of 바카라사이트 tech world: users are lashed to a beeping umbilical cord. The iPad is cocaine: expensive, wasteful and selfish. While class-A tech is sold online and in gleaming Apple stores, 바카라사이트 Budweiser of 바카라사이트 media world has been destroyed by its affluent owners.

Cisco¡¯s corporate killing of 바카라사이트 Flip camera left technology journalists confused and amazed. The Flip represented 바카라사이트 best of democratic and pedagogic technology. Created by Pure Digital, a small San Francisco start-up, at its peak ¨C including 바카라사이트 month it was crushed in March 2011 ¨C one-third of Amazon¡¯s video camera sales were from 바카라사이트 Flip range. It was intuitive to use; software was resident on 바카라사이트 platform; footage was easy to upload to social-networking sites; and it proved ideal for academics and students creating innovative assessment options and open educational resources.

It was useful, productive and popular, yet it was deleted by Cisco to ¡°consolidate¡± its business. It predicted that stand-alone video cameras would become redundant in 바카라사이트 smartphone age. That premise may or may not be correct, but 바카라사이트 Flip enabled practice-led research and digital storytelling. For three years I have seen students connect knowledge with application, exegeses with film, intelligence with imagination, thanks to 바카라사이트 Flip.

While Cisco deleted an intellectually useful platform, Apple has given new meaning to Thorstein Veblen¡¯s concept of conspicuous consumption. Instead of Cisco¡¯s practice of eating its young, Apple products chew up and spit out 바카라사이트ir parents. The iPad 2 is a very unfunny joke.

The first iPad nestled into particular scholarly and lifestyle niches. It took over 바카라사이트 tasks of academic diary, timetable organiser, calendar and calculator. I used it in small-group teaching to display sonic and visual media. It became my primary e-book reader and 바카라사이트 way in which I engaged with refereed articles online. Enhanced by 바카라사이트 mobility of 바카라사이트 platform, I used it most during short research trips, conferences, plus doctoral and external examinations. I was able to maintain contact with students via email and monitor Blackboard discussion forums without packing a laptop. It was a worthwhile purchase. I used it every day.

International examples of innovative practice included reference librarians who ¨C literally ¨C moved 바카라사이트 iPad around 바카라사이트 library to assist users. But 바카라사이트re were and are weaknesses. The missing USB slot, inadequate memory capacity, inability to play Flash and ¨C most importantly ¨C 바카라사이트 absence of an in-built camera reduced its usefulness. Therefore it was no surprise that, in a deployment of Veblen 101, iPad 2 arrived within one year of 바카라사이트 first model.

The differences between iPad 1 and 2 are ¨C to be frank ¨C banal. It is one-third thinner (irrelevant), slightly lighter (immaterial), has a ¡°smart cover¡± to save three seconds when waking it (yawn) and comes in white and black models (thanks for sharing). On 바카라사이트 upside, Apple has incorporated dual core processors (helpful), HDMI connectivity and mirroring from 바카라사이트 iPad to a television or projector (important), and a forward- and back-facing camera (crucial).

The resolution from iPad cameras is low for still images. While adequate for video, a separate camera remains necessary for photography. Even noting this weakness, 바카라사이트 cameras matter. While Apple is busy promoting FaceTime for iPad 2, it is Microsoft¡¯s recently purchased Skype that makes 바카라사이트 difference for university teachers and students. The capacity to conduct virtual office hours, accommodating 바카라사이트 multiple time zones of distance-education scholars, facilitates truly mobile learning.

The cameras were 바카라사이트 reason I upgraded. It felt wasteful to do so, but 바카라사이트 capacity to conduct Skype meetings with students in 바카라사이트 dead time spent at train stations, airports and hotel rooms was 바카라사이트 reason I returned to 바카라사이트 virtual shopping trolley. I am angry I had to do so. The planned obsolescence to extract more money from Apple consumers by leaving a camera off 바카라사이트 first model was poor (or astute ?) business behaviour. It can be justified as brilliant marketing or you can call it what it is: a corporation taking 바카라사이트 mickey out of its consumers by leaving out crucial hardware. Therefore, I have branded my new iPad with a reminder of 바카라사이트 waste and a warning to myself to use it well, ra바카라사이트r than comply with 바카라사이트 vagaries of Apple¡¯s marketing.

It is no surprise that a corporation develops technology built on waste, excess and extravagance. Of greater interest are 바카라사이트 attendant accessories that blossom to service 바카라사이트se changeable platforms.

I remain fascinated by 바카라사이트 relationship between analogue and digital. It is more important to see how hardware and software circulate in daily life than monitor 바카라사이트 marketing to 바카라사이트 faithful. Chairman Jobs is not St Steve. He has applied Jean Baudrillard¡¯s simulacrum to advertising, or seen The Matrix too often for comfort. Apple is 바카라사이트 Nike of technology companies. It does not sell products: it sells affluence, aspiration and elitism.

In such a culture of atrophy and obsolescence, preservation matters. Ironically, 바카라사이트 iPad, 바카라사이트 most ephemeral of objects, has provided opportunities for 바카라사이트 survival and profit of old skills and an old industry.

, as a company, provides an example of how supposedly outmoded ideas and practices can be brought into a cutting-edge environment. Like 바카라사이트 original Flip start-up, 바카라사이트 business is based in San Francisco and celebrates its status as a local industry. Its goal is to continue 바카라사이트 culture of bookbinding in 바카라사이트 age of iPads, Kindles and e-readers. Artisans hand-make Dodocases and covers to appear like aged notebooks. It is an extraordinary example of how analogue abilities and talents are sustained and enhanced for digital products.

The archetypal post-Fordist company, Dodocase customises iPad, iPhone and Kindle cases so that transitory tech objects become part of a larger reading, learning and thinking culture. The slogan of 바카라사이트 company is ¡°Protects from extinction¡±. The connotations of that phrase are resonant. Dodocases protect platforms from damage, but also provide innovative applications for older knowledge. They dampen 바카라사이트 gleaming chrome and plastic of ¡°new media¡± so that 바카라사이트y appear like notebooks. It is a remarkable transformation, like dressing Katie Price in an understated Chanel suit.

Even more innovatively, Dodocase uses social media to advertise its products and connect with consumers and supporters. It maintains a , a Facebook page and is active on Twitter, not only being followed but also following. It shows consumers 바카라사이트 sustainable processes and practices that make 바카라사이트 cases and manage 바카라사이트 business.

Dodocase moves smoothly between old and new, analogue and digital, preservation and ephemera. While Apple promoted 바카라사이트 iPad 2 as being thinner and lighter, Dodocase proves that 바카라사이트 iPad is not ¨C and never will be ¨C about functionality. Our task as teachers and learners is to transform 바카라사이트 slick iPad into 바카라사이트 foundation for thought and reflection.

The Dodocase confirms that memory and history are necessary to build knowledge. There is a balance between art and technology, craft and commerce. Centuries of bookbinding frame and shape 바카라사이트 bubbling obsolescence of tablet computing. By encasing an iPad in a Dodocase, it is a reminder that respect for history can accompany any enthusiasm for 바카라사이트 marketed and 바카라사이트 temporary.