Digital Commons and Open Source Initiatives
The world of art today is a business, in a sense, it has long been this way. However, today’s artists are not as keen to toil in obscurity and many turn to the burgeoning Graphic Design industry. Spurred by global consumerism, the professional Graphic Designer utilizes innovative and engaging content to sell the company’s products by the most compelling means possible. Many new digital graduates, lacking the resources to create professional level sample reels, can turn to Open Source materials in an attempt to and that extra shine to a project, this is particularly useful in terms of sound as the right music has the ability to transform a piece from a student film into one of seamless professionalism. This may also be applied to students of print marking, as a portfolio may be greatly reinforced with strong sample advertisements. Yet not many students have the funds or time to travel unique locations, the ability to utilize Open Source images allows the student to take world class photographs in unique locations as a base on which to build sample advertisements.
The Digital Commons landscape itself is varied, offering students, even outside the arts, a plethora of digital media, including books. This allows the level of professionalism afforded to people who are still learning to increase to an outstanding level. Further, the addition of Open Source software, which grew out of the earliest days of personal computing and became on organization in the form of the Open Source Initiative in 1998, has opened the door for many to learn, create and utilize new media. By making the means of production accessible to everyone is as important in the advancement of arts and in general, civilization, as the implementation of wide spread literacy programs in the early twentieth century. The more people who become media literate, the more we as a whole will benefit.
As a Multimedia Artist preparing to graduate in less than three weeks, I have found myself over the past year creating a small portfolio. While I am a writer by trade and find fiction to be my forte, a broad net must be cast to secure successful employment. The majority of my portfolio was created, at least in part, by Open Source Materials. Whether it be the head shots I retouched to exhibit my abilities in print media or the music I added to my films to enhance the narrative, I utilized a wide range of new and open media.
All of the images below I created using Open Source images to enhance potential advertisements.
Really interesting Ted Talk by Massimo Banzi
Department of Fabrication 