- Authors:
- Risto Sarvas,
- David M. Frohlich
From Snapshots to Social Media describes the history and future of domestic photography as mediated by technological change. Domestic photography refers to the culture of ordinary people capturing, sharing and using photographs, and is in a particular state of flux today as photos go digital. The book argues that this digital era is the third major chapter in the 170 year history of the area; following the portrait and Kodak eras of the past. History shows that despite huge changes in photographic technology and the way it has been sold, people continue to use photographs to improve memory, support communication and reinforce identity. The future will involve a shift in the balance of these core activities and a replacement of the family album with various multimedia archives for individuals, families and communities. This raises a number of issues that should be taken into account when designing new technologies and business services in this area, including: the ownership and privacy of content, multimedia standards, home ICT infrastructure, and younger and older users of images. The book is a must for designers and engineers of imaging technology and social media who want a better understanding of the history of domestic photography in order to shape its future. It will also be of value to students and researchers in science and technology studies and visual culture, as a fascinating case study of the evolving use of photographs and photographic technology in Western society.
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- Herron D, Moncur W and van den Hoven E Digital Decoupling and Disentangling Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, (1175-1185)
- Elsden C, Durrant A, Chatting D and Kirk D Designing Documentary Informatics Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, (649-661)
- Thelwall M, Goriunova O, Vis F, Faulkner S, Burns A, Aulich J, Mas-Bleda A, Stuart E and D'Orazio F (2016). Chatting through pictures? A classification of images tweeted in one week in the UK and USA, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67:11, (2575-2586), Online publication date: 1-Nov-2016.
- Harding L Re-imag(in)ing the digital domestic sphere Proceedings of the 33rd Annual International Conference on the Design of Communication, (1-2)
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- Hakala J, Westman S, Salmimaa M, Pölönen M, Järvenpää T and Häkkinen J (2018). Why 3D Cameras are Not Popular, 3D Research, 5:1, (1-18), Online publication date: 1-Mar-2014.
- Odom W, Sellen A, Banks R, Kirk D, Regan T, Selby M, Forlizzi J and Zimmerman J Designing for slowness, anticipation and re-visitation Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, (1961-1970)
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- Petrelli D and Light A (2014). Family Rituals and the Potential for Interaction Design, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 21:3, (1-29), Online publication date: 1-Jun-2014.
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- Weilenmann A, Hillman T and Jungselius B Instagram at the museum Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, (1843-1852)
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- Petrelli D, Bowen S, Dulake N and Light A Digital Christmas Proceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference, (348-357)
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- Güldenpfennig F, Reitberger W and Fitzpatrick G Of unkempt hair, dirty shirts and smiling faces Proceedings of the 7th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Making Sense Through Design, (298-307)
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Index Terms
- From Snapshots to Social Media - The Changing Picture of Domestic Photography
Recommendations
Reviews
Alyx Macfadyen
I found this book a delight to read, as a well-researched collection that takes the reader through domestic photography and technology, starting in 1830 and concluding with thoughts on future directions. A bonus is the final chapter, which presents lessons for future research. This book covers human-computer interaction, visual media studies, and science and technology studies. The book is situated between art and technology. The authors focus on the evolution of domestic photography, the portrait, and digital domestication. They accompany this information with detailed analyses of photographic technological evolution. This includes annotated visual examples where the authors demonstrate an obvious enjoyment of the subjects they present. Each chapter is self-contained and well researched, and provides comprehensive references. The early chapters provide an interesting background that covers the business of cameras and domestic photography. The authors cover the "Portrait Path" well, and then present a history of the Kodak years. A well-written analysis of the history of digital photography follows. The authors also present the home lab, the Web, and social networking, and discuss the adoption of the online digital photo album, photo sharing, and digital rights management in some depth. The book raises issues such as temporality and archiving, and addresses the impact of sharing and copyright. The appeal of this book is broad. If you are a visual artist or studio photographer, if you work in digital media or the Web, or if you are engaged in research related to the creative arts or technology, you will find this book engaging and helpful. Likewise, if you are engaged in research, you will find this book to be a gem. Online Computing Reviews Service
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