posted on 2011-01-13, 10:53authored byJonathan Woodrow
This thesis addresses the nature of the image and its relationship to human
perception and memory. Traditionally psychology approaches the relationship
between the image and the human in a representationalist register, in which the
world represents itself through images to the subjective observer. The thesis
questions these assumptions about the representational relationship between the
world, the mind and the image through a study of people using digital
photographic technologies. It argues that digital images exist as a complex
network of technology and activity that manage their incessant movement,
production, consumption, convertibility, connectedness and fragility. The digital
image exposes the complex nature of the image as more than a simple
representation. If this is the case, then human involvement with images as
networks occurs in terms of our inclusion in the network rather than as a
subjective observer positioned outside of the world. Henri Bergson proposes that
we see the image in terms of a distinction between time and space rather than as
an intermediary between a subject and the object. The implications of this for the
way in which we think about the interaction between people and technology and
the nature of perception and memory are explored through some data examples
from three settings. These are; amateur photographers using digital technology;
families looking through their stocks of digital images and remembering past
events together and finally, displays of family member's histories and identities on
the internet.