Saturday, June 28, 2008

Re: Electronic Devices on campus

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 10:35 AM, Chad Barnett <cbarnett@linsly.org> wrote:

> I wonder if the old reality of film processing by a third party vs. the new
> reality of self posted digital media is a factor worth considering?
>

I thought the same thing immediately after I posted the question about
limitations on film cameras. Back in the "old days" you could take pictures
of anything you wanted, but anecdotally you ran the risk of the "film
police" confiscating the film if anything untoward was found on it. So
unless you could develop the film yourself, it just wasn't worth it to risk
losing a whole roll for the sake of a few titillating shots.

And even if the film police didn't confiscate the film, there was also the
possible embarrassment of having one of those one-hour photo places having
their machine develop the film right in the window for all to see. As I
recall, there was a lawsuit about that in Philadelphia about 25 years ago,
where a couple foolishly sent their "honeymoon photos" to one of these
places, and was appalled to find out that not only were the pictures
developed in the window, in full view of any passersby, but that the
photoshop staff kept a notebook of "interesting pictures," to which they
added a few choice shots from the honeymoon collection.

Being able to process your own digital pictures has freed us from a lot of
the constraints that would normally have prevented us from taking
compromising pictures of someone else.

True, you could take compromising photos with an old Polaroid and not have
to deal with needing a third party to develop them, but then there's the
problem of making copies.

Add to this the ease with which you can post a copy of the digital picture
to millions of people on the Internet for "free" as opposed to how much it
would cost to make prints and send them by USPS to even 10 friends, and
there is a difference. However, I believe this difference is in scope and
ability, not in concept. Back then you *couldn't* do what you shouldn't do,
now you *can* do what you shouldn't, and we need to stress why you shouldn't
even though you can.

--
keg

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Keith E Gatling - Computer Instructor
Manlius Pebble Hill School
5300 Jamesville Rd
DeWitt, NY 13214
315.446.2452
http://www.gatling.us/keith

Some teachers teach subjects. Others teach people.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=ISED-L