read! respond!

I love how the piece told the story of this man’s life so eloquently. I enjoyed how I was reading about the project involving a camera that one could wear around their neck and record everything that was going on, and then suddenly, it turns into this vivid image of Bell’s animated and accomplished life. It gave you true insight to where this man had come from, and the rather amazing course his life had took.

But, I couldn’t understand why anyone would strive to record literally everything in one’s life. The article how contemporary cognitive psychology has shown that people’s memory and judgment aren’t always rational or vivid, but who wants to live continually referencing back to the past? I tend to follow more of a philosophy which values living in the moment, and not letting the past define the future. It’s somewhat puzzling why Bell attaches so much value to this notion of recording everything. I don’t think that it would give you a great advantage in the broad scheme of living one’s life. I think that being observant, and making rational, thoughtful judgments can achieve quite a lot, without having an encyclopedia of everything that’s ever happened to you.

I think making a picture is quite different to what Bell records with his SenseCam. What Bell records are images of his life, in the context of his life. They relate directly to him, and are only relevant to him. This is not a picture. A picture must communicate something as a picture in and of itself. It must evoke a response within the viewer for it to be meaningful. I don’t think that the SenseCam achieves that.