Thesis Proposal Feedback Response

From the feedback I received for my thesis proposal, my takeaways are that:

• The concept could benefit from a more radical approach, particularly in regards to image-sharing and social network aspects.
• The project could benefit from more research into media theory and sociology regarding media and “social media.”
• Alternative approaches to cameras and photography should be explored.
• The project needs more focus and clarification in terms of priorities and emphasis.

The feedback was very useful and does touch upon many thoughts I have already been brainstorming since I submitted my proposal. When I submitted the proposal, the only part I had a clear idea of was the “image-making” phase, which I described building a hybrid digitial-analog camera. From there, I had some vague ideas for the “image-sharing” and “image-consuming” phases, but I have been thinking more about since. For instance, during the “image-consuming” phase, I aim to prototype the idea of presenting photos as part of a collection, rather than as singular, individual objects. This contrasts with current social media trends that encourage individualism and competition. In the next few weeks, I plan to create mock web pages to demonstrate how this would look, and conduct light user testing to gauge its reception. I have also been reading more about social media theory, specifically through reading the book The Social Photo, which has a lot of interesting theories about how we interact with social media.