Week 4 Assignment: Social Media Etiquette, Artists Using Social Media, and Digital Drawing & Painting

1. Go to http://eetiquette.com and pick three select quotes that you find meaningful, interesting, or surprising and re-post them to your blog. Add a sentence or two why you chose each.

I enjoyed visiting eEtiquette.com and browsing through some of the guidelines and suggestions that were posted. The following are three that stood out to me:

• Only R2D2 is allowed to end a relationship digitally.
• To me it seems obvious that conversations like this should happen face to face out of respect. However, these days break-ups and touchy conversations in general have begun to happen over text messaging and email. In my opinion, R2D2 is the only one who should be getting away with that...
• Be here now - hug one real person for each digital New Year's message sent.
• As much as I love technology as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family, I definitely appreciate the value of hugs and more personal connections. Making the extra effort to meet up with someone in person to catch up instead of via email makes a huge difference in your relationship.
• Online and offline is like vinegar and oil - the balanced mixture does it.
• I found it interesting that there were many quotes about the balance of being on and off and taking a break from technology. I find this important in my own life but I know many people who are always connected and struggle with times when they are not. 

2. Research one artist who works with social media creatively (whichever part of social media you choose, be it twitter, social networking, blogs/wikis, mobile apps, etc.) and blog about them. 

Shift-Lab is a collaborative group of letterpress artists who have joined forces within the last year. Members include Tricia Treacy, Sarah Bryant, Katie Baldwin, Macy Chadwick, and Denise Bookwalter. 

Shift-Lab's first project, [in code] was inspired by social media. This project is in the process of being made but is not yet completed. The guidelines for the project are as follows:

1. #tweet #retweet #text between January 2-4 [cbaa] or March 27-28, 2014 [sgc]
2. Use the hashtags #printedwork #woodtype #letterpress #shiftlab #cbaa #sgc2014
3. Watch your tweets become part of a collaborative print project.

The dates and hashtags chosen were centered around book and letterpress conferences. 

The idea here is not only that social media was used for content but this connection between technology and handmade. The end product will likely be a series of letterpress posters or a handmade artist book.

The following images are a few process shots of the project. More information can be found on Shift-Lab's website.

3. Digital drawing and painting assignment.

I really enjoyed this process of drawing and painting! I didn't have a stylus so only used my fingers, but was amazed by how much it reminded me of painting with a paint brush. However, I did miss mixing colors.