Verity

The essay is available in two languages, English and Serbo-Croatian

During education and growing up, it was common to hear the saying that history is the teacher of life. The education system often offered us knowledge that became dogmatised over time and as such had to be learned, repeated, and then often completely forgotten. I have never been able to agree with the sociological idea that we are individual blank plates (John Lock) that need to be implant with knowledge and behaviour in order to be operational and socially acceptable. My disagreement with this idea is the result of the fact that I often did not fully trust the creators of some knowledge or behaviour.

Passing from one period to another, from one generation to another, from the period of recovery from long great wars (World War II for example) to the period of entertainment and oblivion (now), history as a "science of life" ceases to have a special significance. Only what is happening now becomes acceptable.

Accelerated and expansive digitalisation and the trends that digitalisation has brought with it (a huge amount of content produced daily with a very short shelf life, reduced attention and interest, rapid consumption of content) completely take over this present moment as well. A new window into the world (the appearance of television was once cleverly announced and advertised in this way) and new teachers and fathers of life become numerous media, official and unofficial profiles and personalities behind them. The flood of unverified and insignificant information is also becoming an indispensable part of what we call now. Twisted, often unverified and difficult to measure truth becomes a sovereign category of contemporary life. It is found everywhere, as information, official or unofficial, as a pompous fantasy, idea, product, action.

While working on certain projects, I started to develop animosity towards certain words and terms. Consistency is the first word on my list. It was used too lightly and often as a term, but very rarely as an idea or an integral element of a project or product that I would work on. It would take more effort to get it right. With all this, I want to draw attention to how the trend of devalued words has spread to almost all levels of life. However, this can certainly be corrected and changed. It is important to choose words, keep promises under control and be aware of how strongly they resonate in us and the people around us.

Observing the creative industries (primarily digital product design), I see how much space and opportunities there are for the creation of stable, true and educational content and information, and I believe that the development of technology in the very short term will mean exactly that. We are fed up with insincerity and short-lived entertainment.

Tokom školovanja i odrastanja bilo je uobičajeno slušati iznova ponovljenu izreku da je istorija učiteljica života. Obrazovni sistem često nam je nudio znanja koja su se vremenom dogmatizovala i koja su kao takva trebala da budu naučena, ponovljena a potom nerijetko i potpuno zaboravljena. Nikada se nisam mogao složiti sa socijološkom idejom da smo pojedinačne prazne ploče (John Lock) u koje treba posaditi znanje i ponašanje kako bismo bili operativni i društveno prihvatljivi. Moje neslaganje sa ovom idejom rezultat je činjenice da često nisam imao potpuno povjerenje u tvorce nekih znanja ili ponašanja.

Prelazeći iz jednog perioda u drugi, od jedne generacije do druge ili treće, iz perioda oporavka od dugih velikih ratova (Drugi svjetski rat na primjer) u period zabave i zaborava (sada) istorija kao “nauka o životu” prestaje da ima naročit značaj. Prihvatljivo postaje samo ono što se dešava sada.

Ubrzana i ekspanzivna digitalizacija i trendovi koje je digitalizacija donijela sa sobom (ogromna količina dnevno proizvedenog sadržaja veoma kratkog roka trajanja, smanjena pažnja i interesovanje, brza konzumacija sadržaja) preuzimaju u potpunosti i taj sadašnji trenutak. Novi prozor u svijet (pojava televizora svojevremeno je vješto najavljivana i reklamirana na ovaj način) i novi učitelji i očevi života postaju brojni mediji, zvanični i nezvanični profili i ličnosti koje stoje iza njih. Poplava neprovjerenih i beznačajnih informacija postaje takođe neizostavni dio onoga što nazivamo sada. Uvijena, često neprovjerena i teško mjerljiva istina postaje suverena kategorija savremenog života. Nalazi se svuda, kao informacija, zvanična ili nezvanična, kao pompezna maštarija, ideja, proizvod, akcija.

Prilikom rada na pojedinim projektima počeo sam da gajim animozitet prema određenim riječima i terminima. Konzistentnost je prva riječ na mojoj listi. Suviše olako i često je bila korištena kao termin, ali jako rijetko kao ideja ili sastavni element projekta ili proizvoda na kojem bih radio. Bili bi potrebni višestruki napori da se to ispravi. Sa svim ovim želim da skrenem pažnju na to kako se trend obezvrijeđene riječi proširio na gotovo sve nivoe života i da to zasigurno može da se koriguje, promijeni. Važno je birati riječi, ništa manje važno je obećanja držati pod kontrolom i biti svjestan koliko jako rezonuju u nama i ljudima oko nas.

Posmatrajući kreativne industrije (digitalni produkt dizajn prije svega) uviđam koliko prostora i mogućnosti postoji za kreiranje postojanog, istinitog i edukativnog sadržaja i informacija i smatram da će razvoj tehnologije u veoma kratkom periodu značiti upravo to. Zasitili smo se neiskrenosti i kratkoročne zabave.