Paper short abstract:

Web 2 communal video and photography sharing platforms will be analyzed. Efland, Carlson and Kaiser's new media will provide insight for the virtual creativity and skill required. The transformation of the public sphere via picnoleptic citizens of the techno-creative web 3 era will be questioned.

Paper long abstract:

The key concept introduced in The Aesthetics of Disappearance by Paul Virilio is picnolepsy - the condition of brief lapses in time, momentary absences of consciousness, in Virilio's words, fleeting instances of life escaping. Picnolepsy is produced by speed, and is a characteristic of the pace at which we live our lives. Our vehicles are numerous and varied: fast cars, fighter planes and the dollies that carry movie cameras; our travel companions equally diverse, ranging from Huxley to Mountbatten to Liszt.

The text jumps regularly between the static and the moving, resulting in a narrative that continually accelerates and then halts. This fitful way of writing is an example of the picnoleptic; Virilio's book does not simply show us how we live at high speed, but immerses us in this rate of existence.

This paper attempts at analyzing web 2 creative sharing platforms focusing primarily on, but not limited to communal video and photography; the author is interested in translation of the communal issues into the virtual realm through picnoleptic images . Efland, Carlson and Kaiser's work will also provide insight for the virtual creativity and skill required in new media. She will further attempt a theoretical crusade of the transformation of the public sphere via emerging picnoleptic citizens of the techno-creative web 3 era.