Women Of The Century is an outstanding exhibition of photography taken between and before the turn of the twentieth century. It features many familiar faces from our American digital age – such as snapping a picture of Selena Gomez, catching some amazing sports, and watching a little girl light a birthday candle. I’ve always found this type of exhibition very inspiring, as American art has been virtually closed to the masses up until now. Women Of The Century helps us to see the great women of our past in a contemporary light. The photographs themselves are extremely well developed, showing clear color throughout the image, even though there are some minor corrections here and there which detract from the quality somewhat.
Women Of The Century also attempts to combine the medium of art with the medium of digital photography, to provide what some call “augmented reality”. This concept is somewhat of a misnomer, as reality is not really altered by viewing these images; rather, the viewer is merely added to the digital image, which already exists in some form. Still, the concept is mind-blowing, as we are introduced to the idea of the media and technology that are increasingly transforming the way that we live. In a way, Women Of The Century encourages us to step back and look at the history of the digital revolution and consider how it has affected American and world politics, and also changed the way that we interact with each other on a daily basis. In a sense, augmented reality can be seen as a continuation and evolution of the feminist movement in the United States, a movement that made women more visible and influential in society.
As Women Of The Century points out, the nineteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States gave women the right to vote. Though the amendment didn’t give women the right to vote themselves, rather either support their husbands or fellow suffragists, it did mark a major step forward for the female population. For decades, however, the suffragist movement was a victim of exclusionary political policies and laws, which kept women from achieving the equality and freedom that they had been fighting for. Now, with the help of augmented reality software, the future of the suffragist movement and women’s rights can be secured. This is because the United States government has recently passed the 19th amendment, which will expand upon the rights and power of women in all fifty states of the country.
This means that through an internet connection, you can access the history of the women’s rights movement, find out about the latest happenings in the Supreme Court, and even upload your own digital copies of your own civil rights testimony. In fact, Women Of The Century provides you with a detailed, history-driven timeline, which guides you through all of the important events. By using the “age of women” timeline, you can see how the evolution of women’s rights throughout the nineteenth century progressed, from the first major court case to the first successful social welfare legislation. This digital tool was created by a company based in Columbus, Ohio, called Lantern Women’s Press, which is led by twenty-nine-year-old Sarah Anderson. As a managing editor for the company, Sarah has seen the site become so popular that she hopes it can one day replace women’s magazines altogether.
If you would rather skip reading this history lesson, in the past the mainframe in which the Women Of The Century timeline is set is called the Tangle, and in the future it will most likely be the World Wide Web. The reason for this shift in the timeline is that the 21st century will see more augmented reality applications than we have seen before. Augmented reality, also called ‘augmented reality’ is the term for the merging of computer technology with real world data, in order to provide users with a completely realistic experience in virtual reality.
For example, consider how the National Park Service could benefit from the use of augmented reality. Right now, the agency is working to create digital tours of the Grand Canyon, and they are hoping to take advantage of the new technologies being developed by the National Park Service to make that reality experience as real as possible. If you like to know what your next trip to the Grand Canyon will look like, an augmented reality application for your smart phone may be just the thing for you.