Районная научно-практическая конференция

исследовательских работ учащихся

«С наукой в будущее»

ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКАЯ РАБОТА

“Selfie – yes or no?”

Автор:

Григорян Диана Григорьевна,

Черникова Анастасия Николаевна,

учащиеся 9 « Б » класса

ГУО «Средняя школа № 7»

Научный руководитель:

Жданова Анна Олеговна,

учитель английского языка

ГУО «Средняя школа № 7»

г. Орша 2015

Contents

Introduction 3

1 Basic part 4

1.1 The evolution of the “selfie” 4

1.2 The history of the word “selfie” 5

1.3 “Selfie” is a new genre of art 7

1.4 Is “selfie” good or evil? 8

1.4.1 “Selfie” breaks the rules of privacy and morality 8

1.4.2 Psychologist’s point of view 9

1.4.3 “Selfie” makes our life easier 10

2 Practical part 11

2.1 The opinion polls: “The use of the word “selfie” and frequency of making “selfie” in school 7 11

Conclusion 12

Literature 13

Appendices 16

Introduction

Selfies lie deep in the history of photography. Everywhere you look, people seem to have their arms stretched, their smartphone turned around, and they're smiling for the camera. We do it when we travel. Celebrities do it on the red carpet. Presidents and politicians do it too. Visitors to St. Peter's Square have been known to ask his holiness, Pope Francis, for a quick self-snap. There are even a song written about the art of the selfie and the soup opera called “Selfie”. The internet is full of selfie. Social networks and almost every profile have it. Our friends and we are doing it but we know nothing about it.

Christopher Phillips, the curator at the International Center for Photography, said the selfie is not a new phenomenon. Such popular mass media sources as CBS News, BBC, Australian ABC and magazine Forbes are discussing the “selfie” phenomenon.

That’s why we think that this theme is worth discussing.

The objects of our work are world statistics of the use of the word “selfie”; world statistics of making “selfie”; mass media resources: internet broadsheets and tabloids; Oxford dictionary.

The subject of our work is the opinion polls in our school.

The goal of our work is to find out the topicality of this theme in our school; to find out the statistics of making “selfie”; to find out is “selfie” good or not for people.

In order to reach the goal we should make some tasks:

1) Study all mass media resources: internet broadsheets and tabloids; Oxford dictionary.

2) Find out the history of this word “selfie”, world statistics of making “selfie” and the use of the word “selfie”.

3) Seek public opinion of the “selfie” phenomenon.

4) Make the opinion polls in our school.

Hypothesis: “Selfie” is a picture of yourself, it’s very popular in our society and it’s a good thing for people to show where are they with the help of “selfie”.

1 Basic part

1.1 The evolution of the selfie

We live in the age of the selfie. A fast self-portrait, made with a smartphone’s camera.

It is an instant visual communication of where we are, what we’re doing, who we think we are, and who we think is watching us. It’s become a new visual genre – a type of self-portraiture formally distinct from all others in history.

At first we would like to tell about the history of the “selfie”. Robert Cornelius’ made his “Self-Portrait” in 1839, in Philadelphia. Robert Cornelius was an amateur chemist and photographer. He put the film into the camera and took the image by removing the lens cap and then running into frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again. Then he had to process the film with chemicals and dry it, before he could look at the first photographic “selfie”. On the back he wrote “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.” It was the first photographic portrait: “selfie” ever. But it wasn’t called the word “selfie” that year.

By the way some experts debate that it’s not a true “selfie”. They think that it’s more likely that the first “selfies” were taken a bit later on. The first shutters with self-timers were available as early as the late 1880s, and allowed five or ten seconds for the subject to get into shot. Some cameras also had long cable releases, allowing the subject to press the shutter from a distance. Sharing of self-portraits also pre-dates the internet. The 1860s saw huge popularity for the sharing of cartes de visite – little photocards. Even the photo booth, which was invented by Anatol M. Josepho in 1925, and attracted groups of friends much as it does today.

Then there was the Polaroid. First sold from 1948 but not truly “instant” until its 1970s heyday, Polaroid cameras could be held at arm’s length and encouraged people to take more intimate photos. The Polaroid’s big plus was that you didn’t have to take a film to be developed, it freed up the amateur who didn’t have a darkroom from having someone look at the photograph before he or she did.

Then the web camera (webcam) appeared in 1991. The first webcams were great for “selfies”, but resolutions were not perfect and not so comfortable. Then Sony Ericsson Z1010 – World’s First Phone with a Front-Facing Camera was made in 2003. And technological advances mean that where we once had to remain very still due to long exposure times – creating a more formal image – now we can be captured quickly and informally but it took some time to become a mainstream.

Finally Apple released iPhone 4 with front-facing camera sparkling the “selfie” boom in 2010.