What is Modern 'ART'

I'm a week late on this post. But without further ado, here it is...

With reference to Walter Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", is technology allowing anyone to be an artist?? Applications such as; Photoshop, iTunes Garage Band, Illustrator, iDVD etc (basically anything mac shop pro) are allowing users to edit and create their own version of art.

Is it wrong. Is it Art. Is it crap.

In most cases, I would say that it is a version of art. One that I and others may not truly appreciate as much as art found in the louvre and museums... But 'art' all the same. Music is art, film is art, photography is art. they are all forms of art, but perhaps not at quite the same discerning level.

I have wondered if the popularity of consumer generated media could have anything to do with the progression of 'art' and contemporary digital media. The evolution of art has been brought down to the 'anyone can be an artist' level. How? Through marketing i believe. Marketers know consumers, saw the increase in demand for consumer generated opportunity and then they did anything they could to make it as mainstream as possible. 'Create our ad starring you', 'upload pics of you wearing our jeans', 'put your band on MySpace and get signed'. Film, photography and music........ created by the consumer ........ labeled 'art' by marketers.

So I have just gone off on a tangent, but to bring it all back together. I think art, as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Wiki, I'm the expert..?

Soooo, choose a topic that I have a fair amount of knowledge on and then search for it on WIKI.

The topic I chose...... Google Adwords.

So, what did i find?? Not nearly as much as I thought I would have. When first signing up to Google Adwords (as a part of the call of duty for work) I researched and researched and researched how to use the God Damn thing. And believe me, the research lead me to realise that everyone thought they were an expert. Every article I read put forth the notion that they had cracked it, that they had the answers for how to maximise ROI with Google Adwords!!! Alas, they didn't. After a good 18months of managing accounts for our clients, I feel that I am now a fairly competent 'Adwords Professional'. (so our clients would hope anyway). ANYWAY, when i searched 'Google Adwords' on Wiki a relatively brief synopsis appeared. Not nearly as comprehensive as I had imagined it would be. I read through it, and the rather general explanation offered mediocre information. None of it stood out as particularly incorrect, so I decided to simply add to it.

Recently Google Adwords introduced a change to the URL policy, which I thought might be worthy of addition to the Wiki World. It reads as follows:

Policy and Restrictions
As of April 2008 Google AdWords no longer allows for the display URL to deviate from that of the destination URL. Prior to it's introduction, Google paid advertisements could feature different landing page URL's to that of what was being displayed on the search network. Google expounds that the policy change stems from both user and advertiser feedback. The concern prompting the restriction change is believed to be the premise on which users clicked advertisements. Users were in some cases, being mislead and further targeted by AdWords advertisers.

So there you have it..... may the Wiki World continue to grow.