History is the Guarantor of Contemporary Aura

1. Historyis the Guarantor of Contemporary Aura • “research has shown that aura is still relevant to modern societies because history is a valued part of art and culture.” • History referenced across disciplines • Sampling, versioning, building off past works • From unconscious ritual to consciously citing past rituals

2. Aura Transference • The Olympics are a great example of events given aura. […] To the rest of the world, the Games represent a global community, because there is a widely stated internationalist spirit. […] Why was Munich given such great significance compared to the others? By taking place on the highly revered ‘world stage’, the massacre attracted global attention and reached epic proportions. […] Before 1972, close to 1200 Israelis (military and non-military) were killed by terrorists (bombs, gunfire, violent protests).

3. Methodological Aura • There is “a kind of 'new aura' that can accompany new media. This aura can come not from a reproduced work itself, but the method of its presentation.” • “Movies are available to view almost anywhere, be it your computer, television, phone, etc. […] However, people still view the most 'authentic' experience of film viewing to be the theater.”

4. Obama Aura • Obama is no longer just a person – he is also an aura, a product of technological reproduction, both mechanical and digital. • Warhol knew that personality could be a commodity, but he also recognized that every commodity has a fetishistic aura – a projection of its exchange-value that far exceeds its material and utilitarian properties as an object, or its use-value. “My aura is not my product … because it is already myself-as-product, myself as I appear to other people, as I am present in the world as an object of exchange.” • Obama’s aura works in just such a way – his aura is his significance to others; it is himself-as-product, as he is available as an object of exchange for political profit.

5. ContextualAura • Appreciation of software has a lot in common with the appreciation of painting and other traditional art forms. • As an example, look at the painting Camille Monet on her Deathbed by Monet. True appreciation is only ever achieved through a thorough understanding of the environment and techniques that produced that piece. In this case, the painting portrays the death of a family member and uses an impressionistic technique set to a palette of somber tones.

6. Contextual Aura with Software • The same technique of understanding the circumstances that spawned the software is applicable to the appreciation of software as pieces of art. One must have an understanding of the nuances within the code as well as the context within which it was written, what it problem it solved, etc.

7. Robust Code has Aura • Robust code [...] have so much potential and ability that the aura is merely a manifestation of the possibilities present. • Natural control pieces of software are pieces that effectively map to the user in a natural, instinctual way. Although it may sound cheesy their aura is produced through sheer ease of use and costumer contentedness.