A Precious Second is a piece specific to the Gould Library. Based on information from some other students, it seems reasonable to estimate that Carleton students spend an average of three hours studying and working in the library a day. I have always viewed the library as a slightly suffocating space that actually impedes my productivity - especially as I often find myself distracted by the thought of what is happening outside - and rarely use the space for study.
The video was made of images of the library shot over a 3-hour time period. It was created using a digital camera and iMovie, which was burned onto DVDs and placed on various screens in the library. Every eleventh photo is a shot of an American war-era propaganda poster encouraging hard work, maximum production, and sacrifice, all of which are elements of Carleton's academic program on which it seems that there is a tremendous amount of focus. The slogans range from a simple "More Production!" to "Get hot! Keep Moving! Don't waste a precious minute."
The video was shown on two screens of the media-viewing stations on the uppermost floor of the library, a computer in the 3rd floor Mac Lab, and on a Mac that sits at the entrance to the library. I chose the media stations, because they are rarely used, but the idea of someone stumbling upon the looped imagery and turning it off so that they can do work furthers my idea that people are putting study before anything happening in the world around them. The same applies for the Macs, however those are in much more heavily-trafficked areas, so the idea was that the video might actually force someone to stop and think about the work before shutting it off. I also chose these spaces because I liked the idea of presenting the outside world on-screen, as if it were something foreign or disconnected from our own lives.
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