Why is technology so important in the development of the arts?

Hello every one and welcome to my blog. I would like first to thank any of you who end up reading this material, which will be a mixture of teaching strategies and my personal opinions on the subject of technology in the arts. I hope you find this material helpful and insightful.

For my first post I would like to discuss why I feel like it is important to use technology in the development of the arts. The answer to this is simple. The two are now interwoven into the other. In fact, a common misconception among those individuals not active in the arts is that technology has just recently been interwoven with the arts. This however is not true at all. Ever since the dawn of time when man first began to separate themselves from the other animals by creating artifacts of self-expression technology has gone hand in hand with the arts. Take music for example. From the creation of the Lyre to using certain size ram horns as wind instruments, to the major technological contribution of the piano, technology has always fueled the creative spirits of artist. The fact of the matter is this is really not a new subject. It has come to the forefront in recent years because of the widespread use of computers. Because technology has become more and more affordable, the use of them throughout the world has grown at unbelievable rates. The creation and worldwide use of the internet has also brought this topic to the forefront.
Up until recent years, much of the responsibility of how to make use of the newest technologies fell upon the artist themselves. The artist would have to research and experiment with the technology and develop their own personal thumbprint so to speak. This is of course still true but because of the use of the computer many artist are exposed to this technology at an early age. Within the last ten years computer classes and multimedia arts projects in schools has risen at alarming rates. Because of this we have seen the computer become a major technological tool in the creation of all the arts. In fact it doesn't matter what category of the arts we are talking about, knowing how to use the computer to enhance or create artifacts of self-expression is inevitable.
To me one of the most important uses of technology right now is not necessarily in the creation of these artifacts, but rather the exposure that technology can give to the artifacts of self-expression. The use of the internet has made it possible to expose artists artifacts on the world wide level. Before the internet many artistic communities were regional and could only be spread around to other regions by travel. Now a independent movie maker can publish their movies on iTunes and make it available to anyone on the globe. Knowing how to use this technology has become part of the artistry of the artist. Because of this it is necessary for the artist to be more than just a creator of artifacts of self-expression. It calls for all artist to be innovators in marketing on the internet, as well as schooled in the different tools there are availiable to them.