Commercial Imagery Research Articles

Remote sensing satellites, superpower relations and public diplomacy

Abstract This article examines the consequences for US-Soviet relations of the wide availability of commercial remote sensing images. Both SPOT and Landsat images have recently been used, by the Western media as well as the superpowers themselves, to comment publicly on arms control controversies and environmental disasters, notably Chernobyl. Looking to the future, several scenarios involving third-party intervention in treaty compliance disputes, supported by commercial imagery, are discussed: unpleasant consequences could conceivably follow, but experience to date indicates that outcomes are most likely to foster openness and stability between the superpowers.

Limitations of the computer as a tool for the fine artist

This paper proposes that the commercial nature of currently available graphic computer systems inclines their use by fine artists toward limited applications. The repeated and fictive nature of commercial imagery is described. A brief phenomenology of the graphic computer is offered, and on-going awareness of the form and social context of the machine is recommended.