The relationship between digital technology as media and digital technology as tool can be distinguished by application and presentation.  A piece that relies exclusively on digital media from conception to final presentation is using the digital format as its media.  It is of and about the software and hardware that is used to create digital art.  As a tool digital media is typically only employed as a part of a larger creative endeavor.  While this distinction seems to be fairly easily understood there are some areas in which the two may seem to overlap.  In creating our first project for intro to digital art we operated in an exclusively digital format to create our posters.  First, images were appropriated off of the web, we then used applications, such as Photoshop or Illustrator, to create the posters, and they were then posted to our WordPress pages.  However, in printing and displaying the final poster, as a poster, it could be said that our use of digital media was employed as a tool for the creation of a non-digital application, posters have been around much longer than digital media.  Thus, the presentation of the poster, be it as an image on a blog or as a poster hanging on the wall, determines the distinction between digital art as media or as tool in this case.

It can difficult to determine exactly where the line between digital art as media or as tool is to be drawn.  In my own work I frequently use digital tools to assist in the creation of non-digital art.  When working on a painting I may find myself wondering what the piece would look like if the entire canvas was covered in a blue wash or what different forms would look like if they were larger in scale or arranged differently.  By taking a picture of the piece I can then use Photoshop as a tool to make these changes without altering the painting itself.  This is much the same as using digital software as an alternative to the traditional darkroom to alter photographs.  But what happens if I use digital media as the exclusive tool for the creation of a painting or a photograph?  Is the final piece to be considered digital art as media or does the application of digital media for the creation of a more traditional format limit it to being used as a tool?

Digital art as media is, in essence, self-referential.  By presenting a piece as digital art the artist is calling attention to use of digital media as both tool and medium.  If I were to create a series of paintings using a digital paint program and then create a series of animated GIFs which were then projected on a wall it becomes obvious to the viewer that the final piece can be critiqued for both its formal elements as well as the success of the application of media.  The ability of digital art to change it’s form is one of the key ways in which we can view digital art as media rather than as tool.  Digital media is able to be presented in ways which express time and movement in ways which cannot typically be presented in more traditional 2D formats.  In determining the distinction between digital art as media or as tool perhaps the easiest way to determine this distinction is to ask yourself if the piece is as much about the ways in which the tools of digital art can be used together as it is about the final product.  If the artwork references its own creation as a process of digital application than it is using digital art as medium.  If the artwork appears to have only used digital applications as part of a larger whole then the digital media has been used as a tool.