What is New Media the sequel Another introduction

What is New Media? the sequel Another introduction to New Media Literacy

Visual Studies/New Media Literacy Five key Principles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Numerical Representation Modularity Automation Variability Transcoding

Visual Studies/New Media Literacy Five key Principles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Numerical Representation Modularity Automation Variability Transcoding

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation 1. Numerical Representation ● A new media object can be described formally (mathematically) ● A new media object is subject to algorithmic manipulation.

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation Continuous Data: The axis or dimension that is measured has no apparent indivisible unit from which it is compose. (Kerlov and Rosebush) Digitization: 1. Data is sampled, at usually regular intervals. An example is a grid of pixels used to represent a digital image. The frequency of sampling is referred to as resolution. Sampling turns continuous data into discrete data, that is, data occurring in distinct units 2. Each sample is quantified, that is, it is assigned a numerical value drawn from a defined range.

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation Continuous and Discrete an example is motion picture film which is made up of continuous tone photographic images that are limited in the discrete use of time. Usually, 24 fps.

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation A Brief Discussion on Modern Semiotics “Language is as it were, that which divides reality (for instance, the continuous spectrum of the colors is verbally reduced to a series of discontinuous terms). (Barthes, 64)

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation A Brief Discussion on Modern Semiotics Neither film frames nor halftone dots have any relation to how a film or photograph affects the viewer

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation Ray Gun Virus, Paul Sharits, MOMA, 1966 Explosion, Roy Lichtenstein, TATE 1965

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation Why the use of discrete as a strategy for modern media technology? Industrialization

What is new media? the sequel/Numerical Representation A. standardization of parts. This had already been used in the production of military uniforms in the nineteenth century. This functioned is to provide consistent quality. B. Separation of the production process into simple, repetitive, and sequential activities that could be executed by workers who did not have to master the entire process and could be easily replaced. This functioned to provide speed and accuracy.

What is new media? the sequel/Modularity 2. Modularity ‘The Fractal Structure of New Media’ ● New media objects consist of independent parts, each of which consists of smaller independent parts, and so on down to the level of the smallest pixels, 3 -D points, or text characters.

What is new media? the sequel/Automation 3. Automation A. Low Level Automation B. High Level Automation: Artificial Intelligence

What is new media? the sequel/Automation 3. Automation NOT EVERY LOOK IS NEAR. NO VILLAGE IS LATE. A CASTLE IS FREE AND EVERY FARMER IS FAR. EVERY STRANGER IS FAR. A DAY IS LATE. EVERY HOUSE IS DARK. AN EYE IS DEEP. NOT EVERY CASTLE IS OLD. EVERY DAY IS OLD. NOT EVERY GUEST IS ANGRY: A CHURCH IS NARROW. NO HOUSE IS OPEN AND NOT EVERY CHURCH IS SILENT. NOT EVERY EYE IS ANGRY. NO LOOK IS NEW. (Excerpted from paper by Theo Lutz, 1959)

What is new media? the sequel/Automation 3. Automation A. Low Level Automation B. High Level Automation: Artificial Intelligence C. Media Access

What is new media? the sequel/Variability 4. Variability A new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Cases of Variability Principle: A. Media Database B. Data can be custom displayed C. User data can mingle with computer code to create new media compositions D. Menu-based interactivity E. Hypermedia F. Updates G. Scalability

What is new media? the sequel/Variability A. Media Database “a new way to structure our experience of ourselves and of the world. ” (Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 3) A Database can function as a cultural form

What is new media? the sequel/Variability B. Data can be custom displayed Data can be separated from interface, any number of interfaces can display the data differently.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability C. User data can mingle with computer code to create new media compositions

What is new media? the sequel/Variability D. Menu-based Interactivity

What is new media? the sequel/Variability E. Hypermedia In Hypermedia the choices provide an experience that is individual to the user and is based on the desires and cognitive processes of the user.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability F. Updates

What is new media? the sequel/Variability G. Scalability 1. A map 2. Icon 3. Video Streaming

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Additional Variations Data reformatted to fit new mediums: HTML code, website, iphone, ipad, text readers, computer systems.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Spatialization Stephen Mamber Hitchcock: “The Birds” https: //the. hitchcock. zone/wiki /1000_Frames_of_The_Birds _%281963%29

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Spatialization Movie Barcode color index of Hitchcocks “The Birds” http: //moviebarcode. tumblr. com/

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Difference between old and new media: ● Old media elements are hardwired into a unique structure and no longer maintain their separate identity. (think of a book with text, or images) ● New Media elements such as hypermedia elements in a webpage keep their separate identities while maintaining a structure. In hypermedia, structure is separate from content. As in computer programming, there is a clear separation between algorithms and data.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Social Change and Variability Historically, changes in media technologies are correlated with social change. ● Old media corresponded to the logic of industrial mass society. (goods were mass produced so that everyone could enjoy the same level of capability and quality and built within that, the same beliefs) ● New media fits the logic of post industrial society (which values individuality over conformity)

What is new media? the sequel/Variability Property acts as Prototype Derivatives based on a core property create variations. ● Starwars, Madonna, Coca-Cola, Mickey Mouse. etc. ● Tomb Raider started as a video game so it’s derivatives are considered in reference to it’s video game origin.

What is new media? the sequel/Variability ‘Making a choice involves a moral responsibility’ -Grahame Weinbren.

What is new media? the sequel/Transcoding 5. Transcoding To translate something into another format. A. Computerization turns media into computer code. B. Computer media still displays a structural organization that makes sense to human users. (images feature recognizable objects, text is made of grammatical sentences. etc. ) C. Computer media now follows established conventions of computer organization.

What is new media? the sequel/Transcoding The Computer Layer Affects the Cultural Layer A. The way the computer models the world. B. How it represents data. C. How it allows us to operate in culture.

What is new media? the sequel/Transcoding Likewise: The Cultural Layer Affects the Computer Layer (HCI is built to resemble old media metaphors) To understand new media requires understanding the dynamics of both its appearance and it’s structure and how they affect and transform our culture.