Monday, September 15, 2014

Plug Me In...

In his book The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich makes a metaphorical map, of sorts, to help readers understand how new media came about from its' earliest ancestry. After accounting the history of new media, Manovich begins to define the terminology and characteristics that separate new media from old media. The five terms that he gives are: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.

What Manovich means by numerical representation is that everything that exists in the digital world of computers is represented by a string of numbers, which represent different characteristics of the analog item. In other words, if I draw a picture in a computer program with a paintbrush tool no actual strokes are being made instead there is a complex set of algorithms and numerical values to represent the brush stroke and the image that stroke is creating. In a way, numerical representation is a mathematical substitution for something "real". An example of numerical representation is designing a poster on your computer: unlike a poster in in the physical world, all the elements of a poster designed on the computer  are stored as data that is interpreted by the operating system of the computer.

Modularity means that new media objects are comprised of many self contained elements that can be used and interchanged to make something new. An easy way to think of it is legos, there are many parts which can be combined to make something and those parts can be replaced by other shaped pieces or by similarly shaped pieces. While the legos idea might be an over simplification, the idea behind modularity is that all new media objects exist independently of others are not permanently fixed to each other. An example of modularity is creating a film in final cut pro: as I am editing I can place in different video clips or audio clips and combine audio clips or video clips as needed. It is because of the independent nature of each of the audio or video clips insert or remove them into my project, or various projects, without destroying the project as a whole.

The term automation can be linked to the concept of adaptability. Meaning, a new media object that can react and change as a response to certain inputs or stimuli. In other words, automation is the principle that would allow for robots to take over the world, for those who believe artificial intelligence will surpass us as humans and become our rulers. Automation is split into two sub sections; low-level and high-level. Low-level automation has a simple algorithm that can execute an action or series of actions based on the users commands. For example, a low-level automation is the audio filters on the music recording program GarageBand. When I select the reduce treble feature the computer automatically adapts the audio to reflect that action.  High-level automation is where a program is adapted to respond to a human element. A great example of high-level automation is Siri. When you speak to Siri "she" has to adapt to your diction and your location and react to your questions or comments.

Variability means that no new media object exists in one form forever instead it can be changed and edited. An easier way to think of variability is to imagine a sculpture made of play doh except there are an infinite number of exact copies of the play doh sculpture that can be remolded. The added nuance of variability is that it does not need a human creator to produce new versions. In the digital world, new media objects can exist in a list and can be compiled in a number of ways by the computer itself. An example of variability is memes, a human creator can take an old image and apply new text to create something new. Another example is interactive programs that can display an icon or image based on where the mouse is clicked or dragged.

Transcoding is probably the most difficult to describe but it is best described as two sides of a coin. What I really mean to say is all new media objects have two sides, a side that appears like the old media and a hidden layer which is comprised of numerical data. Manovich suggests that the relation between computer and physical formats shape the way that people think and view the world. For Manovich, transcoding is leading to the computerization of society. In other words, we as people structure are lives and define our lives in relation to computers. A great example of transcoding is a poem or novel written in Microsoft Word. On the user's side a document is all that is visible just like a hand-written document, but on the computers end there is just a long series of numbers that represent that visual image.

To me it seems that transcoding is the most obvious element that is causing a computerization of our culture. The reason this seems to be the case is because transcoding is deceitful in nature. What I mean by deceitful is that a new media object appears to be the same as old media but that is only the side that we as people interact with. The "secret code" that lies behind it causes us to think differently what is real and what is important. As I said in my response to Dean my life is shaped around my electronic devices and it is those devices that I feel allow me to function. My new media objects, like Facebook  comments give me the same feeling as writing a hand-written note to somebody.


3 comments:

  1. I like your term "deceitful," although I see deceit equally in the "secret code," which is nothing more than a representation of representations, not that there's anything wrong with that, until we mistake the "pre-programmed, objectively existing associations" written into the code for our own "[m]ental processes of reflection, problem solving, recall, and association" (61).

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  2. I love reading these posts knowing we often post blind, without looking at each other's examples. Memes are definitely the quintessential example of variability. It's interesting to see where we fall in line with each other's thinking, naturally, and where we differ.

    I agree with Dean that your discussion of the "secret code" behind the words is awesome.

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  3. Hey thanks for the comments guys. You bring up an excellent part of the text that I had not thought deeply enough about. Your comment makes me think of something my mom used to tell me when I was growing up. She used to say, "Be careful who you call your friends because you will become like the people you spend the most time with." The reason I bring up this anecdote about my mom is because I really do think that our increased association, and dare I say relationship, with computers changes not only the way we view the world but the way we think; that is not say that being more analytical and precise is a bad thing but emotion is a valuable asset to humanity, at least as I see it.

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