introduction(s) to new media

fdm 20c: introduction to digital media

lecture 02.10.2008

warren sack / film & digital media department / university of california, santa cruz

outline for today

• definitions of “media” and “digital”• murray and manovich’s definitions of “new media”• demo videos from apple computer• more discussion and demonstration for project one

my definition of media

when technologies connect or separate people, they become media.

winston churchill on architecture

• “we shape our buildings and then they shape us.”

marshall mcluhan on media

• “we make our media and then they make us.”

my definition of digital

• digital = computer

but, computers can take many different material forms

• “computer technology” does not necessarily start as silicon and gold;

• “computer technology” does not necessarily need to be implemented as hardware or software.

george boole: “an investigation into the laws of thought” (1847)

charles babbage, “difference engine” (1848)

the two building blocks of computers

1. switches: a steering element that can combine multiple signals into a single signal

2. connectors: the connecting element must have the ability to branch , so that a single output can feed many inputs.

see w. daniel hillis, the pattern on the stone: the simple ideas that make computers work (especially “chapter 1: nuts and bolts”)

an or block built with hydraulic valvessource: hillis, p. 14

hillis’ tinker toy computer

claude shannon: “a symbolic analysis of relay switching circuits” (1939)

definitions of new media

• janet murray• lev manovich• ...and --through murray and manovich -- noah

wardrip-fruin and nick montfort

some preliminary questions

• who is noah wardrip-fruin?• who is nick montfort?• who is lev manovich?• who is janet murray?• what does “pullulating” mean?

janet murray’s definition of new media

• new media are a single medium: the digital medium (p. 3)

• humanists v. engineers (p. 4-5)– their convergence in learning (p. 5)

• representational power of the computer derives from four qualities (p. 6):– procedural– participatory– encyclopedic– spatial

lev manovich’s definition of new media

• new media: “parallel tendencies in modern art and computing technology after world war ii” (p. 15)

• borges v. bush• new media technologies: “computer programming,

graphical interface, hypertext, multimedia, wired and wireless computing” (p. 15)

• “these technologies themselves have become the greatest art works of today.” (p. 15)

lev manovich’s definition of new media (continued)1. new media v. cyberculture

2. new media as computer technology used as a distribution platform

3. new media as digital data controlled by software

4. new media as the mix between existing cultural conventions and the conventions of software

5. new media as the aesthetics that accompanies the early stage of every new modern media and communication technology

6. new media as faster execution of algorithms previously executed manually or through other technologies

7. new media as the encoding of modernist avant-garde; new media as metamedia

8. new media as parallel articulation of similar ideas in post-wwii art and modern computing

Demo tapes

• Xerox “monks” commercial• Apple 1984 Super Bowl ad• Apple 1987 “Knowledge Navigator” • Apple ads 2006-now

project one: create a hypertext

• html• sftp• due: tuesday, october 7th

next time

• topic: hypertext