introductions to new media

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introduction(s) to new media fdm 20c
introduction to digital media lecture
11.04.2007
warren sack / film digital media department /
university of california, santa cruz
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last time

• waiting list
• a definition of digital art
• demo tapes epic, alan kay, apple knowledge
  navigator

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outline for today

• quiz concerning the book internet art
• waiting list
• your definitions of digital media
• my definitions of media and digital
• murray and manovichs definitions of new media
• a look at some key internet art sites
• discussion and demonstration for project one

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waiting list

• principles of ordering
• transfers have preference over non-transfers
• majors have preference over non-majors
• juniors have preference over sophomores
• sophomores have preference over frosh
• those who came the first day of class have
  preference over those who did not
• within categories, people have been randomly
  assigned a position

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waiting list

• caitlin faulknar
• matt folson
• davis banta
• jessica lamendella
• ryoji yoshimura
• jesse clark
• colin bruce
• ryan campbell
• jongwoon lim
• geraldine porras

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waiting list

• stephanie ramirez
• chris nuth
• melody thauxquchay
• jennifer kim
• mai xia vang
• taylor broek
• michael martinez
• chance finley
• brooke young
• andy shauer
• jesus rosales, jr.

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waiting list

• 12. melissa freeland
• 13. sarah jeremiah
• 14. sean murphy
• 15. jill barry
• 16. alexander whittlesey
• 17. sophie ludel
• 18. ryoji yoshimura
• 19. kyle eck
• 20. justin rimando
• 21. kameron niksefat

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waiting list

• 22. travis delucia
• 23. robeson bowmani
• 24. dustin escoffery
• 25. dana shinn
• 26. mary spenger
• 27. lance woodson
• 28. junji yamakoshi
• 29. lisa ballard
• 30. madison williams
• 31. kristen mccurley

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waiting list

• 32. nicole wright
• 33. aris millare
• 34. natasia schibinger
• 35. abraham rivas
• 36. richard flores
• 37. enes mentese

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please see me after class

• obeson bowmani
• max landman
• marisol ortiz-melendrez
• amber pittenger
• nicholas savino

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student definitions of digital media
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my definition of media

• When technologies connect or separate people,
  they become media.

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winston churchill on architecture

• we shape our buildings and then they shape us.

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marshall mcluhan on media

• we make our media and then they make us.

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my definition of digital

• digital computer

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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.

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george boole an investigation into the laws of
thought (1847)
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charles babbage, difference engine (1848)
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the two building blocks of computers

• switches a steering element that can combine
  multiple signals into a single signal
• 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)

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an or block built with hydraulic valvessource
hillis, p. 14
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hillis tinker toy computer
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claude shannon a symbolic analysis of relay
switching circuits (1939)
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definitions of new media

• janet murray
• lev manovich
• ...and --through murray and manovich -- noah
  wardrip-fruin and nick montfort

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some preliminary questions

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

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janet murrays 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

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lev manovichs 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)

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lev manovichs definition of new media (continued)

• new media v. cyberculture
• new media as computer technology used as a
  distribution platform
• new media as digital data controlled by software
• new media as the mix between existing cultural
  conventions and the conventions of software
• new media as the aesthetics that accompanies the
  early stage of every new modern media and
  communication technology
• new media as faster execution of algorithms
  previously executed manually or through other
  technologies
• new media as the encoding of modernist
  avant-garde new media as metamedia
• new media as parallel articulation of similar
  ideas in post-wwii art and modern computing

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internet art sites

• museums and collections rhizome, mediaartnet,
  whitney artport, etc.
• festivals ars electronica, isea, transmediale,
  etc.
• exhibitions database imaginary, pong.mythos, etc.

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project one create a hypertext

• html
• sftp
• due this friday, april 13th

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next time

• topic hypertext