New Media Reader Chapters 31 - 35

Chapter 31

Timeline:

• 1982: Bill Viola publishes "Will There Be Condominiums in Data Space?"

Summary:

• 1960's - artists start experimenting with video as a medium
• "artists' video reconfigured public and industrial conceptions of the video image - via means ranging from site-specific installations to "music video" form" (463)
• Bill Viola = popular video artist, created "70 millimeter" video art which lacks grittiness and rough production associated traditionally with video
• Viola used poetic approach to video

Chapter 32

Timeline:

• 1982: Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly is published
• 1997: Disney/ABC Deal

Summary:

• Are old and new media becoming increasingly compatible and similar? (ex. ESPN Online)
• New Media as big business
• 6 top media firms: AOL/Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, News Corp, Bertelsmann, and General Electric
• Where does this leave New Media?

Chapter 33

Timeline:

• 1983: Ben Shneiderman publishes "Direct Manipulation"

Summary:

• Jonathan Swift: writes about project where words are erased from language - bringing the physical into discourse
• direct manipulation = data processed by a computer located geographically versus a coded language
• Shneiderman talks about how arcade interface (visual) can be applied to other computer systems

Chapter 34

Timeline:

• 1984: Sherry Turkle publishes "Video Games and Computer Holding Power"

Summary:

• Turkle writes about how children, teens and adults interact with computers via their use of video games
• Turkle approaches computing from a background in psychoanalysis
• Computer enters our individual and social lives

Chapter 35

Timeline:

• 1985: Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" is published

Summary:

• socialist-feminist mythology
• Haraway argues for "pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction"
• Disruption of binary systems

New Media Reader chapters 26 - 30

Chapter 26.
Timeline:

• 1977: Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg write essay Personal Dynamic Media about use of PC/notebooks

Summary:

• Ideas about notebook computing developed in group directed by Alan Kay at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
• Predicted the versatility of Dynabook - a notebook computer. Previously, notebooks were seen as only tools for engineers or businesspeople
• Dynabook vision led to the development of Star which supported graphical user interface for PCs and helped make Ethernet, the mouse, and laser printer
• Kay and Goldberg emphasized the creative uses of the computer and the usability for children

Chapter 27

Timeline:

• 1980: Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari write A Thousand Plateaus

Summary:

• Rhizomatic writing - used to describe hypertext or the properties of a hypertext system
• Delueze and Guattari challenge dualisms in the piece
• Delueze and Guattari previously wrote Anti-Oedipus together
• "the rhizome connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even nonsign states.

Chapter 28

Timeline:

• 1967: Papert begins developing LOGO a computer programming language for children
• 1980: Seymour Papert publishes Mindstorms

Summary:

• 1980's - populist ideas enter mainstream of home computer era
• Seymour Papert worked in the 1980s on encouraging children to learn via the process of programming
• Papert argues that programming supports a learning which is self-directed and self-motivated

Chapter 29

Timeline:

• July 1980: Richard A. Bolt publishes "Put-That-There" Voice and Gesture at the Graphics Interface

Summary:

• multimodal interfaces - combine speech and gesture input were inspired by Bolts essay
• today, data is represented spatially on graphic computers
• The New Media Room - described in Bolt's essay was developed by Nicholas Negroponte at MIT's Architecture Machine Group. Used 2-D screens to provide a simulated 3-D space.
• multimodal interface allows a person to communicate with a computer by using speech, gesture, gaze and facial expression

Chapter 30

Timeline:

• 1981: Theodor H. Nelson publishes Proposal for a Universal Electronic Publishing System and Archive

Summary:

• Xanadu = Ted Nelson's idea for a hypermedia network that relies on hyperconnectivity
• Xanadu = ultimate media archive
• Problem with Xanadu - security, morality, privacy, content control
• Xanadu - like an interactive electric library

Gallery Hopping

POSTMASTERS

I really enjoyed this gallery and Spencer Finch's line of work. There were two particular piece I was especially impressed with. The first was The Shield of Achilles which is a data visualization piece that is supposed to illustrate a constellation as if viewed historically from the Trojan War. Everything about this piece was appealing to me. It incorporated a new media technique and implemented it in a simplistic yet absolutely stunning way. Please, please check out the piece here.

Another cool thing Finch did was a digital visualization piece that incorporated Emily Dickens poems. This, to me was awesome just because I'm a huge fan of anything that fuses together unexpected mediums. Emily Dickens Poems + Candles + Data Visualization = a steampunk mentality with eerie modern aesthetics.

Bitforms and EYEBEAM

Out of all the art we explored Thursday, I was least impressed by Bitforms. The art was interesting and thoughtful but I think because we came while the exhibit was still being set up, it was a little chaotic and an ill-informed explanation of the pieces. Our guide seemed a little flustered so I think it hindered my enjoyment of the exhibit.

Eyebeam on the other hand, I loved. Absolutely loved. I have been raving about it since our tour on Thursday and have sent out links to co-workers and professors. I would have really enjoyed seeing extreme 'tubing in action, but sadly had to babysit Friday night. I could honestly see some of my peers participating in the YouTube Tournament and was also really amazed by the tablet technology they used for the game set up.

Data Visualization, Gehry Building, Highline

Data Visualization

I really enjoyed the article on data visualization because it fused together a lot of different things I have focused on lately digitally. In terms of physically visualizing data, there are tons of web apps out there right now that let you track twitter trends and graph/illustrate them for analytic purposes. Wordnik uses data visualization (check out "bacon" for example) to help illustrate how frequently a word is being used on Twitter.

I think for larger consumer companies, especially, data visualization can be a great tool for understanding consumer behavior patterns in a new way.

Another thing Tanneeru mentioned is a trend towards hyperlocal news and how data visualization is contributing to that. Rachel Sterne, CEO of Groundreport founded a company based on the democratization of journalism via the Internet and hyperlocal news. With tons of hyperlocal online companies emerging (even the New York Times has hyperlocal blogs), I'm curious to see if data visualization will play a role in shaping these news sources.

Gehry Building and Highline

The Highline has to be one of my favorite new spots in Manhattan. Prior to our trip, I had only visited the Highline at night so I'm glad we got to check it out during the day time. The aesthetics in day light seem different and I think the landscaping was particularly stunning when it was bright enough outside for me to appreciate it.

The Gehry Building adds extra grandeur to the already breathtaking piece of art/history/architecture/public park that is The Highline. Looking over the Hudson, the building is typical of Gehry's work and actually is reminiscent for me, of a ring I have in sterling silver that he designed for Tiffany and Co. The ring has the same sharp, contrasted, geometric shape and if multiple were stacked, the structure would create a miniature sterling silver structure. This is part of what makes Gehry's work so fascinating and aesthetically pleasing, it is both unique and ubiquitous.