I'll just say it right off the bat, this was the most engaging piece
I read in this book. Admittedly it's always easier to read pieces that are personalize, but Brenda Laurel writes in such a way that I feel as though I am having my own inner monologue.
The intro to this piece stated that this article would be personalized, but that it would neatly tie in many of the ideas that had already been discussed in this book. While very different from any other article, it does allude to the main concept that seems to be an ongoing theme throughout the entire book, what is new media doing to us as people with senses, emotions, and memories.
While in Disneyland Brenda suddenly remembers the anticipation she and others felt in the 60's and 70's for the oncoming future. What it would bring, how it would change us. Now all those hopes and dreams have lost their glimmer as the future has already come and gone, and its not the space age travel we dreamed of. In fact space travel has lost all its flavor for most, and now the questions on everybody's minds are not when we all be able to travel to other planets, but when will the new Mac computer or I-phone come out.
To be honest I lose my sense of new media value when I read this piece because I'm so caught up in the memories she brings forth. I am suddenly lost in my own adventures...or miseries from trips to the Magic Kingdom and Disneyworld. By the way...I absolutely love EPCOT...all the good food is there.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
"The Condition of Virtuality"
The first thing I must say about this essay is when I read it all I could think was, "I'm in over my head." It took me three tries just to get the article started. Katherine Hayles goes so deep in this essay at times its hard not to get lost. There were some interesting points she brought up though that I think I at least have a very basic understanding. She defines Virtuality as "the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns." She explains that Virtuality itself along with its definition is a duality; the conveying of materialistic content in a purely informational medium/pattern, or in this case computers. Its somewhat difficult to grasp at first, but after some contemplation one can begin in a superficial way to grasp the idea.
She then dives into the much explored idea of humans only being informational patterns, and therefore transferrable to computers. She presents this idea through the works of others but then admits how horrible this concept really is, as it would disregard the human ability to emote. Even more disturbing in connection to this idea is the theory that information is completely separate from meaning...leading one to the idea that humans have no meaning and could be accurately represented through binary codes on the computer. Later though she states that the main reason why this concept of re-embodiment of humans is so disturbing is simply because they will be embodied into computers, if they were embodied back into their own bodies and immortalized it would not be so shocking. I don't know if I can agree with this assesment, personally the idea of living forever on this planet in any way or form is very daunting.
Another interesting concept she touches on: how Virtuality relates to postmodernism. Within this concept a very provocative question comes up. In postmodernism possession was a main concern; however, in Virtuality possession no longer holds wait, access does. She says that this shift if priorities will most likely alter the plots of literature, and I wonder myself how it will all play out.
Hayles goes on to discuss books and their interplay with computers and how they affect one another. Computers visualize books as ancient archaic materials connected with desire. This gives books a very physical nature. Again I must draw a line. Books do have a physical nature, however I still do not connect them purely with the physical as they cause people to escape physical realms and enter into the world of their imaginations. She is correct however in her assessment that no matter what Virtuality has and will change books and literature.
Lastly the most interesting of her points, I thought, was her discussion of the spaciality of virtual writing. She compares the ease and flow a user may feel in going from hypertexts to hypertext to the feeling an experienced tennis player has with her racquet, as though it is an extension of her arm. I can somewhat see where this goes. The links are extensions of eachother, and are very easy to navigate making the user feel at ease and comfortable with the medium.
Katherine Hayes compels her readers to dive deep into thought about the usage of virtuality and what it really means...to the point where it really makes my head hurt.
She then dives into the much explored idea of humans only being informational patterns, and therefore transferrable to computers. She presents this idea through the works of others but then admits how horrible this concept really is, as it would disregard the human ability to emote. Even more disturbing in connection to this idea is the theory that information is completely separate from meaning...leading one to the idea that humans have no meaning and could be accurately represented through binary codes on the computer. Later though she states that the main reason why this concept of re-embodiment of humans is so disturbing is simply because they will be embodied into computers, if they were embodied back into their own bodies and immortalized it would not be so shocking. I don't know if I can agree with this assesment, personally the idea of living forever on this planet in any way or form is very daunting.
Another interesting concept she touches on: how Virtuality relates to postmodernism. Within this concept a very provocative question comes up. In postmodernism possession was a main concern; however, in Virtuality possession no longer holds wait, access does. She says that this shift if priorities will most likely alter the plots of literature, and I wonder myself how it will all play out.
Hayles goes on to discuss books and their interplay with computers and how they affect one another. Computers visualize books as ancient archaic materials connected with desire. This gives books a very physical nature. Again I must draw a line. Books do have a physical nature, however I still do not connect them purely with the physical as they cause people to escape physical realms and enter into the world of their imaginations. She is correct however in her assessment that no matter what Virtuality has and will change books and literature.
Lastly the most interesting of her points, I thought, was her discussion of the spaciality of virtual writing. She compares the ease and flow a user may feel in going from hypertexts to hypertext to the feeling an experienced tennis player has with her racquet, as though it is an extension of her arm. I can somewhat see where this goes. The links are extensions of eachother, and are very easy to navigate making the user feel at ease and comfortable with the medium.
Katherine Hayes compels her readers to dive deep into thought about the usage of virtuality and what it really means...to the point where it really makes my head hurt.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
The Ethical Life of the Digital Aesthetic
Gigliotti with her essays raises the question of ethics in concern with digital media. She opens up with the question of pornography; a relatively easy understood question that nearly everyone is familiar with. Analyzing the different solutions and theories about what should be done, she comes up with her own path. She does not believe that programs that block children from porn should be used, because she thinks that if we want our future generation to be able to think for themselves then they must at least have the chance to respond on their own to these issues. This seems like a fairly intelligent solution; however, I don't think a lot of parents would go for it.
Out of the porn issue she moves into the question of the digital aesthetic joining with the art world. She explicates that originally the art world resisted the joining of digital media. Recently though, the arts have taken advantage of the Internet primarily because of how much money the realize is in the Internet, especially considering how little funding is out there for the arts. But then the question of ethics comes in again. Gigliotti asks what are people primarily concerned with: teaching, consuming, or making.
To be honest, at the beginning of this piece I felt it was fairly clear, but then as the essay moved on I lost my grasp of what the author was really saying. It wasn't till closer to the last few pages of this essay that I began to understand it again. Still wondering what happened...
Out of the porn issue she moves into the question of the digital aesthetic joining with the art world. She explicates that originally the art world resisted the joining of digital media. Recently though, the arts have taken advantage of the Internet primarily because of how much money the realize is in the Internet, especially considering how little funding is out there for the arts. But then the question of ethics comes in again. Gigliotti asks what are people primarily concerned with: teaching, consuming, or making.
To be honest, at the beginning of this piece I felt it was fairly clear, but then as the essay moved on I lost my grasp of what the author was really saying. It wasn't till closer to the last few pages of this essay that I began to understand it again. Still wondering what happened...
The Cyberspace Dialectic
Micheal Heim describes the cyberspace dialects as the converging of the thesis, that cyberspace is the absolute future of mankind, with the antithesis, the realist believes that we should completely destroy all technology. Inevitably with these assumptions people can get carried away, like the unabomber. His actions were an unfortunate backlash to the Internet and other new media. Fortunately there are other people, who although they follow the unabomber's beliefs, they react against technology with essays and articles instead of bombs.
What Heim hopes for is a path in between these polar opposites: idealists, and realists. Heim explains that there does not seem to be a synthesis appearing any time soon; however, a middle path can be made with his term virtual realism. Virtual realism is the path in which people must not associate cyberspace with a world without a sky where "reality disappears", nor should people see cyberspace as just a tool.
This concept seems sound enough...although idealistic in its own right. Cyberspace is a fairly new concept though, so it is inevitable that people are going to take extreme reactions to it in the beginning. Because it is so new I think it will be some time before people are willing to take the middle path of virtual realism, and until then people like Micheal Heim must be patient.
What Heim hopes for is a path in between these polar opposites: idealists, and realists. Heim explains that there does not seem to be a synthesis appearing any time soon; however, a middle path can be made with his term virtual realism. Virtual realism is the path in which people must not associate cyberspace with a world without a sky where "reality disappears", nor should people see cyberspace as just a tool.
This concept seems sound enough...although idealistic in its own right. Cyberspace is a fairly new concept though, so it is inevitable that people are going to take extreme reactions to it in the beginning. Because it is so new I think it will be some time before people are willing to take the middle path of virtual realism, and until then people like Micheal Heim must be patient.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Unfinished Business
Right Lunenfeld asserts that the "business of computers is always unfinished." As much as people cringe at the word "unfinished" we cannot forget how "sexy", as Lunenfeld puts it, and provacative unfinished can be. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, JFK, and Lincoln are just a few people who were killed or died in their prime and are now forever idealized by the populace because they did not have the opportunity to expose all their talents...to realize all their dreams. In the case of computers and new media unfinished doesn't relate to unrealized work so much as the fact that the computer keeps changing itself and keeps upgrading.
Peter breaks his essay into three sections: unfinished spaces, unfinished stories, and unfinished time. As he discusses spaces one discovers that new media continually transforms architecture; thus, it is always unfinished and always changing. Video walls, flat screens, etc. are all invading our living spaces and changing the environment around us. When he moves on to unfinished stories the essay really becomes interesting. Already with the rise of new media people are experimenting with new ways to tell stories, such as the use of hypertext. Movies and the new media that is involved in creating them also tell stories, and change over time. On another note many stories, like the American comics, truly are unfinished and will never be finished. The story is ongoing, and even when it seems complete, like new media people will find a way to reinvent the story to tell it again in a different way. Eventually the author moves to unfinished time. Here he touches on the subject of time and mortality, exploring the much theorized concept that perhaps one day man will find a way to encase our consciences into the cyber-world so that man may escape death.
I don't know about putting my "mind" into cyberspace, since death is part of the process of life and I do plan on getting to that point someday; however, for the most part I found this essay intriguing. The reading was not too difficult, although tiring at times. I particularly the bits on narratives. Its true mankind will always take classic stories that have been told millions of times and try to find new ways to tell them again making stories unfinished. The whole concept that new media, and computers in general are unfinished seems right on the mark. New media is always "new", thus it is always changing and adapting, so inevitably it is unfinished because no one will ever be complacent with a product, the product will always be updated.
Peter breaks his essay into three sections: unfinished spaces, unfinished stories, and unfinished time. As he discusses spaces one discovers that new media continually transforms architecture; thus, it is always unfinished and always changing. Video walls, flat screens, etc. are all invading our living spaces and changing the environment around us. When he moves on to unfinished stories the essay really becomes interesting. Already with the rise of new media people are experimenting with new ways to tell stories, such as the use of hypertext. Movies and the new media that is involved in creating them also tell stories, and change over time. On another note many stories, like the American comics, truly are unfinished and will never be finished. The story is ongoing, and even when it seems complete, like new media people will find a way to reinvent the story to tell it again in a different way. Eventually the author moves to unfinished time. Here he touches on the subject of time and mortality, exploring the much theorized concept that perhaps one day man will find a way to encase our consciences into the cyber-world so that man may escape death.
I don't know about putting my "mind" into cyberspace, since death is part of the process of life and I do plan on getting to that point someday; however, for the most part I found this essay intriguing. The reading was not too difficult, although tiring at times. I particularly the bits on narratives. Its true mankind will always take classic stories that have been told millions of times and try to find new ways to tell them again making stories unfinished. The whole concept that new media, and computers in general are unfinished seems right on the mark. New media is always "new", thus it is always changing and adapting, so inevitably it is unfinished because no one will ever be complacent with a product, the product will always be updated.
Introduction/ The Real and the Ideal
The Intro to this entire book begins by explaining that its introduction will differ from most intros to new media literature. Lunenfield identifies his reasons for naming the intro "Screen Grabs", which the ability to capture and print everything on the computer screen. The only issue with this fast and effective way of capturing information is that one must go through all the unnecessary things that were also captured on the screen. In a way I suppose New Media is like a "screen grab". The Internet has made all our lives so much easier, but at the same time how much more time do we sit sifting through junk just because we have the Internet. Lunenfield also touches on the name of the book The Digital Dialect. He begins by giving the different views on dialectic starting with Socrates going to Marx. Dialectic: A thesis is opposed to an antithesis which then creates a synthesis. I'm not sure if New Media has met its antithesis, but it continues to synthesize itself and transform into something similar to the original and yet wholly new and advanced.
In "The Real and the Ideal" the author identifies the first dialectic as the contrasting of the real and the ideal. In later essays authors delve more deeply into this battle between the real and the ideal. This small opening also alludes to some of the essays that follow. The author introduces his essay and the concept of the "unfinished" within new media, seems it never seems to be finished.
In "The Real and the Ideal" the author identifies the first dialectic as the contrasting of the real and the ideal. In later essays authors delve more deeply into this battle between the real and the ideal. This small opening also alludes to some of the essays that follow. The author introduces his essay and the concept of the "unfinished" within new media, seems it never seems to be finished.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Breaking and Entering: Art and the Video Game
Cory Arcangel had an installation titled Breaking and Entering: Art and the Video Game. As I looked through the photographs of his different compositions I could not help but wonder what exactly it all meant. Maybe I just don't have the depth it takes to understand his works, but in all honestly they leave me baffled. The only thought that came to mind was perhaps a reflection upon how medias like video games have literally broken into our homes today and in some ways even keep families apart. That could be one possibility considering his other exhibition grouped with Breaking and Entering was The Young Art Fair. One can see how children get sucked into video games and become alienated from the family around them.
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