introduction(s) to new media fdm 20c: introduction to digital media lecture 02.10.2008

1. 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

2. 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

3. my definition of media when technologies connect or separate people, they become media.

4. winston churchill on architecture • “we shape our buildings and then they shape us.”

5. marshall mcluhan on media • “we make our media and then they make us.”

6. my definition of digital • digital = computer

7. 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.

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

9. charles babbage, “difference engine” (1848)

10. 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”)

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

12. hillis’ tinker toy computer

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

14. definitions of new media • janet murray • lev manovich • ...and --through murray and manovich -- noah wardrip-fruin and nick montfort

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

16. 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

17. 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)

18. lev manovich’s 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

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

20. project one: create a hypertext • html • sftp • due: tuesday, october 7th

21. next time • topic: hypertext