Well I got sucked up into a vortex of holidays and grant submissions. I've managed to crawl to my bookcase and get the next book. It is another theory book. TO be honest, I wish I could switch it up for a fiction, but the inner nun in me has got me by the head with gun to stick with the plan. I must read what's there in the order that it appears in. sigh.
So, it's The Digital Dialectic: New Essays on New Media edited by Peter Lunefeld. 1999 MIT Press.
When I see the dates on the New Media books I've been reading, I feel like Sam Tyler the lead character in the British TV series "Life on Mars". Seeing 1999, and the thought process that went along with the compiling of the book makes me assume that I already know everything that is about to be discussed in the essays. Rather arrogant. Why? It doesn't seem as if anything in the New Media field has advanced so much. If anything it seems to have reached a plateau. in terms of new projects, challenging ideas, ground breaking innovation....If anyone out there (hello, crickets) has suggestions send links please.
Lunefeld opens the book with a dedication, " To Gerald O'Grady for what he built". I found some exciting information:
Gerald O'Grady was a visionary it seems. A champion for the arts and the fusion of technology with it. His work on archiving the work of the Civil Rights era is incredible, and he received some impressive awards in support of it. How does it happen that a name like this passes along like a blur in our history when it should be a household name? In photos he looks like a Detroit car/ad man. Never would have pinned him for an art revolutionary. As I google here and there I can't help but want to go into one of my rants about how removed our society is from seeking solidarity with the arts. by this I mean making it possible for everyone to have the opportunity to work and explore without the stresses of living, surviving, and diving into life in 21Century NYC (or other urban trench).
For more on O'Grady read below. It looks like a new edition to the case. Also provides reason to get moving on the shelf.
Buffalo Heads: Media Study, Media Practice, Media Pioneers, 1973-1990
Woody Vasulka and Peter Weibel (Eds.)
Paper / November 2008
Images and texts document the legendary Department of Media Study at SUNY Buffalo when it set the world standard; a history of the program and examples of work by "Buffalo heads" James Blue, Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, Gerald O'Grady, Paul Sharits, Steina, Woody Vasulka, and Peter Weibel.
More soon.....
Showing posts with label new media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new media. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Hypermedia, Hyperlinks, Manovich
Some good friends were over this past weekend and we got on the topic of motherhood. Basically, most mothers forget about themselves. I know I have. At times, there isn't a minute during the day to put on a clean shirt. I find I'm most comfortable in a pair of baggy and would love to think about myself for an hour while indulging in a manicure/pedicure. Something has re-programmed in me to not think of me the individual but as me the group member.
I also don't think about what a hyperlink is anymore, I actually just look for them automatically when reading an online article, Tweeting, etc. It is interesting how Manovich asks how to analyze what a hypermedia link is. For me, it became mildly trippy experience. For instance, I don't think of hyperlinks at all in relation to Hypermedia and how hypermedia is “a network of information containing nodes interconnected to be relational links”. Nor have I considered hyperlinks to be independent from the contents in a document, separating themselves from all other elements and keeping their identity from blending in. (Manovich, p.41) Now looking at a page I see these hyperlinks reluctantly agreeing to be on the page free agents on loan almost. It wouldn't surprise me if we'd need to pay patent or royalties even for using them. New Media it seems reflects our individualistic society, our longing to be unique. Everything is customized to make us feel as if it were so. We receive recommendations from Amazon, Google, etc. based on information we've typed in and reconfigured through a game of what will most likely be perfect for us. It is easy to get lost behind the computer, on the Internet looking through our particular reading list, followings, and friends. We get into a zone: It is our time.
The Internet and revolution of interactivity was meant to give us more freedom. That's how it was billed. With the shift from constants to variables Manovich mentions came “choice” and “freedom” restructuring live assistance to menus of options and automated machines. This drive towards choice has led to many having no choice in the reconfiguration of their jobs. Makes me think of Jason Reitman film Up in the Air and the plot by the junior exec to have people fired over a web cam- easy, cost effective, and clean.
Our world today seems to be calling for a group consciousness, one that has to be fully aware of what is occurring around us. Social networking sites have really played a part in combining our post-modern tools and attitude with the constant to collaborate for greater good. Yet, I know one a many people who dislike it when their Friend on Facebook puts up a cause he wants to get everyone fired up about. Is it because our “me” time is being interrupted?
Where does art stand in all of this? I'm up to the part where I re-think what I'm seeing on screen as data.....
I also don't think about what a hyperlink is anymore, I actually just look for them automatically when reading an online article, Tweeting, etc. It is interesting how Manovich asks how to analyze what a hypermedia link is. For me, it became mildly trippy experience. For instance, I don't think of hyperlinks at all in relation to Hypermedia and how hypermedia is “a network of information containing nodes interconnected to be relational links”. Nor have I considered hyperlinks to be independent from the contents in a document, separating themselves from all other elements and keeping their identity from blending in. (Manovich, p.41) Now looking at a page I see these hyperlinks reluctantly agreeing to be on the page free agents on loan almost. It wouldn't surprise me if we'd need to pay patent or royalties even for using them. New Media it seems reflects our individualistic society, our longing to be unique. Everything is customized to make us feel as if it were so. We receive recommendations from Amazon, Google, etc. based on information we've typed in and reconfigured through a game of what will most likely be perfect for us. It is easy to get lost behind the computer, on the Internet looking through our particular reading list, followings, and friends. We get into a zone: It is our time.
The Internet and revolution of interactivity was meant to give us more freedom. That's how it was billed. With the shift from constants to variables Manovich mentions came “choice” and “freedom” restructuring live assistance to menus of options and automated machines. This drive towards choice has led to many having no choice in the reconfiguration of their jobs. Makes me think of Jason Reitman film Up in the Air and the plot by the junior exec to have people fired over a web cam- easy, cost effective, and clean.
Our world today seems to be calling for a group consciousness, one that has to be fully aware of what is occurring around us. Social networking sites have really played a part in combining our post-modern tools and attitude with the constant to collaborate for greater good. Yet, I know one a many people who dislike it when their Friend on Facebook puts up a cause he wants to get everyone fired up about. Is it because our “me” time is being interrupted?
Where does art stand in all of this? I'm up to the part where I re-think what I'm seeing on screen as data.....
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