Tag Archives: Manovich

New Media Post

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on New Media Post

@YakustaLeader4

#dtcv

Hello, my name is Philip Crivello. I am a student here @WSU Vancouver and wanting to major in either Biology or Geology (still debating). For my new media object, besides @facebook, my iPod, laptop and video games, I use @IHeartRadio a lot of the time while I’m on the computer. IHR is an internet radio site where you can customize your stations; listen to stations in other states, as well as from artists. This internet radio site uses both #Digital Arts and #Media Communication. Digital Arts in how you are able to listen to music and watch live concerts from IHR. For Media Communication, there are radio stations on IHR where you can listen to news stations from across the country in real time. For #IHR it uses Numerical Representation in having a digital code (Manovich 28) from being created on a computer. With Modularity, it uses different sizes for its images and also advertises products from sponsoring companies. Automation in IHR is present due to having Numerical Representation and Modularity (32). While I listen to the music on the site, once a song is over, then it starts a new one right afterwards with no commercials on the artists stations (on city stations then they broadcast from the station but have very limited commercials). In having an internet radio site, there is a lot of Variability (36) within the site. It’s always updating in versions and adding new music every day. While you listen to a station, you never know what’s next on the custom stations so the music is varying within the genres and artists. Because you can customize your own stations, then you create your own Variability. Lastly, there is Transcoding, which is basically translating one format to another (47). How this applies to IHeartRadio is in how you can listen to different stations in various languages and cultures.

Because of this easy and new way to access music it has turned music into even more of a digital age. Where you can listen to stations from your old city you use to live in (when you live across the nation), and you can listen to music from your favorite artists or genres just from searching it and clicking play. You are also able to buy music and get the lyrics (where before a digital age, getting music or lyrics meant going to a record store and buying it there).

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Kik Messenger

Posted on January 15, 2013 by | Comments Off on Kik Messenger

@_CougQueen

Hey guys! That’s my twitter name, ^^^^^, follow me! My name is Bethel Muasau, I am a freshman here at WSUV, majoring in Biology, wanting to become a Family Practitioner.

In “What is New Media,” by Lev Manovich, he talks about all the possible media objects made through computers and media objects not made by computers. There are five characteristics that define new media according to Lev Manovich; numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. A new media object that has been in use of lately is Kik. It is not as popular as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or even Tumblr. Kik was created by Ted Livingston from Waterloo University, in Ontario, Canada. It took Livingston 15 days just to reach a billion followers, “it took twitter two years to do that,” says Livingston. Kik is a free instant-messaging application that enables users to send messages to their friends, see when they’ve been delivered and when their friends actually have read the message. It even lets users know when their friends are typing a message. According to Manovich, the first characteristic that was mentioned that defines new media is numerical representation. In the article, it states, “numerical representation is a media object that is converted from analog media sources than composed of digital source,” (Manovich 27). On Kik, it allows the times to change and because of this, the binary code that contains 1s and 0s, are converted so that times, dates, and thanks to something called “digitization,” data can be continuous as well as represented with good quality, (Manovich 28). The second characteristic modularity – is the structural parts of new media, (Manovich 29). On Kik, the messages and the way the contacts are presented are organized the same way, every time you log on. Units presented each time you log on come in choices to either create new message or add new contact or add a smiley face, all of these units make up Kik. Third characteristic that defines media is automation. As Manovich said on page 30, automation is almost defined like automatic. The media object can be created or fixed automatically. Every time you “Kik” a friend, and there is no service, Kik will automatically inform you that the message has not been sent or the message is not able to be sent. The fourth characteristic is variability – otherwise known as existence of different, potentially infinite versions, (Manovich 32). This step would not be possible without modularity. This is the storage part of Kik, or any other new media device. Because there were other social networks such as MySpace, Facebook, and Tumblr, Kik was made so that there would only be messaging involved. Kik only involved messaging another person or other people. Lastly, the fifth characteristic – transcoding. According to Manovich, (45), “Transcoding is the ability for an object to combine “cultural layers” and “computer layers” to create a certain experience or mood for the user.” On Kik, the cultural layers are things such as what you want to input and people you want to add. The computer layers are the edits to things you want to input onto the object. Combining the two together creates the mood, as said, for the Kik user. Kik is a new media object that could be used effectively according to Manovich’s five principles.

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New Media Objects: Lev Manovich – What is New Media?

Posted on January 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on New Media Objects: Lev Manovich – What is New Media?

@DTC_AlexTDTran
There are various different examples of new media within the world today. These examples range from a variety of items found on the internet as well as in everyday life. For example, an item such as an alarm clock can be interpreted to be “new media” following the terms given out by Lev Manovich. This is because the terms used do not all have to be included in this one digital item. If it fulfills any few categories of “new media” then it can be considered to be new media (49). This follow me as problematic; however, irrelevant to the topic in question. Primarily, these terms are just guidelines in an attempt to define new media as he stated (49). What then is something that can be considered to be “new media”? A cell phone, a tablet, a desktop monitor, anything that seems to involve automation and numerical representation is adequate to be considered “new media”. A cell phone for example would fall under the terms, numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and perhaps transcoding. Simple things such as numerical representation and modularity can be seen immediately. Any cell phone is coded with a numerical system that follows algorithms in order to act or function. Modularity means that it includes multiple different objects or created from such objects (51). “Apps” and other parts of the cell phone is more than enough to fulfill this category. Furthermore, automation and variability are also very basic additions to cellular phones (even though Manovich calls them more middle ground (63)). Automation within cellular phones through the use of voice mails, alarms, etc. Variability can be seen through the various amounts of cell phones out there that serve the same purpose. It seems that variability is a must now in society not because of the need for it to be new media but rather for the necessity of being different. As for transcoding which has a broader definition involving culture (63) it can be seen throughout different cultures the need or lack of need for a cellular phone. Many cultures still use verbal communication passed on through other people as well as letters. In more modernized and less egalitarian cultures one can see the use of cellular phones more often not just serving as a method of communication but a way of organizing his/her own thoughts, reading emails, reading the news and also browsing the web. Although cellular phones are not as modern as they seem to be, they can still be considered new media as it’s technology develops. However, it seems that perhaps anything technological can be considered to be new media for as long as it fulfills one of the 5 or infinite requirements.

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Chris Stansberry New Media

Posted on January 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on Chris Stansberry New Media

Twitter Name: @Stansberry_DTCV

Hi class my name is Christopher Stansberry, I’m in my second semester as a Freshman here at WSUV and I plan on majoring the business major Management and Operations. I graduated from Heritage and did running start at Clark my senior year. I wish everyone the best in this course.

In the book “The Language of New Media” Lev Manovich sets specific guidelines he believes are the outline or definition of new media objects using five key aspects. These factors include the presence of numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability. and transcoding. Broken down, Manovich means all new media can be “composed of digital code” (27), as well as “assembled into larger-scale objects [while] continuing to maintain their separate identities” (30). Also new media has allowed for “human intentionality [to] be removed from the creative process” (32) in addition to the ability to “give rise to many different versions” (36). Since 2001 there have been several new media objects arise that are still subject to Manovich’s definition including the social networking site Instagram. Instagram, mainly used on mobile devices as a application, is a place where people can share pictures often with chosen editing filters taken from there devices for everyone to enjoy in a news feed format that allows users following you the ability to ‘favorite’ or ‘comment’ your pictures. The app is essentially software that has been created by programmers using a interpreting language which can be boiled down to binary code, portraying the new media object Instagram as being numerically represented. Modularity is also shown in this website since the collection of functions and programs combined to create the application can separately be edited to fix bugs, make improvements, or change small things such as the color of the favorite or like buttons. When you upload a picture to Instagram you have the option of editing the photo with a number of options such as preset filters, zooming, cropping, focusing, and even borders. This is an obvious example of automation. Automation is set in place to make it easier for the next user, and the editing features on Instagram make it so anyone can be a photographer. Variability is displayed because the application could exist in infinite forms. The code could be changed so many ways that there is ultimately a never ending possibility of ways the app could appear or be used. According to Manovich, “in new media lingo, to ‘transcode’ something is to translate it into another format” (47). Instagram has computerized photography and made it solely digital. Instead of having photos developed and scanned into a computer for others to enjoy online, you can now take the picture and share it instantly from Instagram, which has created a whole new culture and terminology. When users speak of Instagram you’ll often hear of how many favorites they got on their picture, or how there ‘feed’ is cluttered with pictures of this or that, in addition to terms like “photo map”, “profile pic” or “avi”. Instagram is one of many revolutionary new media objects that continue to shape the definition of new media.

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YouTube – A New Media Object

Posted on January 14, 2013 by | Comments Off on YouTube – A New Media Object

@MyDtcAccount   –   Jonathan Crabtree

An incredibly popular new media object that has exploded since the early 2000s is YouTube. The numerial representation is exemplified in the fact that each video is made using a computer. The continuous data, such as the individual photos that in turn create the video, is turned into discrete data (code) that the computer can read and show to the user as a fluid video (Manovich 27). On a somewhat related note, modularity is also key when talking about new media. An example for YouTube is that, while the videos themselves are what the user watches, they are made up of many independent files that act together to create a new, larger, more entertaining piece (29). Luckily for each viewer, the process is automated, meaning that the person watching the video does not have to piece all those files together himself. Using carefully constructed algorithms, the computer is able to play each still picture in rapid succession automatically in order for the user to percieve a video (30). If an account is created, YouTube is never the same after every video played. It learns the account owner’s preferences and will pull up different suggested videos based on what the user has previously watched. This variability creates a different experience for every single user (32). The final characteristic that a new media object must comply with is transcoding. YouTube has an exhaustive list of categories that each video falls under, and which kind the user chooses depends on mood, goals, or time of day. However, to the computer, they are all the same. Simply numbers telling when and where each colored pixel should be displayed.

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