COM257: Media History and Theory

In the article “Mobile telephone history,” Tom Farley explores the fundamental impact of the mobile phone on our lives. The author describes a mobile telephone as a wireless device, which connects to the general public by a common carrier of public utility According to Farley, the history of mobile phones began in the 1940s after World War II. The modern cell phones we have today started as radiotelephones used for such things as New York City fireboats and tugboats. After World War II, post, telephone, and telegraph administrations, the PTTs, and private telephone companies concentrated on providing landline telephones and services first, but research still persisted on mobile radio research and development. Civilian needs for easy and fast communication were finally starting to be addressed and on July 28, 1945 a cellular radio was first described in print. A year later, the first American mobile radiotelephone service began in Saint Louis, Missouri. AT&T and Southwestern Bell began operating MTS or Mobile Telephone service on June 17, 1946. Mobile telephony continued to advance, however it’s development outside of the U.S. came very slowly. Most governments at the time did not allow the public radiotelephones.

Farley goes into great detail describing the events that led to the first commercial cellular radio in January 1969. Frequency reuse was employed in a small zone system using public payphones. “Passengers on what was called the metroliner train service running between New York City and Washington, DC found they could make telephone calls while moving at more than 160 kilometers per hour (Farley pp. 25). Six channels in the 450 MHz band were used repeatedly in nine zones along at 225 mile route while a computerized control center managed the system. TheBell Laboratories Record article described it as “[T]he system is unique. It is the first practical integrated system to use the radio-zone concept within the Bell System in order to achieve optimum use of a limited number of radio-frequency channels (Farley pp. 25).” It wasn’t until 1969 that the first all transistor mobile telephones appeared from a large manufacturer and it wasn’t until then that the first portable radiotelephones appeared in the United States. The author notes that worldwide commercial cellular deployment prospered in the late 1970s and then continued into the early 1980s.

There is no doubt about it that the invention of mobile cellular phones has greatly transformed our lives as we know it. In 1983 when the regional Bell Company began the first United States commercial cellular service, the popularity of this new technology was staggering. It was estimated that there were 340,213 customers in 1985; 681,825 by 1986, and 1,300,855 by 1987. Today they say that mobiles currently number 1.5 billion. Personally, I cannot name a single person my age and older that does not own a cell phone or know someone that owns one. If I accidently leave my cell phone at the house and I’m already ten minutes away, I do not hesitate to turn right back around to get it. This article was very interesting because I had no idea that the prospect of mobile cell phone technology was even dreamt of in the 1940’s. It’s amazing when you consider that cell phones used to be the size of a brick and today some are only two inches long. You can access other forms of new media technology on this new media device too. Whether it’s taking a picture on your cell phone or accessing the Internet, mobile cell phones today allow the user to enter an endless world of cultural media.

-Jessca Highsmith

In this week’s reading, “What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation,” Tom O’Reilly sets out to define and clarify what Web 2.0 really is and comprehend what it’s development will mean for the upcoming generation of new software. When the dot-com collapse occurred, a new aspect of the web emerged, Web 2.0. According to O’Reilly, this turning point for the web occurred at a time when the web was more important than ever, with it’s constant development of applications and different sites popping up all over the place. O’Reilly also sets out to clarify what Web 2.0 is because there seemed to be a toss between it being seen as a “meaningless marketing buzzword” and others accepting it as a “a new conventional wisdom (O’Reilly pp.18).”

According to O’Reilly, Web 2.0 “doesn't have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core. You can visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core. (O’Reilly pp. 19).” In other words, in analyzing Web 2.0, we should consider its inhabitance on the Internet and how the Internet has a network of cites that center around a “core.” O’Reilly provides us with seven main principles which can be considered to aid in furthering our understanding of Web 2.0.

The first principle he introduces is The Web as platform, and how Web 2.0 can be viewed using O’Reilly’s concept of demonstrating practices at a variety of distances from the “core.” The next aspect of Web 2.0 that he discusses is Harnessing Collective Intelligence, which discusses how the ability of the web to utilize collective intelligence was the central principle that led to the success of the giants. The third principle O’Reilly goes into detail on is Data is the next Intel Inside, which explains the various Internet applications to date and how they have been backed by a specialized database. The next aspect O’Reilly touches on is End of the Software Release Cycle, in which he discusses how software of the Internet era is delivered as a service which lead to fundamental changes in the business model of a company. The next section he explains is entitled Lightweight programming models, in which O’Reilly discusses how large companies jumped into the picture with a complex web services stack “designed to create highly reliable programming environments for distributed applications (O’Rielly pp. 31).” In the final principle O’Reilly lists, entitled Software Above the Level of a Single Device, he discusses how Web 2.0 is no longer limited to the PC platform. He believes that the popular application of iTunes is the best representation of this principle. According to him, “this application seamlessly reaches from the handheld device to a massive web back-end, with the PC acting as a local cache and control station (O’Reilly pp. 34).”

After reading this article, it became very apparent to me just how relevant the aspects of Web 2.0 are to me today. Under the last principle that O’Reilly stated, Software Above the Level of a Single Device, he believed the best example of this was the iTune software. It is pretty amazing how web content has been able to be transferred to portable devices. iTunes music can easily be purchsed online and put on any portable iPod. This article brought to my attention how dynamically changing the Internet constantly is, as it acts as platform from which we can access a vast amount of information.

-Jessica Highsmith

In Janet Abbate’s article, “Popularizing the Internet,” she discusses the emergence of one of the greatest informational and communications mediums employed all over the globe, the Internet, and how it transformed from a research tool to a popular medium. She begins the article by describing how the Internet did not just “pop up over night,” but rather it was developed over a lengthy period of time, two decades to be exact. It underwent a series of transformations since the 1980’s before it turned into the form of communication it is that we utilize every day. The Internet back in the 1980’s only consisted of a couple of networks. Today, there are a staggering amount, allowing people the possibilities of “information gathering, social interaction, entertainment, and self-expression” made possible by the World Wide Web. Abbate also explores the technical, managerial, and political issues rose by the expansion, privatization, and economic importance of the Internet.

In the early stages of the Internet there were several conditions that made its future development rather difficult. For one thing, there was an issue as to who really invented it because no singled agent guided the system’s evolution. Various actors assumed responsibility over its development, such as the ARPA, the National Science Foundation, the Bush and Clinton administrations, as well as various public and private bodies outside of the United States (Abbate pp. 182). Furthermore, the ARPA organization who was the main creator of the Internet appeared to lose it’s vision for the development of the system, causing the control of the network to be uneasy as various groups had competing visions and interests. However, according to Abbate, the Internet was able to thrive and grow despite these instabilities due to the combination the Internet’s adaptable design and a committed user community. Abbate specifically goes into details on the different components of the Internet that contributed to its adaptability. “The Internet’s modularity made it possible to change parts of the network without changing parts of the whole ts robustness allowed it to function under the stress of rapid growth, its scalability helped it expand gracefully (although it did encounter some bottlenecks), and its ability to accommodate diversity allowed it to incorporate new types of networks (Abbate pp.182).” This quote from the author shows just how versatile and adaptable the Internet could be, which allowed for its continuing success. It was also adaptable in its use of TCP/IP protocols and gateways. Network builders who hoped to share these technical benefits around the world to other network builders eventually employed these techniques also.

Although it almost seems impossible to imagine the internet not constantly bombarded by civilians all over the world, Abbate discusses how at first, the Internet was dominated under military control. Toward the 1990’s, this control shifted to a more academic research realm of users. The military users moved to their own network while groups of researchers outside the community of the ARPA began to trickle in. Computer scientists can be recognized as the first group to expand civilian access to the Internet. Schools with ARPA contracts received benefits of accessing specialized computers and increased communication and collaboration. Others who did not have this special access watched in envy, created a demand for network access. Wanting network access, Lawrence Landweber and his computer science colleagues from the University of Wisconsin proposed the plan of CSNET, which would link computer science departments around the country. Civilian access was further induced with splitting of the networks between the military and the research communities.

Over a 20 -year period, the Internet became more and more feasible due to the influx of innovators seeking to make information more accessible. According to Abbate, Internet access grew exponentially, and in 1985 approximately 2000 computers had Internet access, in 1987 30,000 computers, and in 1989, approximately 159,000 computers had Internet access. Personally, it is extremely hard to imagine the days in which everyone did not have instantaneous access to the Internet. This form of new media allows us to communicate information all over the globe, share videos and music, view movies and t.v shows, browse and shop for clothes, interactively play video games, and millions of other things. The invention of the Internet manifests itself as a tool a filter for all kinds of culture mediums. I access the Internet several times a day, for my own entertainment and for my educational purposes as well. I think the Internet will only continue to flourish because on it, we are connected and can collectively collaborate and share an endless amount of ideas and thoughts.

-Jessica Highsmith

This week’s article, “Nonlinearity and Literary Theory,” by Espen J. Aarseth, begins by discussing the term nonlinearity and how it is grounded in mathematics despite the claims of many literary critics that it is influenced by modern physical sciences (Aarseth pp. 766). The author makes a point to differentiate between reading a nonlinear text and reading informed by research in fractal geometry or chaos theory. He says that “behavior of some kinds of nonlinear texts can certainly be described in terms of unpredictability, self-organization, and turbulence (Aarseth pp. 766). He also uses the idea of topology to further describe his concept of nonlinear text. According to his sources, this theory posits that this is the theory of “those geometric figures that remain unchanged even when under distortion, so long as no surfaces are torn (Aarseth pp. 766).” Aarseth also goes on to define textual topology as a description of the formal structures that control the sequence and accessibility of a particular script. This concept of topology explores how various sections of a text can be connected, despite how it is laid out physically, whether it be on paper or stone.

Aarseth also provides five variates that can be applied to nonlinear texts. He lists topology, dynamics, determinability, and transiency. With his discussion on topology, he notes that the main difference is between those texts that are linear and nonlinear. He explains that a nonlinear text is a work that does not present its scriptons in one, individual sequence, but through cybernetic agency. He also explains that there is a difference between the static and the dynamic text. In a dynamic text the contents of scriptons change while the number of textons remains fixed. Static texts differ by having constant scriptons. Determinability deals with the stability of the traversal function. If the adjacent scriptons of all the scriptons are constant, then the text is determinate. Aarseth describes transient, as when the passing of the user’s time causes scriptons to appear and intransient if it does not. The final variate he addresses is whether it is easy to access the scriptons of a text, or its maneuverability. The most open is referred to as “random access to all scriptons (Aarseth pp. 767).”

In Aarseth’s discussion of nonlinear texts, he specifically addresses the concept of user-functionality. He proposes that the use of nonlinear texts can be described in terms of four active feedback functions. These being: explorative function, where the user decides for themselves which path they will take, role-playing function, where the user assumes strategic responsibility for a character in a world the text describes, configurative function, in which textons are chosen by the user, and finally poetic function, where the user’s actions, dialogue, or design are aesthetically motivated.

The discussion of user-functionality in Aarseth’s article reminded me of our earlier discussions of the database in Manovich’s article, “The Forms the Database.” In that article, he discussed how virtual interactive 3D space in video games uses a form that manipulates human culture by using navigable space to visualize an assortment of data. In these navigable spaces, user-functionality is very much present, allowing the user to navigate throughout the space however they want. Users of video games get to decide for themselves which path they will take, which parallel’s Aarseth’s concept of explorative function in nonlinear texts.

-Jessica Highsmith

In the second half of the reading this week, Briggs and Burke discuss the emergence and overwhelming impact the age of television had on our society that we continue to witness to this day. Although it appeared that there was much apprehension concerning the television in radio and film circles even after the Second World War, the television would later prove to the world that is did have a place in the already established world of broadcasting. There were several misconceptions about the television when it was first introduced around the perilous time when the Great Depression plagued America. For instance, some believed that only higher income groups would be attracted to it (Briggs and Burke, pp. 189). However, this was proved wrong by the overwhelming statistics showing that the production of television sets rose from 178,000 to 15 million just between the years of 1947 and 1952. Briggs and Burke provide a witty comment by Business Week, that called the television ‘the poor man’s latest and most prized luxury.’ Obviously the television appealed to everyone, rich or poor.

With the introduction of the television to society, came the short-comings for other types of new media at the time. According to Briggs and Burke, cinema attendances went down drastically despite the glamorized slogans given by Hollywood, that ‘Movies are Better than Ever.’ President Eisenhower mentioned that it was easier for a poor person to sit in the comfort of their homes and watch the television than to make an expensive trip to the theater. People could get more of their moneys worth watching a television while being just as entertained as watching a movie at the theater. Cinema was hit so hard at the time that the average weekly attendance fell from 90 million in 1948 to 47 million in 1956 (Briggs and Burke, pp. 189).

Briggs and Burke also point out Senator Joesph McCarthy’s hand in tainting the glorious age of the television and Hollywood. His ‘television black list of “believed” pro-Communist performers and actors hit the television and film industry hard. The television was a successful medium, however, in exposing McCarthy to the public for his wrongdoing’s and deceitful lies. Journalist’s Ed Murrow and Fred Friendly used the television specifically against the knowledge of CBS, to expose him for his deceit toward America.
Television evidently followed in the footsteps of its precursor, the radio, with its emphasis on entertainment. Game shows like Beat the Clock, soap operas and family comedies like I Love Lucy, came to be the foundations of American television entertainment. As quoted by the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1956, “Television is going the same way as radio as fast as it can: that is toward Entertainment (Briggs and Burke, pp.190).

Briggs and Burke’s discussion on the age of the television and how it transformed the amount of film goers into stay at home television watchers reminds me of the current issue with Blockbuster and the other movie rental industries. With new mediums providing access to movies such as “Movies on Demand” for digital cable and companies like “Netflicks.,” the demand to go out of your way to rent a movie has significantly decreased. People find it much easier to rent a $3 movie from the comfort of their couch than spending money to go to the movie rental store, rent a movie for a specified amount of days, and then have to worry about getting a “late fee” if they return the movie a day late. It seems like the these new mediums providing access to the latest entertainment via the television is replacing the need for most of us to go out of our way to rent a movie at places like Blockbuster.

-Jessica Highsmith

In this week’s assigned reading, Briggs and Burke start off by introducing the term that BBC referred to as “sound broadcasting” and how its level of interest and its institution was responsible for the beginnings of the age of broadcasting. He makes a point to discuss the institution of the radio before the television because the institutions that led to the age of television began with the age of broadcasting. According to Briggs and Burke, organizations like NBC and CBS in the United States were more like institutions rather than organizations. Similarly, the BBC in Britain was seen the same way. Briggs and Burke also bring up R.S. Lambert, a former editor for a BBC journal, “Ariel and All His Quality. “He stated that "in the field of art, intellect and politics' the BBC exercised through patronage all the power once exercised by the court" (Briggs and Burke, pp. 173).

Briggs and Burke discuss how the institution of broadcast was imperative in the communication information in times of war and global conflict. These institutions would ‘destroy the superstition of distance‘ by bringing news from the war front to the homes of the public. They introduce Ed Burrow, one of the greatest reporters of war, and how he is specifically recognized for his broadcasts from London during the Battle of Britain. Orson wells was another radio announcer who greatly contributed to the public’s further understanding of Hitlerism, Mussolinism, Stalanism ‘and all other terrorisms of our time than all the words about them that been written by reasonable men (Briggs and Burke, pp. 174).’

One of the biggest points that Briggs and Burke bring up is how at that time of the evolution of radio broadcasting, the press was strictly controlled by the government to keep out of controversial broadcasting. According to Briggs and Burke, the press was rigorously controlled in the United States especially, as a response to the press’ hostility towards former president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Restricted broadcasting was not only felt in the United States, but all over the world as well. The governments of most countries only wanted those things to be broadcasted that uplifted the citizens and gave them the notion that the government was legitimately playing its part in global affairs. Although the government has become much more lenient toward what the press can broadcast today, there are still restrictions. In a class I took in high school entitled, “Lessons of Vietnam,” I was graciously given the opportunity to interview Maya Zumwalt, a highly prestigious Fox News correspondent that was an embedded news reporter in Iraq a few years ago. With our over the phone interview, I was able to grasp a better understanding of what her role was being an embedded news correspondent in Iraq. She explained to me that there were certain things that she was not allowed to fully report from her experiences in Iraq. The soldiers were just about everywhere she went and officials told her that there were things she was not allowed to broadcast to the American Public. Just like radio broadcasting was censored in times of war, news broadcasts are still fairly censored today.

-Jessica Highsmith

In the article, “Technology and Ideology: The Case of the Telegraph,” James Carey explores how fundamental the invention of the telegraph was to society and how its endurance led to the technologies we have today. He details several key aspects of the telegraph that inevitably revolutionized how society viewed communication. One of the core effects of the telegraph was that it was first dominated by the Western Union, which was perhaps the first great industrial monopoly and the first communications empire. According to Carey, in conjunction with the railroad, “it provided the setting in which modern techniques for the management of complex enterprises were first worked out (Carey p. 202).” Secondly, the telegraph is thought to be the foundation of the electrical goods industry. Carey states that it was the first electrical engineering technology and was the first to focus on the main problem of engineering—the economy of a signal. The telegraph also revolutionized the ways in which individuals could communicate because for the first time, thought could travel by “the singing wire”. It transformed the entire nature of language. This brought about a new form of reporting and a new way to access knowledge. The fourth reason Carey gives his readers for the importance of the telegraph is that it was “a watershed in communication.” Carey discusses how it permitted for the first time the effective separation of communication from transportation. It allowed messages to be separated from the physical movement of objects and it also allowed communication to control physical processes actively.

One very interesting point Carey raises is how the telegraph completely altered the tradition of partisan journalism by forcing the wire services to generate “objective news.” Any newspaper could manipulate this news because language had become standardized through the telegraph. It led to the disappearance of traditional forms of speech, journalism, and storytelling. Carey addresses this point by explaining how the telegraph changed the forms of social relations mediated by language.

According to Carey, the telegraph also altered the ways in which time and space were understood in ordinary human affairs. Carey states, “the fundamental discovery in the telegraph lays not merely in the separation of communication and transportation, but also in the use of the telegraph as both a model of and mechanism for control of the physical movement of things, specifically the railroad.” With my knowledge and study of “The Great Train Robbery,” one of the first early films to portray 19th century technologies, I understand what Carey means when he says the telegraph changed how we view the relationship between time and space. The telegraph ended the identity of “transportation and communication” because it allowed symbols to move independently of geography and independently of and faster than transport. Thinking to today’s society, you can send a message through the wires of a computer to someone all the way across the globe and they can receive that idea almost instantly. That’s much faster than say moving cargo on a freight train from North Carolina to California. The invention of the telegraph drew a line of distinction between how we could view communication and transportation that has carried through to today.

-Jessica Highsmith

This week’s article, "Printing and the Rupture of Classification," by Michael Hobart and Zachary Schiffman, begins by describing how Michel de Montaigne dealt with the loss of those close to him by secluding himself to a tower of his chateau. There he employed the philosophy of Aristotle’s successors, alleviating his pain and his mind of worldly concerns by recording the accounts that would later be known as a twenty-year intellectual journal entitled The Essays. (Hobart & Schiffman, pp. 87-88) . According to Hobart and Schiffman, printing allowed Europeans to “secure their heritage of classical texts against the threat of loss or corruption.” This enabled the Renaissance to be a revival of classical times permanently and aided in our understanding of the past today. Furthermore, printing allowed for the advancement of various fields of science and medicine and was the “fulcrum” of the Reformation. Perhaps the most significant gift of printing to humankind was its ability to spread an abundance of knowledge and information through a previously unimaginable number of books.

Hobart and Schiffman also discuss how the creation of the “codex” or book format came to replace the annoyance of papyrus rolls, each of which consisted of a roll about 10 inches wide and 30 feet long. The codex made it easier to consult manuscripts because one only had to flip the desired page. According to the authors, by facilitating access to an array of information, “the codex had the potential to transform the manuscript from a cumbersome mnemonic aid to a readily accessible information storehouse (Hobart and Schiffman p. 91).” Another major advancement in scribal writing was the technique of glossing a text with commentaries. This referred to the medieval practice of dictating text and commentary during university lectures. This means of organizing and managing information was followed up by the concept of the summa, or “summary.” The authors explain that the summa served to “cut through the diversity of interpretations to establish a core of truth (Hobart and Schiffman p. 93).”

Hobart and Schiffman go on to discuss how objections to scholasticism arose in the Renaissance though the sixteenth centuries, when “rhetoric came to rival philosophy as an instrument for understanding the world (p. 95).” According to the authors, however, the speed of printing made “commonplace thought” too fragile to sustain the weight of information that could be generated by printing. This concept brings me back to the days of my world history class in 9th grade. I remember discussing how in the classical times of the great philosophers like Aristotle, lectures followed a very abstract format based on deep thought. It didn’t seem like much of anything was written down in these philosophical classes. It would take the facilitation of print to organize and manage information and later on communicate ideas all around the world. Relating to the concept of new media, the advancement of print has revolutionized the way we view, access, and relay information in today’s society. From scribal writing, to the printing press, and the fancy laptop’s we have today, the communication of information has come a long way.

-Jessica Highsmith

In Katherine Hayles article, “The Condition of Virtuality,” she explores the “implications of constructing” information and materiality as discrete and distinctly different concepts (p. 73). She begins the article by describing her whimsical experience witnessing a device developed at Xerox PARC at a SIGGRAPH show. The device consisted of dangling red cords connected by transducers to data lines that would hang and writher. Her experience at this art show exhibit brought to light the overwhelming presence of virtutaliy in our society today. She comes to the conclusion that virtuality can be defined as the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns (p. 69). She stresses the importance of viewing virtuality as not only a psychological phenomenon, but as a mind-set that “finds instantiation in an array of powerful technologies.” Hayles uses the example of World War II to promote how it was an instance, more so than previous global events, in which the value of information was real. According to her, the urgency of war highlighted the fact that information is time dependent and it “matters little what information one has if a message can only move as fast as one can on foot (p. 72).” The development of technological infrastructures has made rapid message transmission possible and a commodity as important to military success as guns and infantry are says to Hayles. This example draws on the conclusion that the effectiveness of information depends on a highly articulated material base.

Within our class discussion today, we briefly went over what vituality is and how information and materiality go hand-in-hand. We specifically discussed two examples that demonstrate the connection between information and materiality, “Dangling string” and “Pinwheels” Dangling string is an art installation that uses plastic as a network activity and pinwheels is another art installation that incorporated the concept of tangible interfaces. The relationship between information and materiality has seemed inevitable in our society today. For example, as mentioned in class when we want to get a message across to someone we may call them or text them using our cell phones. We may think it does not matter what medium use to relay this information, however in some circumstances it does. There are many cases in which I need to call someone regarding serious information that would not be appropriate to communicate to them via text message. As an example used in class, it would not be appropriate to relay to your boss that you cannot come into work that night over text messaging; that is something you should obviously call them about.

-Jessica Highsmith

In “The Poetics of Augmented Space,” Manovich sets out to describe yet another phenomenon of technology present within society today. In this article, he discusses how the general dynamic between information and spatial form function differently in the computer culture we live in today. He specifically sets out to define the environments in which physical space is being overlaid with constantly changing information as augmented space. He notes that this term was derived from the previously established term. ‘augmented reality,’ which describes how the users work on actual things in real space. This augmented space seems to be especially prevalent in the highly urbanized Asian cities, such as Tokyo and Hong Kong, which according to Manovich, the walls of their buildings are adorned with a multitude of electronic screens and signs. In this article, Manovich aims to look at augmented space as more than its obvious technological state, but from a historical and cultural standpoint as well. He goes into detail describing the relationship between technological applications used in the environment, specifically surveillance, cellspace, and electronic displays, and how their co-existence with one another has directly affected our concepts of space. According to Manovich, “they make physical space into a dataspace: extracting data from it (surveillance) or augmenting it with data (cellspace).” He gives an example of this relationship by relating it to the graphical user interface, a topic we have previously discussed in class. He asserts that a relationship exists in software agents and other interfaces, which take a more active role in actually assisting the user than the GUI. These interfaces have the ability to track their users in such a way that they can acquire information about them and then perform tasks for them. Furthermore, Manovich lists several research paradigms that all seem to share one common theme: overlaying physical space with dynamic data.

A day does not go by that we are not taking part in what Manovich describes as augmented space. Whether its talking on a mobile cell phone en route to class, watching a you-tube video on an iPhone while sitting on the bus, or adding something to the calendar on a Palm Pilate, the user is experiencing technology in a different way physically as opposed to the way they would if they were playing a game on a large screen or watching a movie in theatres. Because these are devices that fit in the palm of your hand, you can still be doing the exact same thing, yet the physical experience is totally different. The user is not subjected to one environment; they can carry the device they need with them without it controlling their environment.

-Jessica Highsmith

In “Technologies,” Kellerman explores the changing relationship among space transcending technologies and on the socio-spatial aspects of technologies. From the automobile to the innovation of the telephone, Kellerman highlights the correspondence between spatial mobilities, specifically physical and virtual mobilities. The article discusses how physical mobilities have evolved throughout the twentieth century with the innovations of different modes of transportation. Virtual mobilities seem to have progressed beyond anyone’s previous notions, as seen through laptop PC’s and sophisticated mobile information machines like the popular “iPhone.” The article also goes into detail on the two dimensions of mobility, standardization and adoption. These two dimensions have made transportation and communication user friendly and thus, allowed for its mass-adoption according to Kellerman. Kellerman demonstrates the presence of these two dimensions in technology using the example of the automobile. Although it had originally been created in Europe, America facilitated its mass production as a passenger car with the introduction of Ford’s Model T. Adoption of this innovative form of mobility was immediate, seeing as how “17 years after its creation one-half of American families had a car.” Parallel to this innovation, the Internet came to be necessity for information acquisition all over the world, and according to Kellerman, claimed to ‘constitute the fabric of our lives.’

Reading Kellerman’s article on space transcending technologies brought to my attention just how relevant they are in my everyday life. In our previous class discussions, we talked about how the human-computer interface acts as a gateway to human culture and the human experience in general giving us the ability to look at videos, play virtual 3-D games, or listen to music. Manovich even described the interface of technologies as a “filter for all culture mediums.” Relating to these ideas, it is amazing to think that technology has evolved so much to the point where I can watch a YouTube video on my iPhone while traveling through space on the wolfline bus. It’s truly remarkable to take into account that the interface of my mobile phone device gives me the opportunity to access information on the internet- whether I choose to be mobile or not- the option’s entirely up to me.

In "The Forms: The Database" Manovich goes into great detail discussing how the database and virtual interactive 3D space incorporate the culture of the human experience in a profound way. He begins this section by describing his visit to Razorfish studios, an established company and leader in the design world of computer screens and networks. He discusses how the spatial design of the studio reflects a computer culture's key theme's, representing interactivity, lack of hierarchy, and modularity. This ties in with the paradigm of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) that incorporated the physical features of a typical office, a trashcan, file cabinet, and desktop. Manovich goes on to introduce the traditional means of storing and organizing computer data that was made possible by two essential forms of new media: databases and virtual interactive 3D space. Manovich describes how these two computer based forms relate back to culture in a distinct way, literally and conceptually. The database is used to store any kind of data, such as digital movie clips. It embodies culture in the way that is becomes a metaphor which we use to conceptualize individual and collective memory. The other form Manovich describes, the virtual interactive 3D space is used in modern day computer games and animation and also human computer interfaces. This form manipulates human culture by using 3D navigable space to visualize an assortment of date- from simply files in a computer to the entire internet. Manovich discusses how these two forms represent the human experience by employing familiar cultural aspects of humanity into a computer. These two forms are also essential to new media design. Works in new media can be acknowledged as constructing the right interface to a multimedia database, such as hypermedia and websites. it can also be understood from the 3D navigational standpoint seen in computer games and various virtual worlds.

Furthermore, Manovich goes into greater detail about the significance of the database in general. His logic on the database conveys a sense that it is the key form of cultural expression in this modern day in age. He also compares the database to Ervin Panofsky's analysis of linear perspective, saying that "we may even call database a new symbolic form of a computer age." The dominance of the database as a gateway to the culture of the human experience in new media is hard to deny. One of the most recognizable forms of the database in new media is it's collection of CD-ROM titles- granting us access to images, sound recordings, and video clips. It is no wonder why I employ databases everyday when considering their prevalence in new media technology. Just the other day I was looking through a collection of pictures I had taken years ago through the easy accessibility of digital storage media called a CD-ROM. I have stored countless things on CD-ROM's besides pictures, such as homework assignments and music. I also came into contact with virtual interactive 3D navigable space a great deal when I was younger and had a fetish with "Roller-coaster Tycoon." The things you could manipulate and do with this program would not have been possible without this form of new media design.

-Jessica Highsmith

        Lev Manovich discusses and explores the signifiant and crucial role interfaces play in our society in the second chapter of the reading "The Language of New Media," entitled "The Interface." Within the text, Manovich relates back to his claims in "What is New Media," in how the role of the digital computer has shifted from simply being a tool to a filter for all culture mediums, mediating all different kinds of cultural and artistic productions. He discusses how the computer manifests culture through various forms with its human-computer interface, or HCI. The Human-computer interface includes physical input and output devices such as the monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. According to Manovich, it also consists of metaphors used to conceptualize the organization of computer data. When we view facebook, live conferences via webcams that can be broadcast throughout the world, quick-time videos, etc. it is all made accessible through the interface of the browser. The computer uses a variety of different media to relay cultural messages to the user through the computer interface, which describes how we are able to interact with computer systems. Manovich goes onto discuss the dual funtionality of the interface in our informational society, used for work activities, such as word processor and excel, and for leisure activities, such as computer video games and instructional DVD's. Human-computer interface (HCI) is evidently experienced by anyone who uses a digital computer and in turn, the "interface shapes how the computer user concieves the computer itself" (Manovich 76).

        Manovich's discussion of the interface has brought to my attention just how continual the use of interfaces has been in my life. As a child brought up the in 1990's, the computer interface has luckily been a very active part of my life, even as just a little kid playing Mario on the once heard of Sega Genesis Super Nintendo. I recall very clearly my first memories playing "3-D Movie Maker" on my dad's ancient Apple Macintosh. As technology has constantly been evolving, the interface has opened up the dimensions in which I can access information every day. Today, I  can effortlessly carry around my light weight Macbook laptop and access information through the interface of the computer without a second-thought.  Whether it's to access the local weather on my cellphone or to chat with my friend miles away via a live webcam, the interface has made all of these possiblilities real opportunities. As we have discussed in our recent class lecture, what was once "new media," for example the printing press, has transformed over the years and developed into what we view as new media today, the emergence of digital technology. Manovich has shed light on the interfaces impact on our acquisition of information using computers.

-Jessica Highsmith

In the article, “What is New Media?” Lev Manovich describes the development of old media throughout the centuries and its transition into what he refers to as ‘new media.’ Manovich makes a point to address what exactly new media is today and how it differs from the days of old media, before the modern technology of computerization. He explores the commonly believed definition of new media as merely the use of a computer for distribution and exhibition and how it really should be viewed as a tool for media production and storage. Manovich explains the beginnings of media acquisition, such as Babbage’s Analytical machine and Dauguerre’s daugerreotype of the 19th century and how today this media has been translated into numerical data easily accessible through computers. He further describes the how the new age use of computers gives rise to five core principles of new media. These attributes provide defining characteristics that differentiate between old and new media. The first principle explains the function of new media as numerical representations, or digital codes that allows media to be programmable. The second principle is modularity, which explains that objects in new media consist of independent parts, which consist of even smaller independent elements. The third principle describes the process of automation, how the computer modifies or creates a media object simply by using templates or algorithms. Manovich discuses in great detail how new media is every changing and can exist in different, potentially infinite versions. This is the principle of variability, which closely corresponds to automation. The final principle described by Manovich is The final aspect of new media is transcoding which is the machine's way of explaining things that both it and the human audience can understand simultaneously. This article clearly shows just how complex media has become throughout the years given to the rise of new technology.

After reading this article, it is not hard to determine just how big of role new media plays in everyone’s daily lives. If it weren’t for the advancement of technology, we might still be using punch cards to enter data into a unit like the “Analytical Machine,” instead of effortlessly typing our papers on high-tech MacBook laptops. As Manovich asserts while describing variability in his article, the logic of new media fits the logic of the postindustrial society. The Internet is an informational tool that college students probably access every day. From my experience, it is almost impossible to avoid running across a “pop-up banner” while surfing through the web. This new media technology reflects the social logic that Manovich was referring to. Something as minute as a “pop-up” banner is just one of the many products we encounter all of the time as a result of new media.
-Jessica Highsmith