COM257: Media History and Theory

Wireless communication combines technology and networking to establish the telecommunication system available today.  After WWII ended, the mobile telephone industry was in a good position to transform the US communications.  Consumer demand, research facilities and manufacturing capabilities combined to generate the necessary interest for expansion.  AT&T and Southern Bell offered the first mobile telephone service in 1946.  The first phones used in this system were radio telephones using 150 MHz/ 60 kHz wide.  In 1947 the concept for a cellular system was introduced soon followed by the first automated dialing and the invention of the transistor.  As the years progressed, so did the cellular frequencies, the quality of production thanks to competition such as Japan, and the invention of the IC chip.  By the 1960's companies in the US and in Europe began updating the cellular systems and expanded the coverage.  Later in 1969, the Bell System offered the first commercial cellphone system using frequency reuse technology in pay-phone capacity onboard trains along the east coast.  With the creation of the briefcase phone and the introduction of microprocessor, the phone gradually became more portable.  Motorola offered the first hand-held cell phone by 1973.  Expansion was limited until the FCC added a larger spectrum  for mobile phone usage.  The late seventy's increased the scale of coverage overseas incorporating satellite technology and linking it with other communication systems.  With worldwide connections available, compatibility in frequency use or multi-national cell phones evolved but limitations in regulations held the industry back.  The mid-1980's and 90's competition in the cell phone industry grew world-wide and began to market more and more consumers in the US where popularity was continually booming.  Analog systems held the US from early growth but no for other countries who had few existing telephone companies that could meet the high demands.  By adopting a digital standard, the US was on its way to becoming up to date by world standards and this standard included using analog systems as well as digital.  More channels and carriers allowed for more users that had a growing number of companies to choose from in the 1990's.  Also in the mid 1990's GSM combined computer capabilities into the phone eventually expanding into the internet usage, text messaging, photo sharing, multi-media devices found today.

When historians look at the development of communication, especially telephone communication, the amount of technology produced is overwhelming for such a few decades in time.  If it wasn't for the government holding back the development through regulation and slow response in releasing frequency holdings, the US may have been quite different than it is now.  While some of the limitations ended up being helpful, it makes a person wonder what we may have missed out on.  Perhaps the use of the internet would have had more interest earlier on or radio communication might have been more popular.  Either way, the world definitely has become smaller in its virtual mobility and its use of new media has extended into all facets of communication.  The creation of multi-use communication devices continues to expand and will penetrate more and more into our daily lives at work, home, school, church, and anywhere else we may go.  While integration is the way of the future, we still have to stop and evaluate where the limits of our technology should be.   Cell phones have indeed gone under large scale transformations and they continue to evolve to meet the demands of the consumer.  

Web 2.0 connects devices under one platform in the network allowing for a common language of sorts.  Rather like a common service, web 2.0 can be utilized by many applications and programs without prior steps of usage.  More or less, Web 2.0 is like plug and play for the internet.  Whereas some software relies on its programming, web 2.0 expands in relation to its data.  For instance, Google is one such service that can simply be used and is based on its information database.  Using each user as a server and as sources as smaller dots of a larger picture, web 2.0 brought in a generation of programs and services that relied on connectability rather than one system accessed by many.  Everybody served as the system.  Collective intelligence through hyperlinking or directory of links is one way of expanding the system to broaden databases and accessing information.  Collaboration of categorization of sites is also expanding web 2.0.  Some examples are Flickr and del.icio.us.  Peer to Peer networks like limewire or Napster also put a new twist on information sharing by allowing owners to collect and store other peoples data instead of simply sharing and viewing the data.  The dynamic aspects capable of Web 2.0 greatly distinguishes it from the former Web 1.0.  Blogs and webpages like Myspace and Facebook allow interaction with links, song info., picture sharing and much more.  By ranking and predicting good results, Web 2.0 users find the system as a good source of information rather than an overload of information.  The importance to the individual rather that someone determining it for them give the control to the consumer and gives the consumer power and freedom.  This freedom is being questioned.  The information rights and who owns data is hard to determine.  The data supplier and data vendor have mixed boundaries and licenses that will lead to issues over control and who came first.    For now at least, the users have great influence in development and the dynamics of services being offered.  Users control the need and want aspect and therefore change the desires of a system causing the developers to create more flexible system by demand.  Lightweight programming models are vastly popular for ease of use and its coupling abilities.  The lack of protection allows freedoms of data use and availability.  Innovation in Assembly and the necessity of many devices continues the broad range of necessity and popularity created in part by developers but out of demand by consumers.  The rich capabilities of web application is more widely accepted and used than before now that technology has become more equalized across the board and no company seems to monopolize the field.  

Under Web 2.0, may companies are being able to find their niche in the internet mainstream.  Companies like Netscape had great ideas, innovations that were really ahead of their time.  Now with Web 2.0 being universally accepted, more technology is available under this common platform.  While the competition the author referred to in the '90s led to some confusion and turmoil, the outcome was more about the user-friendly market that could be accepted on a wide scale and benefit everyone at the same time.  Otherwise, the mass usage of the internet would still be confusing and run for science and military purposes.  The mobility and ease of information made for a common thread that seemed to lead to the creation of Web 2.0 and establish a need for consistency.  Without Web 2.0 the internet would certainly have its drawbacks in its connectivity and ease of communications.  The amount of different programming systems and technical languages would be too large to allow for the information transfer we have today.  Because of Web 2.0, the world will continue to increase the availability of knowledge and share in the ownership in its expansion.  

Video games consist of real rules and fictional worlds.  This allows the player to imagine the world and understand representation.  While in its present electronic state the implementation of gaming is new, its concept is not.  Board games and various others have been around since the time of pyramids.  Multitudes of games have been created and adapted for centuries.  Even at the onset of the first computers, the idea of using computers for recreational purposes had enabled an arena of gaming to be transferred from the tangible world to the virtual one.  Rules still maintained there purposes but needed to have structure in the form of emergence and progression.  The variations in rules kept games fresh while progression renewed the look and feel.  Any skill level could play a game and grow in their abilities.  While games have their original models as a basis, rules and models tend to always get broken.     Just like games from centuries before, we strive to make them more challenging and competitive loaded with chance.  Fundamentally, games offer different experiences per individual.  In many computer games, it is the game that is played for real and so its rules are real but the idea of real is conflicting with what should be called make-believe.  Narratology (ludology) ties many video game experiences together.  The story telling effect provides the basis for fundamental belief and understanding that the player relates to while making sense of the game.  Expanding this to other media, transmedia storytelling takes gaming to a bigger more complex degree where it is also combined with game ecology.   Eventually the question of ontology versus aesthetics is risen and there is no clear answer.  The difference between how games are and should be is subjective.  Game design, what players feel is fun, and who the players should be all continue to have no concrete and encompassing view.  The world of computer gaming is as diverse as the people that play and the designers whose ability creates newer and exciting games.  

As far as computer gaming goes as new media, it seems that the largest extent stops at simply being electronic but on second thought, it has allowed the possibility to visualize our imaginations and give imagination a home.  Cyberspace allows the player to become immersed in video games.  These games let the player not just play a character, but become one.  In addition to the player perceiving themselves as the character, others also see the character rather than the person.  Since video games can unite people all over the world, they don't have to see the person in the real world to go into the cyberspace to game.  Mobility and virtual space combine to allow a unique gaming experience.  By the use of the internet and other networks, people have utilized the basic communication devices and transformed and extended their purpose to connect.  The learning capabilities, the shared storytelling, the fundamental goals that can be achieved make for fun and widespread attraction that will continue computer gaming for decades to come.    

In this reading, Abbate shows how the internet was started and all the facets of it.  In the beginning, the internet was connected in only a few locations.  Usually it was isolated and used for businesses or military purposes.   Universities and military networks eventually divided and both developed independently of each other and of their own needs.  Later on as technology advanced and the spread of the internet changed from education and nonprofit research to privatization and capitalism, the internet began to grow exponentially.  Growth also was aided because of the lack of government political involvement.  The unrestricted growth allowed a freedom for individual companies, schools, and ordinary people to create and connect to the expanding internet system as long as they followed TCP/IP and routing protocol.  Computers themselves became smaller and cheaper thus creating a wide market for individuals wanting to connect.  Now that so many people wanted to connect, there needed to be a way to distinguish between everyone.  That was solved by using domains.   Having already combined networks throughout the years, it wasn’t as nearly as difficult as to get all parties involved to understand why naming computers was vital and how it would affect the future.  As far as going global, it turns out that many countries had been adopting many protocols followed by the US’ TCP/IP system in lieu of other systems partly because it was more developed so once the US government went to privatization, it didn’t take long for more countries to connect.  Eventually the World Wide Web would provide that last bit of universal connectivity bringing the world together just one step more.  The internet has constantly evolved, changing its roles and functions, unexpectedly taking new directions.   Its protean nature still eludes us as we move forward and we await its next surprising turn.

The use of the internet has become second nature to most people in America these days, surprising for the fact that it hasn’t been round for too many years.  We have integrated it into many facets of our lives:  at work, at home, for entertainment, and even to get our basic necessities.  From shopping to researching school work, the internet has many uses.  Our phones, cars, grocery stores, and schools connect to the internet in one way or another.  Has the internet crossed the boundaries of public and private?  Perhaps with new media, the lines are blurred more and more when anyone can GPS your location on their phones or a grocery store can text you latest discounts on your favorite purchases.  Many of the presentations in class have had their greatest popularity due to the internet like some of the gaming presentations we’ve recently learned about.  While the internet has its ability to bring entertainment and information at our fingertips, we haven’t stopped to think about its invasiveness into our personal lives and where it should begin or end.  With so many countries taking advantage of the computer age, our lives are not private and don’t escape intrusion, just look at the hacking technology just recently linked to China. However, the future of the internet is still bright and its applications are limitless.   Even now, the world is only one click away. 

Close examination of texts presented or generated for computers is neither restricted to being called new media nor is it simply restricted to digital works. Aarseth has taken this perspective and created a new ontology of texts called textonomy. Nonlinear texts provide a jumping point for this research and create the foundation for his philosophy and the application of it. To begin with, a basic understanding must be understood. Aarseth describes nonlinear text as:

Aarseth goes on to explain that it is the physical aspect of text and not the meaning behind it that he refers to and he is explaining. In his outline of nonlinearity he focuses on the typology and forms of texts. In addition to new applications, Aarseth also invokes some possible new ones for the future. One key difference is that some script can be changed thus affecting the text and in other cases, script cannot be changed but only viewed. Aarseth emphasizes the implications and expectations of text by representation of an encompassing word, phrase or name. With emphasis on textual topology, a mathmatical application transposing textonomy from geometry supplies the formal structures of sequencing and accessibility of script.

Aarseth gives four degrees of nonlinearity. The first is that nonlinear text is static and is open to be explored by the user. Second is discontinuous nonlinear text uses links to go to each texton. Third is the predictable cybertext with its conditional limitations in which roleplaying is key. The fourth and last is the unpredictable, dynamic textons of indeterminate cybertext. Achieving nonlinearity can be done in various ways. A split or fork can be used for example. Other interesting ways include a selective-lined poem with millions of options or interactive cybertext adventure gaming such as MUD or Adventure.

Interestingly, the author supplies many ideas and alternatives to different forms of text and how to use them. It is easy to forget that a lot of communication devices we use on a daily basis began as simple entertainment. The telegraph is one that the author mentions and also much later, the computer's Internet Relay Chat. Text has inspired many forms of communication and sparked a creative development in gaming. If it weren't for the developments gained through text and the various applications, it doesn't seem logical that we would have many of the technologies we consider standard today. Even the word processor that I am currently using would not exist without the inspiration and discoveries made by rethinking text and how to use and understand it. New media owes its roots to this because it lies at the heart of the matter and is its building block.

TV initially was a slow going experiment but soon after WWII
it developed quickly as one of the next entertainment rages.  The new draw to television did not hurt
radio, but an overwhelming decline hit the cinema world resulting in new
strategies of TV programming to include film. 
More programs followed and the variety of programming expanded
exponentially.  Throughout the next
several years, a struggle for popularity continued between film, radio and
TV.  TV in its conception had a unique
chance to provide a range of possible shows and interests but due to
technological advances and a large degree of control gained by the networks, TV
took a path geared towards entertaining the masses with films, radio-based
variety shows, soap operas and game shows. 
The long-range development differed in America than that of
Britain.  British TV was closely
monitored, constantly under the ITA, and subject to government
regulations.  American television served
more of a warning of what not to do rather than an example of TV at its finest.  British television did not have as many
outside competitors as it had within itself where as American TV was just the
opposite.  More differences included the
infrastructure of the broadcasting companies and the financing for them.  BBC was relatively a monopoly that generated
its money through the licensing fees, undistracted from individual companies
whose profits came from advertisements.  In
addition to these differences, Britains remain isolated in their television and
programming whereas Americans exploited the use of television overseas and gain
support in their style of entertainment programming.  Eventually, many countries adopted parts of
their system from either Britain or America and then proceeded to adapt them to
their own countries with varying results. 

As with many forms of mass media, TV became subject to rule
and regulation.  Freedoms of expression
needed to be curbed within standards for the good of all ages.  Children were a focal point of interest and
concern.  Rating systems were developed
and moderate censorship was established. 
Further examination focused on social studies and how television affects
religion, education and culture.  Various
countries had different takes on how to research and analyze implications.  Whatever the debate that arose, one thing for
certain would occur and it is simply journalism.  Journalist would get to the heart of many
issues and exploit TV as well as anyone could. 
From government scandal to local education, they would find the story
and deliver.  Information had never been
so readily dispersed and the convergence that took place is just the beginning.

The world of television has changed vastly from its first
airing to what we have today.  The
governmental policies, broadcast infrastructure, social roles, and
entertainment value are hidden behind what we have come to find as normal
television.  The sports, news,
educational programs and game shows are all products of yesterdays’ past
developments.  Many people have worked to
create what we have and it can be seen world wide.  Traveling from Mexico to Iraq or Germany to
Japan, the viewer is treated to a wide spectrum of shows based on similar
styles, similar interests, and similar constraints.  The viewer expects some differences while
still holding expectations that were developed under Britain’s moral code or patterned
after America’s commercialized entertainment. 
 Interestingly, it is the use of
computer access that television will continue to expand and have different,
refreshing uses like podcasting and other live webcam shows.  Computers also now record programs and can access
shows from anywhere in the world or be used to transmit up to the minute
journalism feeds on breaking news stories. With all this information and power
at our fingertips, the future of television is still overwhelming with
possibilities.  

Broadcasting radio transformed the world. Unification and a sense of connection resounded to its listeners. Beginning with the institutions of BBC, NBC and CBS, the world no longer had to just rely on newspapers for information and entertainment. MacLeish, Murrow, Wells and many others helped to bring on the new age of broadcast. During wartime, broadcasts helped to inform and educate many who would have only been subjected to Nazi propaganda. In addition, timing and content was freed to the press and served to uplift moral. Shortly after the beginning of the broadcast era, countries were divided in the usage of what to broadcast. The British had a high moral code while the Americans were all about entertainment. Internationally, advertisements dominated the airways and in other countries, a hybrid model was the decided choice. Nationalism was stressed in Japan and China. Post WWII in Europe, change came from decentralizing radio stations and formation of a socialist state consciousness. In any event, even though the shows and styles differed, the behind-the-scenes set-up was the same. Actors, engineers, management, scriptwriters and producers were needed in any studio. Despite the fact that the structure of radio broadcast behind the scenes was the same, radio continued to change. The makers of radios progressed and created portable transistor radios. Along with the portable radio, local broadcast stations developed allowing for expansion of services, programs, and increasing areas of coverage. Eventually the electronics changed expanded where FM finally trumped AM in the United States in popularity.

The introduction of radio brings a broad spectrum of usage to this new media. Having broken the physical mobilities and sharing the virtual space with telegraph, radio surprises the masses with technology that hasn’t been thought of and that not many have begun to explore its future role. The freedom of radio broadcast may have been curbed and regulated but its appeal as a cheap and wide distribution already began to sink in. Advertisement agencies quickly seized the opportunity as well as political parties. In turn, developments to improve and expand led the market for continued development of what we have today: Sirius satellite broadcasting, thousands of free AM and FM channels world wide, the abundant variety of shows and music, and even computer radio stations. The integration of radio into our lives has come from a century of advances. From military applications to entertainment shows played while sitting by the fireside or even the presidential speeches, radio has altered the course of history and has gained its own voice. No longer questioned in its place in history, radio will remain as long as there is a voice to sustain it.

The telegraph was a major break between communication and transportation. With the development of electricity came telegraph technology and the freedoms from physical travel. The invention allowed for new sciences, chemistry advances, religious expansion and new theology. The telegraph involved three connections to ideology. One is capitalism, the second is imagery and the third is that people have a common thread which links everyone. Additionally, the language and style of transferring messages was reinvented. Old styles did not and could not work well through telegraph technologies. The new school of thought was more concise, economical and mainstream in its approach. Empiricism and Imperialism volleyed the holding power. The extent and use of the telegraph between military use, government expansion, and marketing power as well as religious growth influenced the development and path for years to come in people’s lives at home, the work place, church and in commercial markets. Distances grew from line of sight to stretching around the globe. This globalization equalized price values and trading markets and in turn colonized space. This space also served to unify time in cities, zones and country. A unique alignment of time united markets, also creating consistency in transportation. Telegraph united people, transformed capitalism and spurred invention.

What the codex form did for writing, the telegraph did for communication. Telegraph brought a new level of development that enabled sciences and arts to combine while transforming how communication is viewed. How we work and live are directly affected by the strides we reached throughout the development of telegraph technologies. Every moment of the day is calculated and connected worldwide to allow our consistency thanks to the telegraph. The stock market to the price of milk is regulated and put in check because the distance of communication has shrunk and capitalism became equalized. We can organize and come together as a class at one time for an equal price even though we have come from different states and separate countries. The text we read and the information we receive on a daily basis have evolved from the language and styles formed for telegraphing. All media can find extensions rooted in telegraph technology and the influences it had in the world.

Virtuality consists of a duality of materiality and information by which culture perceives material objects are interpenetrated by informational patterns. Information is said to be the master and controller over anything materialistic but also relies on the material world for transportation. The speed of which information is sent and received is vital to modern society and is highly valued. Much energy has been spent in research and development in this matter. Another area of interest is biology. Constructs and patterns in biology are viewed as information and therefore can be duplicated by technology. The criteria for information keeps evolving. The transition from information to materialism blurs together when information is sent as a message. The message becomes a signal, a signal that uses wires and materialistic pathways. This conversion into signals shows how boundaries are blurred. The confusion continues in the difference between dichotomies and dialectics. Some explanation can be offered by comparing construction and randomness, where constructs are patterns, signals and information and randomness is noise. Due to the inherent induction of noise, the two cannot be separated completely and become joined, existing together in their final destination.

Virtuality is further explained in reference to postmodernalistic thought. One being the consumption quality of material goods versus informational goods. Material goods can be used once and they are gone, or at the very least, can only be used or possessed by one person at a time. Informational goods do not need to be singularly owned and can be shared repeatedly. Text, in the form of books, is also reinvented and the visual virtuality in the postmodern era is interactive, and multi-layered. The displacement of verbal content by visual forms provides a link to the informational dialectics present in modern times. Further discussion combines the principles of spatiality, structure and physics explaining how codes and codex are used and are related to the material world while adding a new dimension all its own.

Virtuality is modernistic. The games we play as kids are generationally different from those our great grandparents played yet have many of the same fundamentals. Virtuality can be seen as an extension of pre-WWII ideas and concepts. Take monopoly for instance. Monopoly was a simple board game our grandparents and parents played. Today, kids can play the same game but on the computer or in 3-D. The range of visual interaction, the placement of players and the limitless accessibility allows kids to entertain themselves while en-route or with others anywhere in the world. The idea of information encompassing the material world is not entirely far-fetched. While some movies have gone beyond present reality, the ideas behind the movies have not. For instance, the use of technology to perform surgeries across the Atlantic Ocean. Surgeons have used computers and machines to perform actual operations thousands of miles away. This illustrates the connection between the material world and the informational world. Without information, surgeons could not have ’physically’ reached across the ocean but were able to translate their thoughts and movements into information that could.

In Manovich’s “Poetry of Augmented
Spaces,” the quantity and saturation of multi-media integrated into the
environment, whether physical or virtual, is discussed.  The aesthetic and historical progression into
technology and electronics has impacted the way multi-media is viewed
today.  Manovich’s technological
applications that cross between the physical and virtual space include:  video surveillance, cell space,
computer/virtual space, ubiquitous computing, augmented reality, tangible
interfaces, wearable computers, intelligent building, intelligent spaces,
context aware computing, ambient intelligence, smart objects, wireless location
services, sensor networks, and E-paper.  The
next generation is more about morphing both the physical world with the virtual
multimedia, making people and technology fully integrated.  Much of the integration stems as Manovich
states stems from “overlaying dynamic data over the physical space.”  The layout of these new dimentions are
thought of in fields and functions rather than the straight lines of binary
logic.  Augmentation is discussed as a
new way of “seeing” multi-media and how it is being used more and more fluidly
in people’s lives.  The incorporation of
this augmentation into the architectural structures found today forces us to
rethink the idea of architecture.  The
use of the third dimension and also the combination of perceptible layers help
to expand the idea of data space in physical space.  Venturi uses and foresees many variations of
iconographic representation.  Others like
Spuybroek believe in the variability.

Augmented spaces are seen today as common,
expected multi-media that have been easily incorporated into everyday life.
Billboards and large screens at ball parks or on the side of the road are found
in every major city and span the highway from L.A. to N.Y.C.  People expect to be bombarded with messages
and advertisements.  The use of space
that Manovich refers to in the article approaches the concept of utilizing
every last inch if Venturi had his way but Manovich states that using such
space can be overkill and that space can also be unused but still have a
purpose.  Manovich suggests that invisible
space be the subject for further discovery and research.  Take a classroom for example, perhaps desks
at school will be interactive, chairs will stimulate the brain at the same time
with electronic pulses, the walls will change hue based on the mood of the
class to signal a topic change, or the room will take on a history lesson where
everything will fade away so a scene from history takes place undisrupted
visually by modern items. The invisible could end up being the sky itself
where  clouds and air particles are
manipulated and used as projection screens or to enhance or intensify a moment
in Spuybroek fashion.  Whichever way
space is augmentation will depend on not just the inventions scientists and
engineers come up with but by the need and desire the public will see for these
inventions.  In other words, more ways to
sell us want we will want will create more things we never knew we wanted.                  

Two main concepts reoccur repeatedly
throughout the selection:  one is
mobility and the other is the three spheres. 
Corporeal mobility and virtual mobility constitute one theme while the three
spheres is broken down into individuals, society and space.  Kellerman starts off by giving a couple
all-encompassing ideas that are rooted in these concepts:  space-transcending technologies (STT) and
technology-transcended space (TTS).  STT
is the physical special mobility and virtual special mobility whereas the TTS
is the manipulation of machine-time/speed. 

Many of the author’s thoughts are
broken down into smaller subcategories but the overall theme returns to
mobility and the three spheres.  For instance,
the use of relationships among technologies consists of substitutions,
complements, and additives.  Personal
mobility technology (PMT) is broken down physically and virtually and then again
into transportation, direct trading channel, marketing tool and business
communications.  Mobility technology that
is created in the development stage undergoes structural changes and then
operational changes.  In essence, the
morphing of one technology into another or with another or perhaps separate of
another corresponds to needs, limitations, and practicality of the technology
at that time in history. 

Most of what Kellerman writes about
is generally correct in its logic. 
However, I find that Kellerman has overlooked CB’s, short wave radios,
and walkie-talkies.  Only a couple
mentions of radio are discussed.  The
fact that these are a notable link to the popularity of wireless items has a great
impact to create a consumer market that incorporates the mobility of these
items into one.  The marketability of technology
cannot be dismissed or overlooked.  The
unique approach that ties together automobiles with wireless technology does
however need to be appreciated.  The fact
that humans will inevitably always strive to simplify and streamline their
lives while maintaining social ties and improving the environment around them opens
the path to new technologies.  These new
technologies will perhaps add or complement or be substituted, but somehow come
out improving and changing what we have already in bigger and better ways, or
rather ‘smaller’ and better ways.

In constructing the main points of
the chapter "The Forms" the reader becomes immersed in the debate about
databases versus narratives.  The author
begins by trying to ease the reader into the subject by explaining that data
organization has two main separations: 
one is the collection of data and the second is the navigational
space.  Two forms used in media design include
the construction of the appropriate interface for the multimedia database and
the defining the navigational methods through spatialized representations.  These two forms show the span of difference
between programming such as web sites and hypermedia and programming such as gaming
and virtual worlds respectively.   To say it another way, it is as different as accessing
information versus imaginary entertainment. 

The author states the basic
construction differs between the two as well. 
The data structure of CD-ROMs and web databases varies greatly from the
algorithmic based gaming and virtual worlds. 
While the difference isn’t exactly passive versus active, it is a
start.  In past decades, the distinction
between the two has been much more distinct than is recent years where the two
have begun to cross over into each other and merge in various media.  This blurring and combination of the two has
occurred for at least one reason:  the
over-abundance of information and the overuse of it.  The variability of interfacing has been key
to reestablishing our view of accessing the underlying databases.  The discussion of paradigms and syntagm furthers
the debate between databases and narratives. 
New media has reversed the meanings and usage of paradigms and syntagms
and in doing so has intertwined them. 
The debate has continued and ends in a stalemate that searches for the
combination and not separation of the two worlds allowing for new concepts and
broad imagination.

Databases and narratives, paradigms
and syntagms, data structure and algorithms, all these contrasting beliefs and
ideas have begun to merge seamlessly in the same programs and interfaces.  Nothing is essentially wrong with how we use
databases and when we need narrative, but new ways to merge the two and connect
them will be vital to understanding and learning as we progressively gain more
and more information and seek to tap into all of this whether for
entertainment, research or general knowledge. 
What is coming is the imitation of the real world, for instance,
combining all my class lectures for a week and include everything I have done
in between them then turn it all into data and hit play.  The interface will somehow include all the
necessary narrative to make it make sense and give all the data available.  While this may seem overwhelming and a bit
unnecessary to even watch, the ability to do such a thing is important.  Greenaway and Vertov may have had unique
designs but they may possible be on the verge of leading the next kind of
revolution.  Perhaps the visions we
discussed in class will help lead to some new discovery.  One thing is for sure, the ideas of today
have progressed from yesterday’s vision, so the question is if we have already
gotten the words on the page, how do we rearrange these words to all make sense? 

In Manovich's Interface, two main concepts are explored.  The first is the language of Cultural Interface and the second is the Screen and the User (the computer screen).  He breaks down the language of Cultural interface into three cultural forms:  "cinema", "printed word", and general-purpose human-computer interface.  Manovich explains that cinema and printed word are used in a general, broad definition going beyond the common conception to include every facit of their meaning.  He also explains how cinema and the printed word have led to the beginnings of functional interfaces but have evolved, going beyond function and is culturally based.  This has lead to the cultural interface existing today, limited only by our invention and subject to continual change.

           The second concept of Screen and User has two main points.   One is of the geneology of the screen and the other is the interplay between the screen and the human body.  Manovich breaks down geneology into several stages.  These stages include:  the classical screen, the dynamic screen, the real-time screen, and the interactive screen.  Each one leads into the next and so forth.   In the discussion of his second point, Manovich discusses the screen and how people physically interact with it.  From the first pictures where people had to be locked in place to the VR controls of the pilot, Manovich shows how progress has been made allowing more and more involvement between the screen and the person in front of it.  

In "Interface" Manovich covers a broad range from job function to the cultural entertainment that we interface on an everyday basis.  However, it is the history behind what we have today that we must one, give credit to, and two, learn from so we can understand what we can offer tomorrow.  Virtual Reality and Artificial Life programs that we interface with today have already grown exponentially.  Developers in software and hardware are breaking new ground every year.  In our class, we interface with new technology that wasn't present in the classroom just ten years ago.  For instance, the projector screen that is linked to the computer that is linked to an ever-expanding, continually updated network that also offers wireless connections in almost all campus locations. Interfaces like these have endless possibilities that we have yet to tap into.  The internet has only just begun to change our lives.  The 90's had just begun to open up options through innovative software and make use of new technologies.  Nano-technologies are now being harnessed more and more and the options available in the coming years will continue to radically change the interfaces we can only imagine.  Tomorrow may hold discoveries allowing interfacing involving all our senses (touch, smell, taste, vision, and hearing) in one experience.  Even though no one can tell what will the future will hold, we certainly can say we have come a long way.  

The text begins by giving examples to try to illustrate new media.  Examples that included the internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMs, and DVD's.  The computer media revolution encompasses all stages of communication ,for example, acquisition to manipulation to storage distribution.  It also effects all media:  texts, stills, images, moving images, sound, and spatial constructions.  While the definition of new media is said to be unclear and is quite broad, the author breaks down new media into five separate, but connected, characteristics.  Numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding are the five characteristics.  The author further breaks each one down and compares old media with new media.  The author also explains the necessity of why media studies should continue into software studies.  The author also clarifies popular notions.  For instance, that new media is its own creation and not tied to old media.  Several notions associated only with new media are discussed in more detail.  Ideas that new media alone is thought to be digital, can be used on one multimedia device, allows random access, has information loss due to fixed space, has no copying degradation, and is interactive are expanded upon and corrected.  After dispelling the myths, the reader can now get a better grasp on what is meant by new media and the history behind the technology.  

While a lot of the information is review, the historical insight and the creative technology is always enlightening.  The technology available behind the formatting and system programs to the way we use the screens and instrumentation has transformed media of all types and forms.  Modern computers have allowed a range of media to be easily and quickly created, manipulated, and marketed in record time.  Similarities to the human brain are unmistakenable.  Computers are written in certain languages, go through processes understanding and following necessary paths, and have data memory storage filed similar to human logic.  It is almost like we are trying to created an electronic human.  We interface with it, ask it questions, work with it, and are even entertained by it.  Through the readings, the author talks occationally of Artificial Intelligence.  Even though some aspects of AI may not have been achieved or a different path has been followed, the technology of today has brought about a new media that can unify and yet still diversify.  New media has different limitations but is overcoming them everyday.  From punch cards to pen drives, tomorrow will have more to add to yesterday's ideas.