COM257: Media History and Theory

O'Reilly's purpose of "What is Web 2.0" is to reach a common meaning of the term web 2.0.  Because of the misunderstandings of the term, many have called web 2.0 a market buzzword, however, O'Reilly wishes to address this issue and clear confusion by establishing some key principles of web 2.0.  He starts with trying to compare applications of web 1.0 and web 2.0.  He picks 3 main issues and attempts to clarify what web 2.0 really is.  He first compares netscape and google.  Netscape, O'Reilly explains, is a software package of tools to sell to users, while google is the enabler between the user and the user's online experience.  Google is a service and makes money from usage and not actual selling of software.  Google also surpasses netscape by being able to manage its data effectively.  O'Reilly claims that the application is only as good as the management of its data and its database; with these things mastered, web 2.0 is established.  O'Reilly also compare Doubleclick with Overture and Adsense by explicating that web 2.0 is about consumer usage and algorithmic data management to give all ads the ability to reach far and wide across the web to all customers, while web 1.0 focused on an out-dated business plan.  Another key difference between web 1.0 and web 2.0 is that companies that use web 1.0 needed more servers to have a better service, while companies of web 2.0 dynamically create services which get better automatically the more users.  O'Reily explains another prinicple of web 2.0.  It says that web 2.0 uses the web as a way to have collective dynamic intelligence by users and servers adding information to the web for example, hyperlinking on Wikipedia or Amazon.com using 'most popular'.  Sites that are web 2.0 are sites that do not rely on advertising, but viral marketing to be a success.  Blogs, permalinks, and RSS are also examples of web 2.0 by letting users not only create a virtual diary but also subscribe to others' virtual diaries.  These examples are both dynamically and always updated.  Using users to harness intelligence, grade service, and add layers of value contribute alot to web 2.0.  With web 2.0 expansion, companies are looking into location, identity, calendaring, namespaces and more.  Different companies have different ideas and the future will decide which are successful.  O'Reilly explains that to be included in web 2.0, a site must be centered on operations, have users as co-developers, and have simplicity.  O'Reilly gives us a guide to making sites have light programming, including syndication and hackability.  In conclusion, web 2.0 utilizes user participation, viral marketing, light programming, and acts as an enabler for users.

 The differences in web 1.0 and web 2.0 reminds me of discussions in my introduction to business class.  Business history in America is broken up into eras.  The most recent eras 'Marketing' and 'Consumer Relationship' remind me of the difference in web 1.0 and web 2.0.  The Marketing Era happened in the 80s and 90s relying on advertising to create business and revenue.  This is the same with web 1.0 which focused on marketing and ads as sources of profit from owning a web site.  However, the consumer relationship era is happening now, which consists of punch cards, frequent customers cards.  I also think this consumer relationship era needs to be factored into web 2.0.  But instead of punch cards, it is user participation as an addition to the site's value.  The user promotes the site with customizable ads, and user added site data.  The transition between web 1.0/Marketing Era and web 2.0/Consumer Relationship Era must have happened at the same time because the values and ideas of each correspond well with each parallel part.  Just as in business, no one really knows what will come next.  What will be the next era.  But, if this correspondence is not just a coincidence, either a lucid businessperson or a innovative web host will reep in the benefits if one or the other figures out what the new era will be and create their business model and/or site to cooperate with this dynamically changing society of consumers and users.

Abbate uses the information from this chapter to explain the
popularization of the internet and its social impacts.  First, the
author explains that the internet was not an over night success like
many users in the 90s thought.  The internet first started development
in the 1960s.  With public access and the world wide web, the internet
became the medium for information, entertainment, and self expression
among other things.  The development of the internet is due to many
people and organizations because of its modularity and its difficulty
to control.  In the beginning, the military used the internet, but then
split the internet into two ARPANET and MILINET.  With this split and
the creation of TCP/IP, availability of the internet grew.  Computer
scientists at different universities developed local area connection
and the aability to reach the internet through dial-up.  Popularity
continued to grow.  The expansion of networking and personal computers
brought about the creation of the domain name system so that addresses
would be easier to keep track of.  NYSERnet was also developed for
increased networking and the internet was then privatized.  Other
networks were developed and internet service providers came into the
picture making the internet more competitive and less of a monopoly. 
Finally the networks converged and management of the internet was
turned over to the U.S. government.  But, other countries were
connecting to the internet, adopted the domain name system and TCP/IP,
and the internet became globalized.  The internet's infrastructure grew
rapidly and networking had to catch up.  So, the world wide web was
created.  The world wide web was then enhanced by the development of
hypertext, HTML, HTTP, and URL.  By the mid 90s web software and
commercial browsers were available.  Because of the internet's
commercial environment and decentralized control, it could grow rapidly
and will continue to grow and dynamically change along with society.

The
development and popularization of the internet relates to many things
we have discussed in class.  This new media was made possible because
of the creation and growth of computers and digitization.  The
modularity of the internet made it easy to change pieces without
affecting the whole, and modularity is one of the principles of new
media.  Also, the adoption of the internet relates to class and the
discussion of standardization. Like with the road system and
telephones, the internet had to become standardized in order to have
mass adoption.  Also, the internet shows virtual mobility.  With
limited physical structure, the internet is able to let people and
information travel virtually over space and time with dial-up and now
with the ease of wireless internet connection.  It is also an example
of augmented space because before the internet, the computer had
limited layers of data.  With the internet, the layers of data on a
computer can be almost limitless.  And, just last week we discussed
hypertext.  Hypertext helped with the standardization of the internet,
and now hypertext  can be found on the internet, but also implemented
in different ways.  Internet also allows the variability of
information.  Now, all information can be displayed on the internet in
ways different from their initial interface.  For instance, movies,
books, and music can all be found on the internet without using another
medium.  The internet is also a prime example of a database and an
interface.  The database of the internet holds all the information that
users have put on the web and also acts as the interface in retrieving
this information.  Overall, the internet is new media through and
through and will continue to dynamically change and impact society.

Aarseth begins this reading with describing how non-linearity relates to mathematics.  Aarseth claims that textual topology is the sequence and meaning of the text regardless of what medium the text is given through. The author uses the term fractal to describe the separate units of text.  The units are only described in how they relate to other textual units.  Non-linear texts have many variates including topology, dynamics, determinability, transiency, manueverability, and user-functionality.  These along with many more variates define the multi-dimensional coordinate system that the trasversal functions work in.  Aarseth uses four categories to test new text models to see if they really are non-linear.  He goes on to explain how to create non-linear texts.  In the next section Aarseth defines hypertext as embedded text that outlines and implements a general concept.  "Afternoon" a book, uses hypertext by having scriptons available when any word in the book is clicked leaving the composition to be non-linear while the story itself is linear.  Aarseth moves from hypertext to cybertext, saying that cybertext is different because it is ever-changing.  He explains the cybertext "Adventure" as a ergography where the user is also role-playing while reading.  Aarseth also goes on to descibe cybertextuality.

This section of text relates to many things we have learned in class.  The idea of text being broken up into separate relatable units is the same idea of modularity bringing digitized media into to fractal pieces.  Also, having texts that are dynamic reminds me of how old media was always once new media and how new media like non-linear text is ever-changing.   Also, Aarseth describes non-linearity as having the same text in different formats.  This reminds me of augmented space and variability.  Data can be displayed on many different interfaces in many different ways and still give the same message as the primary text.  Also the cyber text "Adventure" reminds me of the game Myst that was explained in an earlier class presentation.  Both of these virtual texts use the user functionality to play a role and direct how the story turns out with giving the user different options for the story or game. 

This section of the text focuses on the introduction, expansion, effects, and control of the television. Briggs and Burke begin this section with the misconceptions that people had of television before the popularity spread throughout America, Europe and then the world.  People originally thought that the television would only be used by the rich, however, these people were very wrong.  The television became the luxury of the poor, and the number of television sets throughout Britain and the United States grew at a very rapid pace.  As the number of television sets increased, the time spent at the cinema decreased to the point where many movie companies began buying out television companies.  Because of the great number of people affected by television, many political visionaries tried to use this as a converting and controlling device.  McCarthy for example, tried to use the television to stop communism which ultimately led to his demise.  Others used the television mainly for entertainment like sitcoms, gameshows, talk shows, and news.  Once magnetic tape was invented the use of television became easier and as a result, it became less creative.  Because many television channels were partially owned by movie companies, much programming was solely reruns of old movies.  Britain, however, did not want to use television for entertainment, instead they were more interested in educating the British public.  Even Queen Elizabeth used to television to connect with her people.  

Because British television companies stayed afloat with licenses, the competition between companies was very intense, much more than in America at the time.  ITA created an outlet for independent programming in the UK, which allowed for British programs to mirror change between the old and the new.  The British authorities considered this to lower British morals. In America, the popularity of television grew with color and globalization to other countries including Japan, who soon became just as addicted to the new media outlet.  Other European countries did not care for television as much because they were the defeated of the last world war and still demanded thorough control of all information flow in their countries.  Less developed countries around the world use television as a means of governmental control and power.

There was a lot of controversy surrounded many topics of television mainly, education and censorship.  Television began many debates and arguments among companies and government alike.  Most wanted to concentrate on protected children from violent programming while neglecting education.  When people realized that television could also be used for education, Sesame Street came out to educate children.  Then the debate sprung up about how to separate or not separate educational television from entertainment television. Other empirical research went out constantly about the effects of television.  The influence and representation of people regarding television material was a major topic to most of the researchers at the time.  Now, data is viewed as information that can be transmitted, collected, and recorded.  And communication is a collection of news, literature, entertainment, and knowledge.

Television can be closely related to the radio.  First, because many licenses were both television and radio companies together.  Also, they both show how new media does not replace old media but draws from it and adapts it to a new form.  Radio took from ideas of the printing press and expanded it to even more people in an easier way.  Television does the same with radio but these two are more closely related.  Both of these media outlets took from each other closely and many times used the same broadcasters and program ideas.  Television was even better than radio and grew faster and globalized more efficiently.  Today, radio and television still both exist and everyone's lives and still take ideas of communication and technology from each other.

Briggs begins this section of the reading with discussing BBC radio.  He chooses this topic because he claims that broadcasting and television started with BBC.  The earliest broadcasting stations were so big and monopolized that they were considered institutions.  These institutions, in some cases, were considered to have as much power as the court.  In the 1930s and beyond, broadcasters were very influential and listened to by many people.  Though during WWII most broadcasters were non-professional and used the radio to provide truth, news, liberty, and entertainment.  Broadcasting was also used by politicians around the globe in order to connect with more people to increase the public's level of knowledge and sense of participation with access to information including news, political (fire-side) chats, and even political debates.  An British authoritative person referred to radio as what the press was to the 19th century.  England separated radio management from government and business.  One man, Reith, was able to change the face of Bristish radio and set its standards, which were used long after his death.  He was able to take broadcasting and make it into a brutal monopoly so that things besides entertainment would reach as many homes as possible.  

American radio was much different from British radio.  It was integrated with business using ratings to determine which programs stayed on air, and was controlled by the government.  American radio was used mainly for entertainment and weather.  These two very different types of radio broadcasting were used as models for other countries' radios around the world, though most others were some sort of hybrid of the two models.  But there were set backs to radio at this time.  Only AM stations were available, there weren't many stations, and because most countries were using this same technology the radio did not reach everyone.  Mass media was still coming from the press, not radio.  Technology, though, never stays the same, and the portable transistor radio was invented and used around the world as a symbol of modernization.  The soap opera was developed and classical music became very popular.  Before the development of FM stations, radio became less popular because of the growing popularity of the television.  Once FM stations were created, radio broadcasting was able to reach the most remote places and reach more people.  This made radio broadcasting a form of mass media.

The radio was an amazing invention that allowed people's voices to reach great distances.  Radio broadcasting not only eliminated distances but also provided information to people of any educational or economical status.  Thus, I will compare and relate radio broadcasting to both the printing press and the telegraph.  Radio broadcasting made a great impact on the every part of the world that had access to electricity.  This impact was able to bring more information to more people in more places just like the printing press.  However, in ways radio broadcasting was better.  With radio, you did not have to be literate, you did not have to spend time reading, or buying a paper or having it delivered.  You made one purchase for a radio, and connected it to electricity and was connected with comprehensible, informative broadcasting. The telegraph was able to eliminate distance and virtual space by connected people by wires.  Radio broadcasting not only connected people, but did so with waves.  The underlying infrastructure for radio was much more technological but less cumbersome to set up because there was no need to wires to connect everything, just towers with signals.  Also, with the radio, you got mass media.  Mass media that went from one source to many.  This is ideal for entertainment, news, weather, and political communication.  This raised not only communication levels, but levels of information and relief from the everyday grind with entertainment.  Overall, radio provides mass media of entertainment, news, weather, communication, and politics to people in the most remote areas no matter their education level.  Radio broadcasting changed the world by integrated the best things from the printing press and telegraph and made broadcasting necessary, global, and everlasting so far.

Before the printing press, a man by the name of Montaigne wrote the Essays, which was amazing and spread his book collection to worth more than most had in those days.  The printing press was an incredible development in literature technology.  It meant that books would be directly copied and distributed to more people than ever, and the books would all be the same and would promote further studies in almost every subject field around.  However, this also caused for a rivalry to begin between rhetoric and philosophy.  After a while, a information storage strategy called codex revolutionized they way information was organized and made it more accessible.  Around the same time, people started using parchment for books, and this was also revolutionary because parchment made it easier to make books more like the way they are today.  Before the printing press, books were duplicated either by monks or by local scribes, and it usually took a while to get a perfect duplicate.  There were also two other ways of getting textual information out before the printing press.  One is called gloss, which is the author's commentary on their work, and the other is summary.  Then, there came about the Ciceronian notion of commonplaces.  He said that people automatically categorize and affiliate all of the information they receive with similar past information.  And this is how they organized books, by category and hierarchal importance.  As reading and different literature became more and more popular, people were starting to get information overload and mixed messages.  For instance, the people were generally christian, and they received pagan and christian messages and did not know how to differentiate truth and untruth.  These messages were also known to be cluttered.  On one hand Aristotle thought reason was clear, however Montaigne knew that our reasons change and our senses can sometimes not be acute enough.  A philosopher, Descartes, decided to approach life in an entirely new way.  He doubted everything until he could prove it was the truth, with this mindset he was also able to contribute to how books are organized and how rhetoric is used.

 The way the duplicating and distribution of books progressed reminds me of how telecommunications has progressed as well. The telephone has come so far since its invention.  Not only can people talk in real time to others thousands of miles away, but they also have caller id and 3-way calling.  This was unheard of and very revolutionary just like the printing press.  Now, telecommunications can be totally mobile with cellular phones and the internet.  With the internet people can communicate and receive information.  Books can be completely electronic and online.  Imagine trying to explain this to someone from the 15th century, and imagine what technology will have in store in 400 more years.  The possibilities are virtually endless.

Hayles begins with the definition of virtuality:  "the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns." She explains that information relies on a sturdy material base.  She says that people try to discover which is more important the information of the material the information is built on.  Then there is a comparison between the relationship between information/materiality and spirit/mallet.  People have tried to prove that the spirit can stay alive if it is transferred from one body to another or stored somewhere other than the body.  But, taking information from the material means that the information would never be affected by context and would be free so to speak, and this Hayles says is virtually impossible.  On the note of another duality, information/noise, some say that all noise is information, while others spend their lives' work trying to separate the noise from the actual message.  Hayles explains that the concept of information deals with pattern and randomness whereas the concept of materiality deals with presence and absence.  And, it is made clear that information is access and materials are possessions.  This moves the postmoclernism to virtuality.  Hayles goes on to explain the virtual book.  the virtual book is interactive and has the words on a display screen along with certain graphically aspects.  Hayles says that text can not always be three dimensional, but do a great job at being 2 1/2 dimensional.  She then goes on to talk about virtual writing and hypertext.  This way, text can dynamically change without necessarily changing the context.  She then compares poetry to Plato's view of literature saying that poetry is every-changing, yet Plato wished writing was unchanged and fixed.  Hayles says "literature will not remain unchanged."  Hayles wants us to know that virtuality does not have to be just about access information in an immaterial world.

 This reading made me take the comparison of information and materiality and compare with some material we have already covered in this course.   Thinking of how information is built on materiality, and even though the level of materiality changes, these two things are still interdependent of one another.  This made me want to relate it back to the relationship of databases and interfaces.  Interfaces are built on databases similarly to information.  In the article, it states that information is access which is exactly what interfaces do with databases.  This connection is also true about material objects and databases.  Hayles says that material objects are possessions.  So are databases, in the way that your cell phone and laptop are databases that we possess.  It is interesting that these two relationships coincide so closely.

In "The Poetics of Augmented Space" Manovich is trying to propose certain questions to the audience regarding augmented space, spatial and informational layers.  Manovich wants to know about the equality between spatial and informational layers, how augmented space can be considered more of a idea, and how the design of augmented space can be progressed.  Augmented space is compared to virtual reality in the respect that VR envelopes the user, whereas the augmented space of information retrieval using cellphones and PDAs keeps the user informed and entertained, but well aware of there physical surroundings.  Now, physical space is being filled with all kinds of visual and electronic information like cellphones, video surveillance, and architectural electronic displays.  Manovich wants to solve the problem of building multiple 3-D information layers on top of physical space.  In this way, he wants VR to help reshape the way physical space is organized.  To support this augmented space development, Manovich compares ordinary art galleries, movie theaters, advertising, and museums to enveloping interactive art galleries, to movie theaters that do not have to rely on a huge screen in a dark room, to brandscaping that intrigues the audience and brings them into the world of the product, and high-tech museums with the use of augmented space.  He brings the problem of the progress of augmented space to the solution of bringing the design to be more like architectural designs where the electronic displays agree with the architecture.  He gives many examples like Prada brandscaping, Mexico online lighting designs, Times Square, and the ability to better preserve artwork.  Manovich truly wants to expand beyond the surface with augmented space.

 All of the things that are being improved with augmented space are media related like cellphones accessing information, movies, art, and advertising.  He continues his point from the last two readings of the simultaneous and almost necessary development of media and technology.  Without the technology that the world is developing and making available, most of the media we casually and conviently recieve would not be possible. But with this technology, it seems that the users' interactivity and mobility has unlimited possibilities.  Things that would seem impossible and only are projected in movies are now not only possible, but going beyond some of the human race's expectations.  From being able to access information anywhere from anywhere, converting physical space to augmented space, and using architecture as a means of communications brings the human race to a new frontier, the information age.  Comparing this to my life, the way I recieve information has stayed the same with television and radio, but tremendously change with the usage of GPS, cell phones, and the ability to access the interner almost anywhere.  This technology and media advancement is only going to become less and less physical and more and more augmented, and will bring the world full fledged into a very dynamic information age with limitless possibilities of mobility and speed.  This can be seen developing all around us, with numerous LCDs, blackberry phones, wireless mobile internet, and gigantic architectural and electronic displays around the world. As these technologies advance, recieving information may in fact change into experiencing information in a brand new way.

Kellerman talks about space-transcending communication devices throughout this chapter regarding technologies.  Kellerman discusses physical spatial mobility and virtual spatial mobility and which technologies support each of these types of mobility.  The author wants to discuss the socio-spatial aspects of personal spatial mobility and compare and contrast the different types of the related technologies through development, structure, and operation.  Physical spatial mobility is restricted by time, whereas virtual spatial mobility is restricted by how fast the technology is developed.  In the development section of this chapter, Kellerman compares the standardization and adoption of automobiles and the internet.  Some similarities between the automobile and the internet in the development process of adoption are that as soon as they both were standardized, they were rapidly adopted by the American Society and spread to personal usage quickly.  Both of these technologies had help being developed.  The automobile was constructed by private companies and the government built the road structure; this helped wide spread adoption.  The internet had telephone lines and wires to build on, so the adoption of internet was more simple than that of the telephone.  The internet and the car are excellent examples of personal mobility are were both thus quickly adopted by society.  Kellerman compares the structure of communications and transportation systems by physical infrastructure, logic, and content.  Communications systems require much less physical infrastructure than transportation systems.  Sometimes their physical infrastructures are built in the same places, but this is not necessary.  And, Kellerman points out, that older physical systems technology can be used to support the newer transportation and communication technology, but usually needs many updates.  Kellerman makes it clear that transferring things over communications systems is cheaper, easier, and more efficient than transferring things over transportation systems.  Kellerman compares the internet and automobile structure logic by saying that transportation has many rules and laws, where as internet usage requires practical knowlegde of computers and promotes free expression without much restriction.  The only similarity is that of literacy, which is required to use both automobiles and the internet. Kellerman claims that there are three parts to operation and those are networks, flows, and uses.  Transportation can be by land, sea, or air, but all of these types require some sort of communications system to operate fully.  Communications systems have commercial and voluntary social networks which help carry information everywhere with mobile devices.  Internet networking is active and global and therefore is much faster and more efficient that transportation.  Transportation is limited by time and distance whereas internet is not.  Kellerman explains how virtual and corporeal mobilities are under surveillance, though virtual mobility is supposed to promote individualism.  Kellerman talks about the social and spatial significance of walking and cycling.  Walking and cycling are dimensioning throughout the world, though they still stand for different social aspects of different countries and environments.  Automobiles are more than just mobility, they are used as status symbols, to show individuality, and speed; also automobiles are changing the way we look at the world and all cities and walkers are dominated by automobiles.  Automobility has a great affect on our civil society and craves future developments in fuels, materials, car sharing, smart car technologies, transport planning, and information technology. Kellerman says that every type of spatial technology can refer to the values within the three spheres of individuals, society, and space.  The telephone is similar to the automobile in ways of speed but different in the aspect of rules and regulations.  Telephone is like the internet on the basis of freedom.  The internet is better than the telephone because it does not have time constraints and carries so much more information and allows communication with multiple sources at once.  The internet is better than automobiles because it is more independent and requires less maintainance.  Wirelessness and mobile phones provide many new ways to communicate and researchers wonder if the high technology of virtual spatial mobility will decrease physical spatial mobility or enhance it.  Kellerman points out four possible relationship between virtual spatial mobility and physical spatial mobility: substitution, generation, modification, and neutrality.  Researchers also think that like automobiles, mobile phones will become status symbols.  Kellerman also discusses virtual mobile shopping, entertainment, and travel.  This section discusses all spatial mobility and how they all relate to one another is a historic and modern way.

My life has been outlined much like this chapter entitled "Technologies".  The first transportation and communication technology I encountered in my life were the automobile and telephone.  Throughout the years, as development of the newer communications technologies increased, I was exposed to the internet and the mobile phone.  These things allowed me to gain my independence along with the freedom and ability to drive myself around in my own automobile.  It was not until college, though, that I really used much of the transportation and communication systems.  Today, I use the internet and the mobile phone constantly, and rarely ever encounter a land-line telephone.  Also, because I live in  bigger city, I utilize public transportation more instead of always using the self-driven automobile.  This excerpt helped me see how these technologies have shaped my everyday life, and how I and others have become dependent on the speed, freedom, and ease of all of these technologies.

This section is solely based on comparing narratives and databases.  Manovich begins this part of the book by describing how new media and
computer culture have changed the way businesses swept into the new
computer cultural era are organized and operated.  When GUI was first
created, it all resembled familiar physical objects like desk, files,
and folders.  Manovich says that computer-based forms of new media are
databases and 3-D virtual reality which are suppose to relate human
experience to computers.  These things also include computer techniques
like modularity and computer programming.  Manovich claims that the
computer-based forms are able to transcode data both digitally and
culturally.  Manovich explains that there are two goals of new media: 
to provide an interface and envelop users in the interactive world. 
These goals are generally interdependent.  Manovich says that new media
is imperfect and needs something called info-aesthetics which will
information and the way people get information more appealing. 
Manovich goes on to explain that there are a few different types of
databases including heirarchial, network, relational, and
object-oriented.  New media uses mainly databases and also narratives. 
HTML and computer storage devices also act as databases.  Manovich then says that narratives in computer games have algorithms which some people are able to figure out without even knowing.  In culture, databases are unordered lists narratives are lists that do not have algorithms.  Manovich says that to be considered a narrative that certain criteria must be met.  He also says that most new media is made up of databases.  He goes on to compare syntagmatic dimension or actual narrative to paradigmatic dimension or constructive narrative.  New media tries to reverse the relationship between the database and the narrative.  In the last section of this exerpt, Manovich claims that people want narratives to be new media specific and no longer be combined with databases.  One director, Greenway tries to do this by attempting to expand cinema's language and undermine databases and narratives.  One way he tries to do this is by changing the way film is editted.  Manovich finishes the section by giving cinematic examples of these trials.

Manovich does a great job of comparing narratives and databases and explaining how they are interdependent along with the desire to rid new media of this interdependency.  This reminds of me other Manovich readings that compare old media and new media.  Though there are definite differences it is hard to find the line of separation between new and old media as well as narratives and databases.  People who study media seek to find the definite line where old media ends and new media begins.  It is hard to do this because new media is always changing therefore the status of old media is always changing.  The reasons that people cannot find the definite line between narratives and databases is because they have been interconnected so long.  Even as people try to find ways to separate these two forms in new media, there has yet to be a way to completely separate them.  As new media and technology continue to change, it will be easier and easier to establish this line betweens these two forms and complete the task of making narrative new media specific without the use of databases.

Manovich starts this part of his work by using the example of the movie "Blade Runner" and the GUI interface system.  These two things gave people a peek into the future, Manovich says.  GUI by Apple was able to do some many new things including putting movies, tv, art, and books on the world wide web.  Manovich explains the computer interface as a code with its own language that changed media in a big way with commands like cut and paste.  Like Karl Marx, Manovich says that GUI runs both work and leisure activities.  When this human computer interface began to take over, the separability of art and interface became less and less, and soon interface and content were constantly reunited.  Soon the human-computer interface was able to use AI to create original data without pre-existing content.  Then, new media artwork became a creation of both artist and computer program.  Manovich goes on to explain what human-computer interface is or HCI.  He says it includes all computer hardware, the conceptualization of desktop and files, and the commands like copy and delete.  The HCI and computers completely changed the way media was distributed.  Though this is true, Manovich points out that the language of the cultural interface came from other older cultural forms.  He then groups together printed word being things like magazines, cinema being things like perception, language, and perception of media, and HCI.  Though printed word and cinema have been around longer, HCI has many things in common with them.  Printed word has changed with spatialization.  Cinema is used as a window to the world while HCI is used as a window to a bigger document.  Virtual reality and computers changed cinematic interface to cultural interface.

Manovich makes further points of how computers and new media have simultaneously developed and have become more and more integrated.  This part of this book can be related back to the previous reading where printed word and cinema are old media and HCI and cultural interface are new media in slightly different definitions than previously used. New media as in the previous reading came from old media and used ideas from old media.  And, the new media of cultural interface changes more and more as media and interface technology changes.

Manovich uses this particular piece of writing to essentially describe
what new media is, how it was gradually developed simultaneously with
computers, how new media differs from old media, and to scrutinize
myths about differences between new and old media.  Manovich gives some
examples of new media including internet, digital video, DVD, etc.  New
media and the development of computers started in the 1830s.  New media
and computers, as Manovich says, are both important to the growing
population in the world and keeping people up with the same media
messages.  New media is represented by both computers and media
technology.  Manovich states that computers and new media technology
are so similar that the first computer was created similarly to a film
projector.  This simultaneous development began to interlink, and new
media began to be transferred into numerical data to be compatible with
computer, which makes the computer a media processor.  Manovich lists
the five principles of new media and the differences from old media. 
These are numerical representation, modularity, automation, variabilty,
and transcoding.  The first takes media and makes in programmable, the
second explains media as following a programming style similar to
computers, and the third introduces programs such as search engines and
video games as being able to do things without the help of the user. 
Variability says that media possibilities are greater in new media with
the help of computers and different versions of the same media, and
transcoding splits media into two layers with translate from one to the
other.  The layers are cultural layer and the computer layer. 
According to Manovich there are some myths surrounding the new media
principles and Manovich goes on to support or argue these claims.