Sunday, October 28, 2012

Technology and Society (Chapters 4-6)



Just as the quote, “History repeats itself”. In life there are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns. Technology repeats itself as well! The first groundbreaking technologies were pioneers to what we have today. The magic book is an example of that. The printed book gathers the readers and provides them with an experience in which they emerge in a digital world from page to page. The illustrations come alive and the reader is no longer reading because they are experiencing a virtual reality. This is what we have today with the iPad, Kindle, and other tablets. We make new media forms out of older ones. This chapter explains how we borrow from and depend on other media forms, which explains the art of REMEDIATION! All the products that we have today from cell phones, laptops to cars, are all examples of remediation. All those things have been created through the refashioning of previous objects for the sake of improving the human experience. Aha!

Fakeshop project is another reinvention of media. It provides an experience that is both physical and virtual. This piece of digital art possessed the capability of creating a moment.  Fakeshop mixes the virtual with the physical which reflects the diversity in the digital world. Digital designers and entertainment corporations are devising new combinations of older forms. Just like the fakeshop the World Wide Web is a mixture of forms. Web designers aren't necessarily creating new forms instead they are borrowing from older forms. But the web itself has diverged and divided into many forms, based on the needs of their audience.
The World Wide Web went beyond other forms. It is so important because it is “…so tightly integrated into our social and economic networks and our physical environment” (Bolter, Gramola, 120). We are highly dependent on this form of media because it’s not just a series of web pages instead we interact with it in many ways in our daily lives. Just like the Text Rain, Wooden Mirror, Magic Book and Fakeshop the World Wide Web engages the viewer and adds to the physical manifestation of the viewers identity. All these interfaces reflect us as we use it. Every time we use it we bring a part of ourselves to the digital application to which we interact with.


Living in a world of “tangible media” and “mixed realities” explains how humans are in relationship with virtual technologies. It is said that technology won’t out think us; however, that’s not what I’m afraid of necessarily. More so predicting the unpredictable between technology and society. From high-speed networks, computers, e-commerce, wireless to mobility, our society is growing highly dependent on technology. 
It’s directly linked to everything in our everyday lives. What happens when the increasing popular technology cease to exist? The technological era has immensely transformed how we interact and socialize.  The human race has allowed technology to be in charge. Technology is constantly advancing but as humans we hardly have time to keep up. What will we do? Or is it too late…
How scary is this?

4-6



The Magic book was the big topic in chapter 4 I found the magic book to be ok, but I think the story was the comparison to remediation, which is the making of new media forms out of older ones. As we go on with all this new technology you start to really see the effects that old technology has on the new ones. Some ideas of old technology is not what you think they are when new technology comes out.

New media is almost like the fashion world because in the fashion world you always see old styles come back with some type of new twist and some type of change that makes it better for the era its in. I think that media is the same way. When you look at new media it usually if some form of old media that has a twist on it that makes it different and new. Media is always evolving and mostly from something older. The book also talks about new media reinventing old media. I think this is true to a point. Im not sure if new media reinvents old I think that it uses other mediums to excel as a whole rather than reinventing them.

Chapter 5 talks a lot about rules and how hard it is for websites to follow a particular set of rules. It makes a case that you cant manage rules for webpage’s because the audiences for most webpage’s are so different. The book talks about watches as a wearable form of media and I agree but I think there will be awhile before wearable forms of media become a huge success. People will start to see the world like in a movie with all the gadgets that are in movies.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Windows and Mirrors Chapter 2

This chapter has been quite interesting and easy to understand the points that both authors are trying to make.  I am astonished to see how Virtual Reality and GUI interfaces have become such an intricate part of how we work with computers.  I found the following three lines so true " Transparency in painting meant creating an image that fools us---makes us think we are looking at the physical world; it meant what computer graphics experts are now calling photorealism.

For as weird as this may sound, this is what engineers and graphic designers have been trying to do for the last couple of decades.  They have been fooling us into seeing what they want us to see and not what we should see for ourselves.  We have to learn how to see past the instrument gauges as well as the computer graphical interfaces to see the reality that lies behind all of the mathematical engineering that has gone behind making these interfaces look so pretty.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Mirrors 4-6

I'm proud to say this book just keeps getting more interesting as I go along reading it. Chapter 4 described the first virtual reality story book called the magic book. This was quite impressive and I never thought they actually developed one of those back then. It reminded me of the new 3DS AR card games. The cards work very similar to how the book created a virtual reality for the readers. Though with our new technology we actually don't need to where the ridiculous glasses. The AR cards bring to life a virtual image and some create an interactive video game bringing villains into your world through the built in camera. When reading this chapter, it was all I kept thinking about, because the interactive experience on the 3DS wasn't 100% original it was actually a remediation of the magic book. 

These chapters also went to describe how new technology has enabled people to enter virtual realties through the creation of the web. The Fake Shop was a great example of connecting to multiple cameras and viewing everything on one screen, kind of reminded me of a virtual security room. The T-garden was difficult to imagine with the description given so after a while of researching for a video, I found this: 
This is extremely bizarre but it appears to track human interaction very well. These chapters show several examples to how people are trying to develop programs that bring us into a virtual reality. It also describes two imaginative experiences from Hans Moravec and John Perry Barlow, that pretty much state a world where technology over comes our bodies and daily lives. Perhaps that is what we are headed towards in the near future, though I don't believe it'll happen in my life time. 

Windows and Mirrors 4-6 VR vs AR





Never has it been more clear about the ways in which virtual reality differs from augmented reality then in the chapters 4-6 of Windows and Mirrors.  Computers are now fulfilling roles in our society like never before and the push to use these tools comes as no surprise in our current days use of these systems.  The enhancement of augmented reality is seen ever more clearly in the ways we use computer goggles in defense systems, to add and fill in information that we see in and around our environment.  I found it fascinating to learn the difference's in the way we use virtual reality and augmented reality as a way to simulate a completely new terrain for ourselves versus's a way to use computers as an enhancement of our current environment.  

Windows and Mirrors continues to explore the ways we see things differently using computers and makes it clear that the computer has helped enhance a newer experience of viewing the world through a mirrored and windows based world.  The extensions of man's mind through the computer is never more prevalent than through the examples that the authors use and demonstrate in a more media savvy world.  The computer is still evolving as an extension of our minds eye allowing us to see things differently while enhancing our electronic experience.


Monday, October 22, 2012

Windows & Mirrors Chapters 4 - 6

Bolter & Gromala shape Chapter 4 around the Magic Book. While I don't find the Magic Book intriguing at all, I do understand how the comparison fits in with brief description of remediation. "Remediation is the making of new media forms out of older ones" (p.83). I would have to agree that this notion is true. The idea of a computer as a machine that is simply used to convey information has proved to be untrue. As technology gets more complicated, we see how reflective of life it actually is.

Bolter & Gromala also discussed how new media reinvents other [old] media. "But the borrowing of older media forms always has a double sense: it both honors the older forms and challenges them" (p.93).  I have the perfect example for this: radio. At one time, standard radio was extremely popular. Now it's popularity has decreased because it has so many other mediums to compete with; satellite radio, internet radio, television, and the internet in general. In particular, I think of how Power 1051 has dealt with the new media competition. In an attempt to compete in the new media market, their morning radio show 'the Breakfast Club' is now video-recorded. So not only can you listen to the show through regular FM airwaves, you can also watch the physical interview on the station's website. I think this is a good example of how new media forms challenges older forms.

Chapters 5 & 6 are based around the themes diversity and materiality. I was very interested in Chapter 5's section on wearable forms of media. Watches are what the chapter mainly focused on. However, when I was looking up other forms I found these google computing glasses that are set to launch soon (or have launched already, I think I'm a little late).  I never knew about them but I find it pretty creepy.




"Competition for attention is definitely the ultimate motive behind remediation...." I wonder if there will  ever be a stopping point. 


My Thoughts and Reflections on Bolter and Gromala's Windows & Mirrors: Chapters 4-6


     I really enjoyed reading Chapter 4.  I had often reflected on how technology evolves; replacing, and improving upon old technology.  And, had often considered that nothing is ever really brand-new as it always had an earlier model that it was based on or inspired by.  What I didn't know was that there is actually a word for this: remediation.  I also found it really interesting when the chapter discussed how, with new technology or mediums, people have the chance to develop and shape them. Often times, it is modeled after something that people are already familiar with, like setting up news articles on the web to read like news articles in a newspaper.  People are already comfortable with this lay-out and therefore are more likely to consider what they are reading to be news.  I got to thinking about this and realized another good example: E-books.  The e-readers that allow people to read books on electronic devices, and the applications that allow the same on computers and cell phones follow this trend.  They are set up just like a book, with the title page, the table of contents and so on.  But, what I found interesting is they also incorporate the visual of turning the page.  E-reader devices, like the Kindle, and touchscreen cell phones, actually allow the reader to swipe a finger across the screen which will “turn the page”.  The visual on the screen resembles a page turning, and if you pause your finger the page too will stop.  The creators could have made it a scrolling page, but I suppose that would have resembled too closely to a web page.  There were probably many options but they went with a style that was familiar to people and would lend more to the “feel” of reading an actual book.  It is something to keep in mind if I ever invent something.

     Chapter 5 spends a great deal of time explaining that it is very hard to determine a set of rules that web pages should follow.  It suggests that conformity for the Web is really not feasible. I happen to agree. This class is the third I have taken for the communication MA degree (finished one, currently in the second as well). And, it has been hammered into my head over and over again that in the field of communication one must always be aware of the audience. What are you trying to communicate and who are you trying to communicate with? If I am writing an article on a theory of remediation for a scholarly journal it will be quite different from an article written on the same topic for Time magazine.  Web sites, I believe, should take that same approach. When creating a site one must always think about the group of people they are targeting and then design it accordingly. A scholarly website may follow a completely different set of rules than a consumer website.  I don’t see anything wrong that. There are so few things in this world that follow only one set of definitive rules, if any, so why would anyone expect the World Wide Web to be any different?

   Chapter 6 escaped me a little bit. I was never a fan of the Matrix movies, though I have seen them.  I do see the fear of the machines taking over played-out over and over again in media, be it in books, TV, or movies.  It was a theme that showed up a few times on episodes of the X-files (Ghost in the Machine and Kill Switch) in the 1990’s and even more recently in the 2008 Pixar movie, Wall-E. In that movie an autopilot program goes rogue and tries to do what it thinks is best for the human race. This movie is a little different as it is humans and good robots VS an evil robot/program.   It is interesting to realize that as a society we haven’t fully gotten over our fear of technology someday turning on us.  It has been discussed in other classes that themes in media, like the current popular movies, televisions shows, books, and even music, reflect the current attitudes and fears of society.  I definitely believe that; I think we can learn a lot about our society from examining the media. And, apparently, we still think the machines might get us one day.  If Mother Nature doesn't get us first (see movies like The Happening or Contagion).
 

Dreaming of Virtual Reality: Magic Book, Inception, the pensieve and All That...

In Magic Book Bolter and Gromala introduced the concept of remediation to us. It's a new word, yet once explained, not entirely unfamiliar to us as we have been living with it all our lives. I was a little surprised that the authors chose to introduce this so far into the book rather than earlier, for it lays a common ground to a lot of the new media trends that are happening right now. 

We are more and more pushing the limit of media and communication to the next dimension: it's all about translation and transformation.

translation: computing one set of knowledge using another set of language via a medium that is unrecognizable to the first set of knowledge. It's a process of coding and decoding. 
transformation: presenting a media style that is not traditionally seen in a certain medium. 

Remediation, in my opinion, combines both. Take a look at the magic book. Books, traditionally considered a medium where you get literal information in a personal scale. With the magic book, you can almost enter a virtual reality through the words and illustration. It's a physical realization of the metaphorical purpose of books. We say that a good book can suck us into the world it creates and make us forget about the present surroundings. With the magic book, we are doing exactly that...we are no longer just READING the book, but rather, EXPERIENCING the book. If we say media is something we use to educate, then the magic book sheds new light to achieving the most effective 
education: just imagine, if we can EXPERIENCE the events depicted in a history book, or see the atoms floating around us as we are learning bio chemistry, or if we can taste the different nuances between flavour A and B in a cooking class...how much easier would it be for us to learn? 

This phenomenon makes me think of three things: the memory palace, inception, and human genome theory. 

It's been practiced by lots of people that the memory palace is a best way to memorize large amount of information most effectively and at ease. We create connections between seemingly unrelated pieces, creating nodes and virtual drawers for the knowledges we ought to remember. The memory palace gives us retrieval cues for everything within reach. We are able to manage, organize the information we acquire. It's an amazing skill yet not impossible to learn. It's a way of utilizing human brain with purpose. 
Inception: Christopher Nolan gave us creeps with that extraordinary film.  Nosce te ipsum he showed us: layers after layers of mind unravels, revealing deeper and deeper stages of our thoughts. 

This process has been a collective dreams of people from all around the world, realizing it in different kinds of literature and art. Silence of the Library from Doctor Who series, a little girl, who had been turned into a super computer,  created a library of all the things she perceived. When people from the outside world entered this world created purely with mind, the order was disrupted. 

And then in Harry Potter, similar thing was realized according to Author JK Rowling with a creation called the Pensieve. It's a shallow stone container in which people can put their memories in. later on one can re-experience those memory liquid in order to re-examine the past and put together links and events. It can also be experience by an outside from a third person point of view. It's sort of like...an extremely vivid and truthful memoir. Does that sound familiar? It's exactly what the magic book is trying to achieve, or, achieving the first step of it. 

The next generation of media is surely moving towards that direction. I always firmly believe that what is depicted in currently fantacy literature is surely the reality of the future, such has been proved by history. Of course, it's forever the two notions: translation and transformation, with which communication continually develops in a looping fashion. 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Windows and Mirrors Ch.1-3

A much easier book to understand than the Information.  It is very interesting to see how the author's express their views and believes of how a computer reflects who we are and how we see things.  I tend not to agree with the author because the computer is only as smart as the human controlling each aspect of it.  Computers are no where close to being as smart as the human being.  They are so dumb that they can only understand ones and zeros.

However I do agree with the fact that a computer can be a mirror of the person using it.  It has to be this way because the human is the person manipulating the computer.  This may be because we are making the computer screen be this way as a way to make it resemble what we are.  The other piece that resembles a mirror is the "Nosce Te Ipsum".  In order for the viewer to see the changes he or she must get closer to see the discovery.

The other clever item was the wooden mirror.  What an ingenious idea this was to make visitors think that the wooden mirrors were actually moving.  This was a very clever idea that only human beings could have been capable of creating.  Very much an example of how a computer can be manipulated enough to make humans believe what the creator has in mind.

Monday, October 15, 2012

1-3


Blog

After reading the introduction I have learned a lot about what designers do. I didn’t know how integrated designers were to the web and to new media. I think that designers don’t get a lot of recognition for what they do. They lay out the future of digital media. They make the Internet visually beautiful. They make people enjoy being on the web. They make being on the web an experience. The web is used for mostly getting things done but it is the designer’s job to make the experience of getting work done better and more comfortable and they do a good job at it.

Graphic designers use there unbelievable talent and skill to make web pages more integrating with the people using them.
One thing that I thought about a lot after reading is the “window” the term its self makes you thinks about the way you use computers. Window is something that you look threw and you see what’s outside of it or you see what’s inside of it. It’s the same with computers and I think that is amazing that the term was coined 20 years ago and still has relevance in modern day.

Nosce Te Ipsum was a little weird to me but it mostly resembles a mirror. You go towards the screen and it changes while the closer you get to the screen the closer you get to the discovery. If you want the final image you have to participate in the process. The movie that came out this year batman the dark knight rises, they use this as a way to reveal the villain in the movie. They had people follow them on all the social media networks and they gave clues to get the picture then they uses this method to reveal the villain. 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Perils of Remediation Chapters 4-6


Could some of our instructors be REMEDIATE?



REMEDIATION OR HOW TO TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS



Something we should all be aware of in the making of new technology is what Bolter and Gromola refer to as REMEDIATION....the making of new media using forms from or out of older  technology or older more acceptable forms of systems that have already been put into place.  Not to sound rebellious and like anarchist but we all must understand that one of the perils of forming new technological systems is that they're based on older practices and technology that may have become outdated or no longer current.  The necessary systems that we use in all of our internet technology fall under particular patterns and process's that have been put into place for many years.  Understanding these new forms of systems is essential and necessary in order to keep the correct flow and constant necessary for ever emerging new technologies.  However they bring along perils that we must all be aware of.  Conforming to what has been laid down as current systems from past generations means that we can only expand on what has already been accomplished and done versus being original and artistic in creating new systems that don't necessarily have to be based on the past.  Are we destined to be a society based on what was established and practiced years ago before the internet was open to the public or are we and will we be given the chance to create new ideas based on practices that we have learned before the internet allowed us to sign on?  These are questions that Gromola and Bolter bring into question in the upcoming chapters.  It is important to remember that creativity sometimes emerges from the most unusual places and in order for us to establish new methods we might sometimes have to use unconventional practices to get to our final stop or destination.  REMEDIATION doesn't allow us to do that and so much of the media masters that we've learned about in past classes have been conventional theorists that have worked hard to learn about the past in HOPES that we don't repeat the same mistakes.  Let's hope that the internet will continue to be a mecca of creative artisans unafraid to explore and dive into new forms of expression that over the years have been categorized by so many old school theorists as radical and unconventional.  New expression needs new ideas.  Let's all not be afraid of what a new idea could lend to a system that might have become archaic over the course of time.



The String Theory

In class last week we learned a little about the string theory. I thought it was rather interesting so i decided to do a little research on it. The string theory combines quantum theory and general relativity and is said to be the theory that gives the correct description for nature. Supposedly its "self-contained mathematical model that describes all fundamental forces and forms of matter". But many scientist argue that the string theory is false. Its hard to believe that one mathematical model can be used for everything. I guess simplicity in nature is hard to believe. Not saying that the string theory is simple, oh no definitely not (I still don't really understand it). I mean as in this one theory being the answer to everything is a little hard to believe. The String theory is so vast and involves so many things, it really just takes your mind through a roller coster its like an attack of information.

Is the universe based on vibrating string?
 http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/explanation-string-theory

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Windows and Mirrors 1-3


      After reading the first three chapters from Windows and Mirrors, I found out about some early developmental programs, I never heard of before. Programs like Text Rain, Wooden Mirror, and Nosce Te Ipsum are all very old fashioned versions of what modern technology once created. I’m a huge fan of electronics, so I follow current technology often, but I’ve never heard of 2000 SIGGRAPH. From the experience described in the first few chapters it reminded me of E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). I was most impressed with the program Text Rain. It seemed like an old version of the brand new Xbox 360 Kinect. Text Rain is a simple concept to testing out a new project. I once again feel like I’m reading a book that is introducing me to the origin of the future products we have today. Every video game consul has incorporated a different way to experience motion gaming and it’s nice to see where it all began. 





     The most intriguing part of these readings for me is how transparency plays such a huge role in computers. In today’s world humanity relies so much on computers that we believe they are perfect. Reading about how a calculation can actually be wrong due to an error from a computer can lead to dangerous outcomes. When I read the article in Chapter 2 “The Dangers of Transparency,” I thought about how much we rely on technology to live our daily lives. Its as simple as relying on spell check to check for all your errors, or trusting your electronic bank account to be protected. Living in an electronic world is very risky, and transparency is it’s greatest strength. If we are to blind to see errors, then it may lead to disaster.

Monday, October 8, 2012

We Are All Participants in our Digital Culture


I have more respect for designers after reading the introduction. I limited what designers are truly capable prior to this reading. But it makes sense! How else did I think web pages were so interactive and engaging? Web designers, graphic designers are the masterminds behind it all. They lay out the future of digital media. The graphic and web designers integrate the skill set they already posses with the internet to produce a form of visual communication. I couldn't agree any more when the book stated that web designers view the web as an experience. The moment a person types in a URL of their desire and presses “search” or “go”, that person will judge the page based on their user experience. The designers are responsible because they drive the user’s experience. Yes, the web is used for business but pleasure as well. It channels many forms of information for your everyday user. In this day and age digital technology is highly significant in our culture. It’s to the point that computers are instrumental in media.

In chapter 1, Bolter and Gromala express how digital application is defined by the user’s experience. Platforms of media are no longer just offering information but also providing experiences to the users. They want the consumers to feel a part of the experience which makes it more enriching. “Every digital artifact needs at times to be visible to its user; it needs to be both a window and a mirror” (Bolter, Gromala 12). In 2000 an installation, “Text Rain”, provided exactly that to users. The museum visitors are a part of the show, when their figures are on video camera. In the text rain, the user channels the information. This is to show that without the user the piece is incomplete, similar to the web. The digital culture would be irrelevant without the participants. Designers are not only designing the page and the structure but also designing an experience for the application we use. “Digital interfaces are mirrors” (Bolter, Gromala 27), they reflect our interest and thoughts.

Just like “Text Rain”, I thought the “Wooden Mirror” was pretty cool! The blend of wooden material and digital technology was done well because it engaged viewers. It invited participants to be a part of the design. This digital design reminds us that a mirror simply reflects our world unlike a window which is a look into a different world. The term “window” holds much more value because designers chose that term to describe the rectangles on our screen. A decision that was made twenty years ago still plays a significant role in our digital culture. It made me really think about the meaning of a “window”. As users we don’t look through it but we look inside it. The “window” holds information and data. This interface definitely shaped our relationships with computers.

Another piece that resembles a mirror, the “Nosce Te Ipsum”, this piece too invites the viewer. Nosce Te Ipsum requires the viewer to walk towards the screen in which it changes and the closer the viewer gets the closer to the discovery. “In order to reveal the final image, you must participate in the dissective process…” (Bolter, Gromala 61). All in all it requires the participant to interact with Nosce. I found this piece very interesting because it’s not a transparent window instead it reflects as we use it, “…it makes us stop and think about our relationship to the computer” (Bolter, Gromala 62).  Below is a video that brings this experience to life on your screen or should I say "Window"…
Cool isn't it? I thought so! Our digital culture is not only transparent to which we look through the interface but also reflective to which we look at the interface. 


Sunday, October 7, 2012

what seems to be opposite to each other...

Science and art; chaos and order; structure and freeform...
in the world described by Bolter and Gromala, those extreme opposites are combined by digital designs, enabled with advanced technology and lots of imagination. In Chapter I-III, three digital art pieces are introduced: text rain, wooden mirror, and nosce te ipsum. All three have something to do with artificial transparency and the interaction between the medium of art and the spectator: the audience became a part of the production instead of merely an observer.
Both Text Rain and Nosce te Ipsum reminded me of Dadaism, where randomness is the key point of the art: the process of creating the visual experience relies mainly on arbitrary selection and chances. The movement of the figues on the screen decides what the texts will appear like, or what sentences, whether they make sense or not, will form. In Nosce te Ipsum's case, layers after layers of images unfolds and reveal different images according to different people as they walk over. The Wooden Mirror is slightly different in that it's more of a physical display of how camera works. I remember enlarging images in the computer, where you can see colour cubes that make up different shapes and forms...when you see the basic elements of the images, those cubes seem random and coarse, while seen as a whole, pictures with orders and forms. 
Those are all visual reflection of the relationship between the seemingly "boring" and monotonous science and art, which encompasses free spirit. The text rain, for instance, is a digital rendition of how Dadaist artists used to grab words out of a bag in order to create poems in the most naturalistic sense. As we were discussing the relationship between chaos and order in class: everything in the universe are in the constant struggle between maintaining order and rushing into a chaotic state. View in large and small scale, the results can be very different. In the world of science and nature, the heart of order is chaos: look at the particles bouncing off each other while the entire organism functions in perfect harmony; the whole eco system maintains its order as the seasons go by, while at the same time, we can't even figure out where the next raindrop will fall. However, if we even look deeper inside, the chaotic natural phenomena can be broken down into basic elements, that run on a orderly fashion again. Just like what Thomasina Coverly said to her tutor Septimus in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, "Each week I plot your equations dot for dot, xs against ys in all manner of algebraical relation, and every week they draw themselves as commonplace geometry, as if the world of forms were nothing but arcs and angles. God's truth, Septimus, if there is an equation for a curve like a bell, there must be an equation for one like a bluebell, and if a bluebell, why not a rose? " In the world of art, sometimes the heart of chaos is order too. There are orders dots by dots in Jackson Pollock's wildest expression of "action paintings". Digital arts and designs enable us to see that.
I remember a study on how movie posters' colour change through the years and how people's perception and social preferences evolve by putting together all the posters and see them in a large scale. Below is the final layout and you can see the report here:
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/06/18/movie-posters-show-our-changing-color-bias-over-the-years/Movie Posters Show Our Changing Color Bias Over the Years movieposters mini
The purpose of that colour study was to show how our colour bias has changed through the years as we are increasingly using darker and colder colours, unlike in the beginning of movie industry, people were more inclined to use brighter and warmer colours to make the posters appeal to the audience, as colder and darker colours were considered unwelcoming.
Here's the interactive version of the study where you can examine the posters' colours from 1914-2012

http://www.vijayp.ca/movies/new_page.html

I found it very interesting how the seemingly completely random phenomenon: the colour of movie posters (which is decided by the theme of the stories of the movie, the decisions made by graphic designers, etc), can show a consistent change through time and gradually merge into a spectrum of colours. Such order is born out of chaos, observed by analytical thinking and visualized by technology.
Many a times subjects don't matter,  the roods and hearts of our knowledge follow the same formation and core: chaos and order are two sides of the same coin. Like Hannah concluded after years of searching her quest in finding the meaning of landscape and poetry. " It's all trivial – your grouse, my hermit, Bernard's Byron. Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter. Otherwise we're going out the way we came in. That's why you can't believe in the afterlife, Valentine. Believe in the after, by all means, but not the life. Believe in God, the soul, the spirit, the infinite, believe in angels if you like, but not in the great celestial get-together for an exchange of views. If the answers are in the back of the book I can wait, but what a drag. Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final. " (Stoppard)
The argument between designers who pushes to make more tags, who look at the web pages as wholes, and the programmers who look at pages in elements and lines of technical languages, in conversations with the machines...the searches and pursuits are in the same direction.
What seems to be opposite to each other, are just the same thing, filtered through different lenses.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

My Thoughts and Reflections on Bolter and Gromala's Windows & Mirrors


Introduction
     
After finishing the introduction, I have to say that I agree more with Designers.  In most instances, a web page should be an experience. It is the perfect medium to provide information, not just in words, but in sounds, colors, pictures and photographs, and video.  In today’s society we have all become a little A.D.D.; we like constant stimuli. Can any of you sit still through a TV show anymore? Without having to check your text messages or email, or respond to the challenge on SongPop or Draw This?
     
     Yes, some sites need to just offer quick bare-bones information so we can get in and get out. Other sites should take advantage of all the opportunities to get the information out in the best way possible.  If I want to learn about Mozart, I don’t want a website just filled with line after line of text. If I wanted that, then I would go down to the library! No, I want a page that has music clips imbedded, pictures of Mozart and his life, maybe some video of experts, or people playing Mozart’s music. 

     A nice thing about the internet is that you have choices; you choose what site you want to visit and you choose what site you want to build.  Do I think some sites go overboard? Sure. Do I find some sites boring? Absolutely.  Do I agree that Flash is broken? I have too many programmer friends to have any other opinion.   But, when it’s my turn to build a website I can design it any way I want, with as little or as much visuals, sound, or animation that I want.  Just like you.

Chapter 1. Text Rain

   
     I really enjoyed reading Chapter 1: Text Rain.  I had never heard of Text Rain before and now I really want to play with it! The chapter also weaved in bits of history along with the digital vision. I had also never been presented with the idea of computers being a medium that is both a window and a mirror. A window in that we can look through it to the information and experiences inside, and also a mirror as it reflects our thoughts, our lives, and ourselves back to us.  I am excited to read the next chapter and see what else I have never considered before.


Chapter 2. Wooden Mirror

     Before reading this chapter I had never really given much thought to why we call the different screens we view and use “windows”. For example, open a new browser window.  It really does make sense when you start to think about it. We really do see through the window to what is inside; we are both looking at this text! You can really get lost inside of it too. How many hours have we accidentally wasted because we got caught up in what we were viewing and lost track of time? We are like children peering through a window of a toy store at Christmas time; lost in the wonders inside. 

I actually JUST experienced this. As I was looking for a link to add to this post, I was sidetracked by an offer to “Bing it on” and take part in a survey to test whether I preferred Bing or Google. Next thing I know I am off looking at all these other websites; finally the results are in and I realized I wasted all this time and really needed to get back to work.  Btw, my results were a draw.

Chapter 3. Nosce Te Ipsum

     Not my favorite chapter. I am a Windows user. In fact, my father, who has spent his career networking computers for companies, raised me to dislike Apple products.  He would never tell me why, but now I suspect it goes back to the Designer vs. Structuralist. My dad would be classified more as a structuralist. He is primarily concerned with making sure the computers are able to communicate with each other effectively. He is not concerned with whether a person can become absorbed into screen, or if the user is being reflected back.  I understand the appeal of Apple products, but I have never owned or plan to own any.  Chapter 3 seemed to take a little turn from the previous chapters and took an opportunity to throw a few barbs at Windows.

     Now without any information to explain how the Mac computers address these Windows areas of concerns, it read more as a rant to me.  Also, this book was written in 2003; almost a decade ago. I think it would be interesting if the authors went back and revised parts of the book that are now outdated, like the references to the Microsoft Word paperclip. It would also be interesting to read what the authors think if the changes to Microsoft Windows, like the cloud or how I can double-click on my desktop and all the icons disappear leaving me with just my background picture. I love that!  Or, how about the Windows 7 theme packs that you can download? I just downloaded one for Halloween that included desktop pictures and spooky sounds!

     I really am enjoying this book. It has already made me think about new ideas and theories. The only thing is the technology it discusses is becoming outdated, and it won’t include some of the new technology of today that would apply. 

Windows and Mirrors--Chapters 1-3--Bolter and Gromala


Bolter and Gromala take on an advisory role in educating the reader about the role of the modern computer architect.  Through the chapters we learn about several new digital computer art exhibits that were displayed at the 2000 SIGGRAPH Art Committee gathering and learn what each of the digital artists is attempting to accomplish through their works of computer and digital art.  The authors choose Wooden Mirror, Text Rain and Nosce Te Ipsum as just three of the computer art demonstrations that they use to illustrate the role of the computer architect in hopes of getting us to better understand the simplicity and complexity of computer interfaces that have become so common now in our everyday uses of Microsoft and Apple computer applications.  What is consistent between all of these works of digital computer art is the need
for transparency, the need to be able to understand and see through a computer application so that we can be better users and also technicians of our own if the applications should fail and we need to repair them.  Bolter and Gromala go to great lengths to get us a better understanding of computer applications as mirrors of ourselves that reflect back what we use them for and who we are.

It is fascinating to see their approach in the text as being so simplified as how they make out the goals of the computer architects to be.  The applications are described and at some point condemned when it comes to Microsoft and Apple.  Both Bolter and Gromala tend to believe that Microsoft engineers don't really like their jobs and the use of computers where Apple engineers are much more passionate and involved with what they design.  This I believe may be true as Windows applications tend to be more functional in our daily lives where Apple allows the integration of much more advanced computer generated graphic design, more involving icons and more artistic user friendly advances that engage the user to become a part of the technology as opposed to what Microsoft does by allowing us to simply be users of this new technology.  Either way, the authors tend to believe that computer applications should and must remain mirrors of ourselves and not independent thinking creatures that might rise up and attempt some kind of technological coup d'etat.  The computer is a mirror of ourselves and must remain as such but over the years we've seen Apple take computing to a new level where the machine takes on a character of it's own through design and function.  We almost are drawn into the mirror and want to explore it's virtual world with Apple products where with Microsoft, the computer is still a mirror but obedient enough to function as we need it without allowing us to get involved with it's design and desktop look.  Throughout all of the innovations we have seen in computer interfaces and applications, we are once again looking into a mechanism that must remain as it's main purpose to mirror back what we are and what we need in terms of functionality and design.  We have yet to learn if the mirror will crack in the upcoming years of advanced computer applications.  It seems almost inevitable.


JFN


Bolter & Gromala's Windows & Mirrors 1-3: Much Better Already

I hate to compare this text with our previous one, but for me it's already clear that this will be a good read. The first three chapters are really informative but interesting at the same time. It's also kind of cool how some of the information from Gleick overlaps into this text. In particular, chapter 1 highlights Alan Turing and his contribution to the evolution of the computer. "In the 1940s, when the brilliant and elegant John von Neumann, the brilliant and eccentric Alan Turing, and many others were designing the first programmable computers, they were not defining a new medium" (p.15)...

I was very moved by the history of transparency. There definitely is so much we don't see when using all these different types of mediums. "User interface design belongs to a long tradition of art and illusion taht we've been considering" (p.43).

Overall, my favorite concept throughout the reading was the concept of our overall digital activity being an experience. These new mediums have definitely created an atmosphere where information is at our fingertips. In regards to myself, I love watching movies and I usually watch them on my computer. While watching a movie, I am always googling someone or something that I find interetsting in the film. I never really thought of this type of activity in an "experience' format but it's very clear that it actually is. I  really enjoyed these three chapters. I also provided a video of the text rain experience below:



Friday, October 5, 2012

Gleick


Cryptography is fascinating I haven’t ever really thought about it much but after reading about I understand it a little more. Codes are I think one of the wonders of our language. Its crazy the things you can do with numbers and letters. Its odd to think that a code can be generated from the language and if that code is understood can be used for so many things.

Margaret Mead said some interesting things. I want to focus on Meads thoughts about the meaning in a message, like anger, needs to be considered when sending and/or receiving a message. Meads thoughts are one that in my eyes just got fixed, because of the things we can do now with icons and codes for computers to read we have just recently solve that problem. Just to give an example if I sent an email to a friend and I said yo where you at? He doesn’t know if I’m mad angry sad or happy and just wanting to know where he is. Now we have these little faces that make the emotion that we are feeling on the screen. Its mostly used in text messaging but it has definitely solved the emotion thoughts that Mead had.

Norbert Wiener had a viewpoint that I feel is valid for today. He worried about understanding mental disorders; about mechanical prostheses; and about the social dislocations that might follow the rise of smart machinery. Like today if a person doesn’t have his/her cell phone or laptop they cant function. We have become so dependent on our machinery that we don’t even realize it because its handy. I wonder what would happen if the cell phones networks shut down for the day. Chapter 9 also discusses order I think that Gleick did a good job showing the linkage between math, engineering, physics, psychology, and communication.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

chapters 1,2,3


The first three chapters of Gleick is very informative. Its very interesting but it really took awhile for him to get his point across. The attention to detail is good because the more information that is given the better the understanding but it also makes it a tough read because of the detail that’s in it. “Drums that talk” from my view point of what Gleick is saying that the drums translate into phrases there not signals or warnings. I figure that it will be the opposite that the drums would be signals as to who or what was going on.

When I was little I was in love with Chinese symbols but I never new the history and what they really meant I just thought they were cool looking. Chapter 2 gave good understanding as to what they meant. I never knew the symbols stood for different things that meant other words or phrases. Chinese writing is like breaking a code as appose to English where everything means what it says. Its fun when you think of Chinese writing because you can hide a message in plain site lol.

The reading of the first three chapters was very informative. I really don’t agree with the detail but the information is intriguing. I also like the way he broke down our language and its funny how our language really just appeared. Today we still generate words that have meaning and people use these words a lot. They have meaning because of the amount of people that use them. I liked the information in the first three chapters and I’m looking forward to the next three. 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Gleick's Studies 7-9

Gleick certainly searched a whole lot to discover the truth behind not only the creation of computer technology, but he even wrote in great detail about the process that went through the creators minds. In Chapter 7 one statement that stuck me was that he said, "Only the fearful and superstitious imagined that machines could be creative or original or spontaneous." In today's world those same people imagine a variety of different things, such as: the 2k black outs, how machines tie to cancer, and even the most recent 2012 apocalypse. I feel like our past creations almost haunt us today. Everything revolving on earth's ending superstitions ties to technology in some kind of way. This quote also explains how imaginations are brought to life. In today's world, people generally rely on computers to communicate, work, entertain, and create. What do people in today's world imagine for the future? What's going to be the next big invention, will computers one day be obsolete?

Turing only started with an imagination, that eventually led to the first development of a tape. This broke new ground in the past and in today's world with advance technology like an iPhone, people everyday are making up new inventions based off of their imaginations and bringing them to life with Apps. Shannon then went on to create cryptography during WWII and the advancements continued. At this day and age most of the hard work is done. Solving all those algorithms and developing virtual intelligence has become so advanced now that it's hard to even imagine what a "mundane brain" was even like.

I found it very interesting to get a detailed understanding on how the technology of today's world was born. Though as I read each chapter, I couldn't help but link the simple concepts that began everything we use today. When I read about Wiener's studies comparing the human nervous system and machines, I instantly thought about the creation of the X-ray, which eventually became a machine that examined the human body to a whole new extent. Even though his intent was the thermostat. This was a great read for those looking for an insight into the real past life of communications.

Monday, October 1, 2012

The Plot Thickens... Chapters 7 - 9

These chapters were pretty interesting. It's funny how all these processes combined create communication or at least helped to advance communication.

Reading about the Turing Machine definitely made me think of days when computers weren't even popular yet. When I was around 7 years old, my dad owned a word-processor and it was a big deal! It was the most basic black and white operating system ever, but at the time it awesome to me and many others. Not sure why, but I correlated images of the Turing Machine with a word processor.  I was actually stunned after seeing what an actual Turing Machine looks like... I definitely wasn't expecting the image below or anything like it.




Anyway, in these chapters, Gleick continues his main theme which includes background information on important scientists/developers/engineers and their contribution to evolving communication technology. It's still very overwhelming to understand how much mathematics was involved in all of  these processes. (Definitely did not enjoy seeing the word algorithm a bunch of times). 

But, of all the people mentioned, Norbert Weiner is probably my favorite. His opinions were drastic but also reasonable. The text says, "He cared profoundly, it turned out, about understanding mental disorders; about mechanical prostheses; and about the social dislocations that might follow the rise of smart machinery. He worried that it would devalue the human brain as factory machinery had devalued the human hand" (p.240). I definitely understand his concern. He kind of foresaw what technology has done to us as a society [now]. We're so dependent and so detached sometimes. While the advancement in technology helps us, it definitely takes away from the uniqueness that comes with instantly using our minds & mouths. 

Overall, I guess for every stage technology has gone through, someone has been in the background paving the way; making it easier for the next engineer to come along and elaborate on past ideas. Gleick's in-depth analysis of how it all happened in relation to communication is pretty cool! 

Thoughts on Gleick's "The Information"


The Information is a great to refresh any lost history lesson we may have all lost during our younger years because it does truly talk about everything; from words and talking drums, the telegraph and telephone to computers. This history recollection would be considered the The History because it details on the rise and development of each one and how it effects and influences society and media. The Theory focuses on the biographies of the most important explorers of information such as Claude Shannon, Norbert Wiener, and Alan Turing.

Gleick talked about a lot so many topics that I felt a little rushed. Gleick could have done more with dictionaries, Wikipedia and different topics. Yet there were other topics which left the reader wanting more. The book can be appreciated for those who would like to know about the technologies of the century

My Thoughts and Reflections on James Gleick’s, The Information: A History, A Theory, a Flood. Chapters 7-9


     I have always found codes to be fascinating but sadly have never been that great at figuring them out.  I had known to a small extent that math was involved. Now that I know what a huge part math and numbers play in cryptography, it makes sense that it has never been a talent of mine.  It’s rather funny; I have always said I am much better at words than numbers.  For the first time I am realizing just how closely related the two are!

     In chapter 8 when the author told us about different speakers at a conference, I thought what Margaret Mead brought up was interesting; that the meaning in a message, like anger, needs to be considered as well.  That is an issue we are still confronted with today, in our emails, posts, and instant messages. It is difficult to convey emotion, and difficult to read a message without inferring emotion.  Society sought to solve this dilemma with emoticons, a small picture that demonstrates an emotion.  It started with using punctuation and letters on the keyboard, but as technology has advance, has evolved into little pictures in most programs.  Some applications, like AIM, have a variety of themed emoticons to choose from.  I have to say I use them, and LOL, a lot to make sure that I get my point across, or to not accidentally offend someone.

     I think it is very interesting how people like to use the supernatural to explain processes or phenomenon that we don’t fully understand on is difficult to understand.  Like Maxwell’s demon in chapter 9, or like the Greek god Zeus to explain lightening. Actually, Greek mythology is another example of people sorting and putting things in order. People did this by sorting out nature, emotions, states or being, etc. and assigning them to different gods and goddesses.  It is really is amazing how much order dominates our lives.  Even the way we process and retain information utilizes categories and orders, by using schemas.  It’s amazing how math, engineering, physics, psychology, and communication are all linked!

Humans & Machines


Alongside the technological developments such as the telephone, alphabet and coding, the concept of information as a measurable quantity was also developed, this continues to prove that information floods our society. In chapter 7, the “Mathematical model of communication” was a product created to speed up data processing during the World War II. Gleick argues that this invention was more valuable than the production of the transistor. Both Shannon and Alan were pioneers in cryptography. They both worked on their own projects and met and discussed often about ideas and surfaced throughout their work. But, the primary question was if it was possible to create a machine that could THINK. Later, Shannon’s information theory became notable and featured in scientific journals. Shannon’s theory was relatable to Weiner’s similar theory that compared the human nervous system to a system of signals and switches. Weiner then examined the relationship between humans and machines in his book. But its true indeed that the impact of technology on humankind has been of great interest. Attitude towards progress, exemplified by technology, have varied and still does, between fear of change that it brings, and all embracing due to the potential of the “machine”. Computers help humans but don’t share attachment. Yes, humans have control over the computer but the computer has the ability to connect with the human. But in today’s society computers are becoming self sufficient. The theory simply gave value and purpose to the information. As mentioned in the “The Return of Meaning”, “…we approach the final phase of the extensions of man-the technological simulation of consciousness,” (Gleick, 413). The flood of information was responsible for shaping and changing how society communicated.  This was “continuing evolution” and helped humans reach fulfillment. Overall, Gleick provides the readers with a optimistic view of the future regarding the world of boundless information, he writes, is a world of endless possibility. We are our own librarians now as Gleick stated, for the answers are at the fingertips via Google, etc. Now that it’s evident that the internet has changed our relationship to information, the QUESTION in standing is…how do we react to these changes? Or do we?