Computation as a Medium Week 1 LCC 2700: Intro to Computational Media

NMR Intro: Inventing the Medium Engineers looking for a more coherent way of presenting massive information of postwar era Engineers looking for tools to help people to think more efficiently Engineers believe in the possibility of integrating our perceptions of the world Late 20th Century humanists (writers, artists, philosophers) disgusted with intellect and integrative ideologies Humanists fascinated with multiplicity of ways of seeing the same phenomena (Borges) Divergent approaches twist together to co- invent the digital medium

A new medium! Happens rarely in human history Writing ~3500 BC Printing Press 1455 Photography ~1850

Computation as a Medium like Print Medium Format Genres Print book novel, history periodical newspaper, magazine Computer html page website, blog videogame shooter, rpg… database payroll, archive

Computation as a Medium like Print Medium Power of representation Print Don Quixote Effect Computer Eliza Effect

Other models of computation Technology (like an engine in a car) Tool (like a pencil or slide rule) Appliance (information toaster) Transmitter of other media (network of moving bits) These are valid but more limited as an orientation for designer/inventors Medium is a more inclusive framework

Advantages of the Media Model For both design and understanding Historical perspective, analogies to other periods of media transition Rich design palette from legacy practices Connects computation with other forms of cultural expression Focuses us on coherent form

What is a medium? Something in the physical world that contains an idea of a person, place, thing, event, or concept.

Media vs Technologies A medium contains (communicates) ideas through conventions of representation. A technology is a set of methods and materials for doing something, such as creating a media artifact. The computer can be thought of as an evolving medium that rests on a set of changing technologies.

Converging Technologies/Converging Media Digital television/videogame console hooked to internet Telephone/camera/appointment book/music player Actors merging with animations in movies NY Times producing 1 minute videos on website NBC producing text and still image articles on website Google creating digital, searchable, networked library Replacement of paper, film, audio tape, vinyl records, video tape with digital formats

A medium relies on Accessible Practices of Inscription Fixed Practices of Transmission Open Ended Practices of Representation These practices are always cultural and may or may not be technological Cultural = all shared behaviors , interpretations, and values beyond our biological endowment

Inscription = Intentional perceptible impression Impression may be temporal or spatial Impression may be auditory, visual, tactile Impression requires malleable material to receive and (perhaps) preserve it Impression requires a means of marking the material What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Examples of inscription Sounds made by vocal tract, impressed in the form of sound waves Cuneiform wedges on clay Hieroglyphics on papyris Roman letters on Trajan marble monument Moving images on film or videotape Electro-magnetic charges configured as bits What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Issues of Inscription Temporality (speech, film) Spatiality: capacity, direction Ease of marking Persistence of marking (fired clay) Faithfulness of marking, copying

Transmission Impressions conveyed from a sender to a receiver, from a creator to a perceiver Can be transmitted over time (preserved) Can be transmitted over distance (relayed) What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Transmission Involves Coding Telegraph model: Message -> Coded -> Relayed –> Decoded Examples of standardized transmission codes: Facial expressions Cries Phonemes of spoken language Alphabet 0000 1111 Ascii What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Issues of Transmission Coding: how well does the code capture the message? Alphabet with and without vowels Binary vs analog codes Noise: how accurately is the code transmitted? Static on a radio signal Interpretation by receiver Does the receiver know how to decipher the code? Does the code mean the same to the sender and the receiver?

Representation Assignment of meaning to the transmitted impressions Based on shared experience, conventions of abstraction, conventions of symbolic coding Always an act of interpretation from one consciousness to another (or same consciousness over time) What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Representation Based on an expanding set of meaningful conventions Set of lines interpreted as house, person, tree Alphabetic text interpreted as sounds, words, meanings Interface icons interpreted as buttons connected to actions What is a medium?: Inscription – Transmission - Representation

Mature media have established conventions 30 minute format with commercial breaks Parents and kids Foolish behavior Loving/fighting

Established Media Conventions ?

Established Media Conventions Paragraphs Lead paragraphs Headlines Mastheads News photo Byline Column Sentence Inverted pyramid structure Feature vs News vs Editorial

Established Media Conventions Columns Capitals and small letters Spaces between words Initial letters: chapter divisions Page numbers Tables of contents Indexes Title page Handwriting styles Typefaces

Established Media Conventions Frame Information encoded by subject matter Color/B&W Rule of Thirds

Convergence breaks down coherence

Birth of a medium Arrival of the Train at Ciotat Station, 1895

How to invent a medium Start with existing genres and import them to new formats Understand unique affordances of new modes of inscription and transmission Maximize these affordances for purposes of more powerful representation

Summary week 1 Computation as a Medium Other models of computation Advantages of media model Medium: inscription, transmission, representation Media conventions bring coherence Convergence disrupts coherence How to invent a medium Next week: McLuhan, Nelson, HoH 3,