New Media

After absorbing 2 chapters from Lev Manovich's writing about new media, I learned quite a bit on the history and development of media as a whole and how it got to be as we know it today. Manovich relates this "new media" very heavily to computers in these few chapters. The way I see it, the computer is almost like the center of a wheel, and all forms of new media are connected to it like spokes. From cinema to photography to still text and more, all of it is now created, shared, and stored on computers.

Thinking of computers made me wonder how far back this so-called "new" media really goes. Manovich provided a well thought out and informative history of old media and how it transitioned into new media. Starting with the separate inventions of Babbage's Analytical Engine and Daguerre's daguerreotype in the early 1800s, and ending with the invention of the digital computer in the mid 1900s, old media is essentially considered any form of media that isn't involved with a computer. Once the modern computer was created and the synthesis of media and computers occurred, the age of new media was born.
New media also has five main principles as according to Manovich. Starting with number one, Numerical Representation, I will discuss these briefly.

1. Numerical Representation: Whether it's an image or a web page, created from scratch or converted from analog to digital, all media can be described mathematically. The difference between old and new media is that old media is considered continuous while new media is discrete. As Manovich states, all new media is vulnerable to algorithmic manipulation. One great example that I can relate to is in photo editing. To manipulate a photo by changing proportions or changing the contrast is actually a mathematical process done by the computer itself. This is just one example of how new media is represented by numbers.
2. Modularity: I had to do some definition searching for this one, since I am not familiar with this lingo quite yet. The definition of module, to start, is defined as each set of standardized parts that can be used to create a more complex structure. Manovich relates modules to media elements in his writing, and then goes on to relate modular structure to a multimedia movie made on iMovie for example. This movie consists of the media elements including motion picture, sound and still images.
3. Automation: Automation is permissible via the two principles above. One example used by Manovich is in Hollywood films, flocks of birds and crowds of people are all automatically created by a software called AL, or artificial life. The layout for word processing or web page creators is another good example. 
4. Variability: New media is something that is subject to variation, or change. Customization is also involved in this principle, which is something that is vital in marketing and business nowadays. We can now create different versions of the same object for different customers, whereas in old media, once something was human-made, there was little to be done in terms of customization.
5. Transcoding: Finally, transcoding is the idea that the computerization of media transforms it into computer data, which is in turn easily found and manipulated for the user's benefit. This may also represent the relationship between human and computer, or as Manovich says, the cultural and computer layers. Each one influences each other in various ways as they both evolve over time.

I found these five principles of new media by Manovich fascinating not only because I wasn't aware that there were two distinct groups of media separated by old and new, but because I truly had no idea how much of a role the computer has in all media these days. Sure, I'm on my laptop a ton everyday, checking websites and editing photos and listening to music. But I never truly realized how much each of those activities and more revolves around the computer. 

When I go for a run on the Tech Trails, I often bring my iPod. The music that flows into my ears is from my computer. When I travel up in the Keweenaw for some weekend exploring and camping I take my DSLR camera with me to capture the beauty and the adventure of discovery, only to come back to my apartment to import, edit and post the photos online to share with family and friends via computer. Even when I printed off the Manovich article to read on a Sunday afternoon after returning from a camping trip, I used a computer before I had the pages in my hands.

Perhaps it's because I have started to take my computer for granted and it's just simply a vital and familiar part of my life similar to my arms and legs, but reading this writing by Manovich really made me appreciate living in the world of new media, where there is one spot for it all. I own one laptop on which I do all my schoolwork, listen to all my music, catch up with friends and discover new things online, and look at and edit all my photos. My world is in my computer, be it good or bad, and I couldn't have it any easier!