Sketch-Up Scene

The google Sketch-Up exercise was good practice in creating scene that was both realistic and obscure.  I would have like to have spent more time and added much more detail and random objects. The resulting scene ended up being fairly whimsical because of that randomness.  Given more time, I would have liked to add some greenery to make it feel more natural, that way the contrast between the familiar scenery and the surreal would be greater.

The surrealness of the setting could really only make sense in a video game format.  We have come to almost expect the unexpected within the games we play.  This could be the setting for an end of level combat.  You must defeat the giant snail who once defeated turns into millions of balloons which float up into the clouds.  Once defeated, you may ascend to the spaceship and be escorted to another world to continue to the next level.

.wk4.Remediation.Cyberspace.

1) According to the text "Remediation" the author uses the phrase (in relation to Hollywood's use of computer graphics) "remediation operates in both directions" - what is meant by this?


Both the original form and new media created from film borrow from and re-create each other. Traditional film is rewriting digital graphics to work within their medium, and digital graphics people are rewriting film to create new works within their medium.


2) What does Michael Benedikt, author of "Cyberspace the First Steps" introduction argue had happened to modern city by the late 60s, having become more than 'a collection of buildings and streets'?



By the late 60’s the city became an “immense node of communications, a messy nexus of messages, storage and transportation facilities, a massive education machine”. It essentially became an overwhelming hub of media.


3) In his short story "Skinner's Room" William Gibson describes how Skinner watches a tiny portable 'pop-up' TV set. What can skinner no longer remember? (remediation in relation to television as an idea is neatly summed up in this sentence!)


In the story, Skinner can no longer remember when he stopped being able to distinguish commercials from programming.


4) Author of the famous pamphlet "Culture Jamming" Mark Dery paraphrases Umberto Eco and his phrase "semiological guerrilla warfare". What does this mean?


“Semiological guerrilla warfare” is Umberto Eco’s idea that an audience can read and interpret messages in a variety of ways and has the ability to control their interpretation of said message.


5) From Mark Dery's pamphlet, briefly describe "Subvertising".


Subvertising is a form of “Culture Jamming” described by Dery almost as anti-advertising. He expands to define it as the “production and dissemination of anti-ads”, in his case along Madison Avenue in the form of sneak attack posters late at night.

.wk3.RiseOfTheComputerSociety.

1) In Paulina Boorsooks Book "Cyberselfish" she contrasts the development of technologies that were group efforts and thus stand in stark contrast to the myth of the lone 'hero' entrepreneur. Name two such more group-based technologies. (Under the heading "Closer to the Machine")

a) Wikileaks: Press tries to label it as a one man enterprise, but that man is really just a moderator. All the information comes in from many different collaborators.
c) World Wide Web Consortium: community that develops the standards for web development tools and protocols.


2) In the section labelled "Human, Too Human" Boorsook describes one type of technolibertarian - the "Extropians". What do extropians want or yearn for?

The Extropians are a group of “radical optimists” that want to maximize human potential by becoming more like cyborgs or partially machine in some way.

3) In her film BIT PLANE, Natalie Jeremijenko describes Doug Englebart as being a pioneer - of what? (view film via VIMEO link in separate post)

Natalie Jeremijenko describes Doug Englebart of being a pioneer of personal computing. Very early he saw the potential the pc had to “extend and improve the human condition”.

4) In "Silicon Valley Mystery House" writer Langdon Winner compares the Silicon Valley to the Winchester Mystery House. In what way does he consider them similar?

He compares the entire area from San Jose to Palo Also to the Winchester Mystery House because of the blending of cities. You can’t tell where one ends and another begins. The businesses wealth and a power allow them to “transform and absorb” the area’s around them, very similar to what Sarah Winchester did.

5) In Langdon Winner's essay "Silicon Valley Mystery House" he describes East Palo Alto as a very different kind of place from areas such as upscale Stanford and downtown Palo Alto. What type of area is East Palo alto, "just across highway 101"?

East Palo Alto is a poor area with high unemployment and poverty rates. To Langdon Winner, it seems an area forgotten by its technologically wealthy neighbor. Test scores in East Palo Alto schools are in the lowest 10th of the country, compared to Central Palo Alto’s scores usually in the top 1%.

6) In her Processed World article "The Disappeared of Silicon Valley" Paulina Boorsook's "Deep Throat" (inside information source) describes some unpleasant realities of most Silicon Valley startups and how they end up. List two.

a) End up in deep debt
b) Most are unsuccessful, or get bought out by a larger company with most of the proceeds going to the people that didn’t necessarily to all the work.


7) What is the Long Now foundation and why was it formed?

The Long Now Foundation is an organization formed to foster and grow long-term thinking. Its members attempt to give an alternative to the “faster/cheaper” mindset that has been growing with the growth of technology.

8) In the documentary DOCUMENTARY - SILICON VALLEY - A HUNDRED YEAR RENAISSANCE (1997) Steve Jobs describes the joy of successfully making "blue boxes" which let he and his friends make free phone calls. What aspect of this experience does he say was so important to the creation of Apple computer?

The creation of blue boxes taught them the power of ideas and the understanding and confidence that they could influence the world.

9) List three aspects of the work of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - (see the "Our Work" section of their website)

1. Free Speech
2. Intellectual Property
3. Privacy


10) According to Richard Stallman's website, what is his status in relation to the social media site Facebook?

You won’t ever find him on facebook. Facebook threatens your privacy and they permanently record everything you do.

.wk2.Response.

1) Why was the period at the turn of the 20th century so important?

The period emphasized modernity and the creation and consumption of new things. People were excited about technological process and possibilities in the future. The new way of thinking allowed for an accelerated rate of change and the ideations and development of an incredibly large number of new machinery and mechanisms that have greatly affected the world today.

2) What aspects of the Dada art movemement are important from the point of view of the rise of the computers and digital visual media? (for example Marcel Duchamp's "readymades"?

Dada Artists came forward with a notion of outside thinking. They were a group of somewhat exiles who's ideas were anti-war and often anti-authoritarian. They were interested in the future and modernity which led to a DIY mentality. Their ideas go to the core of digital media because they were sampling culture and the concept of what art was and what makes art, art. Things were left to chance and ideas were tested, often leading to random outcomes which is the basis to digital visual media.

3) Name one aspect that links "The Man with a Movie Camera" with digital media according to Lev Manovich. (Readings B)

Computers link experiences and allow the extension of cultural data to the user. Digital Media, like cinema, allows the user to understand the language without needing to speak it.

4) What was 'constructivism'?

Constructivism was an artistic movement that rejected the idea of art for the sake of art. They preferred art created for social movements and purposes.

5) Read pages VI (6) to XXII (22) of "The Language of New Media" in ReadingsB: What does Lev Manovich suggest are the 'three levels' of "The Man with a Movie Camera"?

1: The story of the cameraman filming material for the film.
2: The shorts of an audience watching the finished film.
3: The film in its entirety.

6) Who first developed the idea of "Cybernetics"?

Norbert Wiener

7) In "Computer Lib" Ted Nelson describes Hypertext as "Non-Sequential” writing (fill in the blank)

8) Why were transistors, even though 100 times smaller than vacuum tubes considered impractical for building computers in the 1960s?

Transistors required the use of solder and wire. So to install or change out they had to solder them into the machine with an incredible amount of wiring. They required too many components to be wired together by hand.

9) What was the name of the first commercial available computer (kit)?

Altair 8800 made by MITS.

10) Write a paragraph: In your own words: What are things going to look like in 20 years from now in the average living room in terms of digital visual media? What types of digital media will your kids be using around 2030?

Future digital visual media will become much more interaction. I could see the next generation in the living room with a touch screen tv watching interactive cartoons where they get to get involved in the sequence of events, allowing what happens next to depend upon their choices and decisions. Almost like the books of the past where we were able to choose between 2 paths and jump to that section within the book, allowing for different outcomes.

Everything will be connected through networking. Computers and televisions will most likely merge into single systems integrating television, phone, computer, all gaming systems (which will mostly likely be much more interactive with easy access to entire virtual lives.