It appears even art has principles. As open ended art seems to be, it seems to have rules. Here are the 5 Principles of New Media Art, as according to Lev Manovich:

1. Numerical Representation: Yep, you heard right, math manages to shoe-horn itself into everything. Being that NMA consists mostly of digital media, math does have to get involved. Everything that we use in class is a program and a computer calculating algorithms and 1’s and 0’s. It’s just how computers work. Even on stuff that isn’t a “computer”, the device must still compute. Tools such as digital cameras, and such, still must go by computations. It’s how pictures can come out beautiful, without too much effort by the artist.

2. Modularity: This means that all NMA consists of smaller parts or can be a part of some bigger thing.

3. Automation: This is where NMA separates itself from traditional forms of media. There must be a point at which the artist is not involved in the process, and such processes are handled by a program or computer. For example, in traditional painting, an artist had to do everything to ensure that their piece was what they wanted it to be. But with the advent of digital art programs, the computer is now able to aid the artist, assisting in what originally took some time to do, to only a few seconds.

4. Variability: NMA allows for a certain degree of “liquidity”. It can always be different in a way. Whatever the artist creates, it is not permanent. It can be edited by another person to fit what they desire. Unlike old, static media, the way something was made was the only way to do it. It was difficult to edit mistakes without damaging the original piece.

5. Transcoding: Describes what NMA physically is. It isn’t really all that physical. NMA exists as computer data, and it is moved around through computers and digital networks.

Now what does all of this mean? It is what separates New Media from “Old Media”. Even something created on a computer in a “traditional” way, is an example of New Media. These principles are set to describe and separate New Media into it’s very own category. Although I find it hard to put principles and rules on art, I can see what these principles are trying to achieve. All the principles are what differentiate NMA. If there was no distinction, then what would this glorious, new , type of content creation be? NMA