Transcoding
Transcoding is the direct digital to digital data conversion of one encoding to another, usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format, or has limited storage capability and mandates reduced file size. It may also be used to convert incompatible or obsolete data to a better supported or modern format. Manovich refers to transcoding as the most substantial consequence of the computerization of media. This is because he discribes this process as one in which media objects are translated into other formats, specifically the digital format in which the digitalization of the culture, subjects the culture at large, to the concepts and rules of the computer. Manovich sees new media as having two distinct layers, the cultural layer and the computer layer. The computer layer consist of digital data or numeric codes that are processed, manipulated, and transformed by the computer. While the cultural layer is the images, files and documents that are able to be processed by the human mind.
According to Manovich, the computer layer is dynamic and constantly changing over time, as software and hardware keep evolving, and as the computer is used to perform different tasks. We can therefore asked the question, how does these changes affect new media? New media can be seen as a product of old media, or media created, distributed, and stored by computers, and as such, these changes in computer systems are sure to influence the changes and dynamics of new media. This clearly show how the cultural layer and the computer layer influence each other, and how transcoding facilitates complex relationships between the system of organizations of culture, and the means by which we affect those systems in computing.
Based on the concepts from new media, the culture layer, and the computer layer have fused to create a new computer culture, which is a blend of human and computer meanings, of traditional ways in which human culture modeled the world, and the computer’s own means of representing it. In light of this it is safe to conclude that human culture will keep evolving, and advancing, and the culture of the computer, and the media is sure to move in the same direction.
30 responses so far
Very interesting and in-depth post, Eddy. At the end of your post you talk about the merging of the two “layers” to form computer culture. Can you suggest some concrete examples of this? How is that merging manifest in the culture at large? And is there another way to understand what Manovich means by “culture layer” and “computer layer and how they relate to the process of transcoding?
Examples of this merging can be seen in touch screen hand held devices like cell phones and tablets. Interactive tv and kinect X-Box games are also good examples.
Telephone conversations, the sending of text messages and photos would be categorized in the culture layer. These are transformed into different formats through data packets which are the categories in the computer layer via a medium and back to comprehensible information for the recepient through a system of transcoding.