Manovich’s stance on modularity being individual media elements ”assembled into larger-scale objects but continue to maintain their separate identities… without losing their independence,” stood out to me because it’s a major way to differentiate between traditional and new media. Old media is more static, and removing/changing one element of it would likely mess up its structure requiring you to start over. For example, if you mess up paint on canvas, you aren’t able to just delete that part of the painting, you would need to paint over it to cover it up. On the other hand, new media is dynamic, which allows users to customize its elements independent of other parts.
I found this interesting because it changes how we create media and lets us have more flexibility when interacting with digital content. Using his example of websites being completely modular, they are programmed to use individual elements like user data to update and create personalized experiences and algorithms for us. Hence, why people scrolling through social media will find that their pages often seem perfectly curated to fit their interests.
A personal example of modularity is using apps like Procreate to make art. I can add and draw whatever I like using multiple layers, each with a separate purpose that overlaps without actually changing the existing art. One layer can be used to draw the outline, another can be used to color, and a third to create shadow or a landscape. Regardless, I am able to delete or alter any of the layers to my heart’s content without it affecting my whole work because of the fact that these different components can be modified independently. Overall, this concept of modularity has completely changed the way people produce and consume media, while also making way for automation and variability as principles of new media.