“A new media object is not something fixed once for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions. This is another consequence of numerical coding of media (principle one) and the modular structure of a media object (principle two).”

For someone like me, who isn’t the greatest at math, this reading was horrifying to me. I never had really imagined the role numeric data and the quantifiability of art, particularly new media. As I am leaning more about new media, this reading helped me to understand that all of the “data” that is numeric in New Media can help create something beautiful. As Manovich states in this section, numeric representation and modularity are fundamental parts of new media that allows for increased variability in art.

In new media, digital art can be manipulated because it is quantifiable. Manovich argues that this is what makes this work new media. He wrote that new media “is characterized by variability.” Variability,  he says, is the ability of new media to put out multiple, different, varying copies of a piece. This is only possible through the digital means of art, such as layers in photoshop, etc. This unique aspect of new media has helped it to be completely unique and allows for even more freedom by the artist. The artist can now manipulate the image in an infinite amount of ways and is practically limitless in what he or she can do.