Monthly Archives: February 2012

Wikipedia…

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I decided to make changes in Wikipedia. I never had a Wiki account before so I created an account, though, I chose not to mention my email address. The assignment was interesting I decided to modify the history.  There is a long article on Wiki about “Edward IV of England”, the king of England and Ireland. I searched all the entries for “England” and replaced them with “France”. In exactly ten minutes someone changed it back to England.

I can actually go back and click at the difference in the previous version and new version , the difference is highlighted. I think administrators or users are constantly checking the recent changes and updating them. It was a good experience, especially if people are really contributing fairly and want to spread knowledge for free it is a constructive network. It is good to know that although users are free to contribute to the site but it does have a check and balance to it. As I mentioned ealier I never tried to contribute or make any changes to it , I had the perception about wiki ( like most of the people) that we can alter anything to whatever but thats not the case.

 

New Media modularity and numerical representation

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The principle of Modularity defines new media in different independent modules that can represent themselves independently and can also be combined together to represent a single piece. Manovich resembled this characteristic as the “fractal structure” of new media, that is these modules have detailed patterns of repeating themselves while maintaining their own individuality. Author also defined the analogy between a computer software and the modules of new media on the basis of the scripts written in a program. But, I agree with the limitations defined in this assertion that unlike new media, software can not perform in the absence of a specific module or script.

In my opinion this modular structure of new media creates more flexibility and is more user friendly especially in today’s electronic age. It not only made internet surfing more faster and detailed but also much more organized. Nowadays everything is being computerized and I believe that the numeric representation and modules of any new media object work together. An illustration given by the author is a digital photograph that can be “reprogrammed” through sampling and digitalization. Another common example of numerical representation is the pixel counts that are considered before purchasing a new television, this is a numerical representation that make it different from the old media.

The discreteness and modualrity are similar characteristics of new media. Both define the individual nature of any script, piece or module. As mentioned by Menovich in one of his article regarding “image future” Manovich defined how new media techniques of 3D image factor, animation, cinematography, graphic designs and other factors creates different kinds of images. These are different pieces working together and producing different outcomes. Manovich explained the fusion of different techniques in the movie Matrix triolgy. Here his focus is to define the infrastructure of new media he points out that “according to Marxist theory of historical development, infrastructure (i.e., mode of production in a given society – also called “base”) changes well before superstructure (ideology and culture in this society).” article Image future. Manovich, Feb 19.

Although, until now I am not very fond of the idea of openness in each every aspect of life, through data mining a random company can predict your 100% day to day routine. I agree to the fact that new media is playing important role in technological innovation. New media is truly making this world a global village and breaking the social, cultural and in some instances technological boundaries every day.

While working on this blog I tried to find out about Lev Manovich and came across this site, I though it would be interesting to share it on this blog, here is the link:

http://manovich.net/

Social Networks

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Social networks, what are they and how in a short period of time they became so popular and overwhelming that everyone is addicted to at least one? Are we really becoming extensions of technology as Professor. Marshall Mcluhan suggested? As the new technology is being developed we want to portray ourselves as social individuals. People want to learn and share more about each other through these networks and in some instances privacy is not even a major concern. Few examples of such networks are facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin etc.

It was not so long ago that people like me were not so fond of these networking sites. My experience now is neither confined nor unlimited. Although, I do not want people from all around the world to know details about my where abouts and the routine of my day to day life, still I can be considered active on facebook, twitter and youtube etc to the extent of keeping accounts and updating status once in a while. I agree with the idea that technology made it all possible for us to become a vast group of people to come together and cross all the geographical boundaries.

I used to find most of these networks not quite useful to achieve something but I was able to find my high school friends through facebook. However, since the facebook became more popular the creators commercialized it, it  rather looks “overcrowded” than appealing to me with a lot of applications which most of the people hardly use; their constant customization in appearance is sometimes annoying. As compared to facebook I find google+ much more organized in terms of circles, we can add people in different circles rather than “declaring” everyone “friend” in our one single friends list. Moreover, google make it much more easier to communicate through voice and video chat overseas. Google is currently competing with facebook and trying to lure facebook users to their social network, I think they are targeting the right consumers by keeping it simple and providing  proper categorization of people.

In conclusion, in near future we might can not socialize at all without being part of one of such channels to express ourselves. Being social animals we want people to know other sides of our personalities and technology made it possible. Still for me the question remains what should I share and what not? Would the notion of privacy prevail at all?