Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Reflection: Intro, Chapters 1-3

Manovich states, "It is my hope that the theory of new media developed here can act not only as an aid to understanding the present, but as a grid for practical experimentation (pg. 10). Manovich, in my opinion, develops that theory, and also focuses on the development of new media in the present, and future of new media. In the prologue of the book, Manovich touches on the early use of cinema, and the cinematic ways of seeing the world. I thought it was really interesting that Manovich pointed out the fact that editing and/montages actually create fake realities, which the use of two techniques. He states, "The first technique is temporal montage: Separate realities form consecutive moments in time. The second technique is montage within a shot. It is the opposite of the first: separate realities form contingent parts of a single image" (pg. 3).

In chapter 3 of The Language of New Media, I enjoyed how Manovich suggested that modern media technologies have developed along two distinct trajectories. "The first is representational technologies-- film, audio and video magnetic tape, various digital storage formats. The second is real-time communication technologies, that is, everything that begins with tele---telegraph, telephone, telex, television, telepresence" (pg. 162). He continues to state that the technologies of real-time communication have actually became subordinated to the technologies of representation. I am not sure if I exactly agree with this, however, with everything in our world being digital, it does seem to make the most sense.

2 comments:

  1. I'd like to see much less summary, and more of your own thoughts and responses. You can disagree, just explain why.

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  2. I liked chapter three too, I thought it was easier to digest then some of his other chapters.

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