Introduction: Media as Historical Subjects

• “Media are so integral to a sense of what representation itself it” – If people in 100 years times were only to look at our media artefacts as representation of our generation like what our newspapers were about, the internet, what was on youtube (if it still exists), what would they think?
• Gitelman defines history of not just what happened in the past but also the varied practice of representing the past
• New media also lets us see a new way jobs get constructed

He also defines media as ‘socially realised structures of communication, where structures include both technological forms and their associated protocols, and where communication is a cultural practice, a ritualised collocation of different people on the same mental map, sharing or engaging with popular ontologies of representation.”

• It takes into account that communication and media are social – socially influenced as opposed to the technological determinist view
• Their histories are not just social but also cultural – their original intent or use doesn’t say the same as when someone invented it or how it just simply evolved from another form of media – it’s more complex than that
• In this context, protocols include a “vast cluster of normative rules and default conditions” however these protocols are socially constructed but can be influenced by the media form
• The underlying purpose of media is to communicate

I loved looking at Jess’s blog this week. It’s got a clean and minimalist layout and she discusses how she got Ello. By the looks of it (the one screenshot) it looks pretty good and definitely liking that it doesn’t have ads everywhere like Facebook.
If you are still waiting for your invite –> click here

Mia’s post gave me another insight when thinking about databases. Metaphors always make these easier to understand.
“Algebra is really the basis for the formulas and algorithms which control computers and in turn databases.”

Seonaid has some great take-away points from the week 11 readings which I’ve been having trouble understanding as well. I liked her comment at the end stating her list is actual a story.

Will we ever get tired of stories? Yes.

What is a database?

As Elliot defined in this afternoon’s symposium it’s an “organised collection of information”. So technically an encyclopaedia is a database however usually when we do think of a database we think online or in some relation to technology. Even as Adrian mentioned our blogs are databases.

The topic of narrative come back again in this reading. Manovich’s viewpoint is that a database is a list not a story. They are in opposition.

–> Side Note: Is it us that wants to make everything a story? Our own ability to fill the gaps? Do we just feel the need to understand, to make meaning out of everything and the story is just the vehicle we use? <–

Lists and databases don’t have a cause and effect logic to them they are non-sequential.

What is more surprising is why the other end of the spectrum— narratives—still exists in new media.

This line stuck with me because just because it is on the other end of the spectrum doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t exist. However, do narratives even belong in new media? (which he argues are all underpinned by databases) Are we just trying to push a square peg into a circle? If we stop forcing the old form to fit we can see what else there might be.

Manovich, Lev. “Database as Symbolic Form”. Database Aesthetics: Art in the Age of Information Overflow. Vesna, Victoria, ed. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 2007. Print. 39-60.

The idea of the Long Tail structure is argued as the new marketplace. Take iTunes as an example as they have practically unlimited storage space especially in comparison to retail stores. It starts to look something like this:

“But Vann-Adib, like executives at iTunes, Amazon, and Netflix, has discovered that the “misses” usually make money, too. And because there are so many more of them, that money can add up quickly to a huge new market.”

As this style begins to emerge more especially with the Internet what are the down sides?

The people who run the market or organisation would be making a lot more than everyone else. Everyone can still make a profit however the gap between the individuals and the organisation or company who is running the system.

Is a network just many webs?

This was the question I asked in our last tutorial class.

In terms of nodes I thought that the web was the same thing. I thought of the web in terms of social webs or networks which would be a network. When we talk about webs it is more of a concept of the ‘Internet’. When I thought about it in terms of if there were two Internets would they compete against each other?

If webs just made up many networks that all connected together. Betty brought up that they would then compete against each other. Do networks have to work with each other to make it better or just have some kind of relationship? 

I guess the important thing to remember that the concept of the web means that there is a centre. However if each node was a centre then they would compete against each other rather than work together.