Whenever I think of Synesthesia, I always imagine distortion–some sort of vauge, imperfect vision of the world–a different perception of reality.
Synesthesia itself deals with percieving things with different senses–hearing colors, tasting sounds, seeing smells, and so on. I feel like this couples in really well with the concept of distortion–they are both these blurry, impercise ways of seeing reality, in my opinion.
This article focused mainly on the concept of creativity, and protecting that creativity in our society. It briefly describes the need for copyright and creative protection in society, as it promotes creation. Creativity is the force behind most human progress; however, not all creativity is viewed as positive. Also, the definitions of copyright become very blurred under the microscope of progress. Previous work, if enough time has passed (and even if it hasn’t), becomes an infrastructure, a building block for which other works to develop.
However, upon the creation of this infrastructure, a problem occurs; the existence of copyright. It is then said that copyright protects expressions, but not ideas—but even this changes throughout time. Thus, copyright becomes painfully defined in areas, stifling creativity and halting progress, and is too loose in other areas. It also causes creators to fear putting new work into the open, risking it being stolen and profited upon. While some would say it is “clear that [an idea] is coming from your own head”, this is a weak argument. In the end, copyright needs to be defined better in order to protect and promote creativity.
While the common belief is that the definition of “new media” lies with the latest technology—the internet, digital cameras, tablets, and so forth—the more accurate statement would be that new media is defined by five key features (although not all of these features are necessary for something to be considered “new media”): numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.
The first feature, numerical representation, means that new media can be defined mathematically. This includes being subject to programming, digitization, sampling, and so on. Secondly, new media is modular, having a fractal-like structure in the formation of images with pixels. Thirdly, new media can be automated, such as with video games and AI. Variability is impossible without new media’s ability to be modular. New media can have varying amounts of interactivity, from automatically customizable elements to elements that the user can create themselves. Lastly, new media can be transcoded, or translated, into other formats with ease.
New media is also unique from analog media, even analog media that has been converted into digital media. Digitally encoded media contains a fixed amount of information; thus, it can be copied infinitely without any part of the media degrading, like analog media does. Digital media also allows for random access, via databases and the internet, where analog media has much more restriction on access. Lastly, new media is highly interactive, allowing for much user input, setting it apart from its analog predecessor.
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