merache's blog

This reading basically goes through what new aged media is and what it is not. New aged media, in a nutshell, is art that’s done on a computer. It’s taking what we usually do in the real world, and makes it digital and programmable. This article goes through 5 different ways in which new aged media works; through numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and trans-coding. It also goes through several examples of what new-aged media is not. First, numerical representation. Basically every new media project is composed of a digital code, or a bunch of numbers. They are either composed mathematically or with an algorithm. Converting data into a numerical representation is called digitization. In digitization, first  data is sampled, then each sample is quantified. This is how numerical representation works. Second, modularity is the fractal structure of new media. A new media object has the has the same modular structure throughout. The projects must be saved a a certain type of file (.jpg, .psd etc.) to work properly. Third, automation. This part talks about how humans can still be involved in the new-aged media process. The first two points have almost no human intelligence involved; the computer does all the work. This is where automation comes in. Humans are the ones that put all the codes, create the characters and tell the computer what to do. Without humans, there would be no art. Fourth, variability. Basically all the different things one can do with new-aged media. One can do millions of things with the computer involving new-aged media. And fifth, trans-coding. This basically says what the limits to the computers are. This is the article in a nutshell.

I actually really enjoyed this article. There were a few parts I found a bit dull and boring only because I felt like I knew the material already. For example, the parts about the different file types I already knew. I did really enjoy the parts about creating characters and all the human interactions. One of the goals in my life is to become a cartoonist. I love to create characters. So this section really caught my attention. The article in a whole was very good. It really did explain what new-aged media is.