Week 4 Questions

Christopher Diaz-Mihell

DAI 227, Cox

February 24, 2011

DAI 227: Week 4 Questions

1) According to the text "Remediation" the author uses the phrase (in relation to Hollywood's use of computer graphics)

"remediation operates in both directions" - what is meant by this?

         - “Our culture wants both to multiply its media and to erase all traces of mediation: ideally, it wants to erase its media in the very act of multiplying it.”

2) What does Michael Benedikt, author of "Cyberspace the First Steps" introduction argue had happened to modern city by the late 60s, having become more than 'a collection of buildings and streets'?

         - Essentially the media took over. Michael Benedikt describes the modern city by the late 60’s became an “immense node of communications, a messy nexus of messages, storage and transportation facilities, a massive education machine.”

3) In his short story "Skinner's Room" William Gibson describes how Skinner watches a tiny portable 'pop-up' TV set. What can skinner no longer remember? (remediation in relation to television as an idea is neatly summed up in this sentance!)

         - “He can’t remember when he ceased to be able to distinguish commercials from programming.”

4) Author of the famous pamphlet "Culture Jamming" Mark Dery paraphrases Umberto Eco and his phrase "semiological guerrilla warfare". What does this mean?

         - Umberto Eco describes “semiological guerilla warfare” as having multiple possibilities of interpretation, also describing how “one medium can be employed to communicate a series of opinions on another medium...”

5) From Mark Dery's pamphlet, briefly describe "Subtervising"

         - Subvertising is the production and dissemination of anti ads. It’s an ubiquitous form of jamming which often takes the form of sniping- “illegal, late night sneak attacks on public space by operatives armed with posters, brushes, and buckets of wheatpaste. 

Google Sketchup Exercise

I chose this scene as a template for a video game or online computer game. This scene portrays modern life in a city in the United States. The game would challenge the player in a game of reality. The winner would be the gamer who succeeds in life by earning the highest salary or owning the most property.

I also chose this scene because it portrays most city life, though it doesn't portray a busy city, it successfully emulates movement. The gamer would stroll through the city and try to maintain and move up in the ranks of a job he is given. There would be tasks and work as in any other job that would have to be completed in order to gain a more successful lifestyle in this virtual world.

Week 3 Lecture Questions

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Week 2 Questions

Christopher Diaz-Mihell

February 10, 2011

DAI 227, D.Cox

Questions for week 2

Based on the lecture from week

Part one)

1)    Why was the period at the turn of the 20th century so important?

         The period was filled with an immense amount of progressive inventions but this wasn’t what was so important at the turn. What was really important was the sense of an accelerated rate of change in all areas of human discourse. This sense of change provided a feeling of an approaching millennium or a new order.

2) What aspects of the Dada art movement are important from the point of view of the rise of the computers and digital visual media? (for example Marcel Duchamp's "readymades"?)

         The Dada art movement provided a new look. Through media such as films, prints, and objects such as the famous bottle rack and bike wheel, the Dada’s would sample culture. They provided a direct assault on common thinking. More importantly the Dada art movement introduced the notion of non-sequential thinking, a kind of thinking that aimed at something other than a linear strict hierarchal way of viewing the world. This is why the played a huge role in the history of digital media.

3) Name one aspect that links "The Man with a Movie Camera" with digital media according to Lev Manovich (ReadingsB)

         -Vertov’s film, “The Man with a Movie Camera”, has a particular relevance to digital media because it proves that it is possible to turn “effects”, such as those in the film, into a meaningful artistic language.

4) What was 'constructivism'?

        

         - A Russian art movement that began with avant-garde. The art movement also involved industry and manufacturing, architecture and the applied arts. Constructivism was characterized by its full embracement of modernism. All the art was mostly abstract with prevalent geometric shapes and experimentation.

5) Read pages VI (6) to XXII (22) of "The Language of New Media" in ReadingsB:

What does Lev Manovich suggest are the 'three levels' of "The Man with a Movie Camera"?

         Lev Manovich interprets the three levels to be:

1.    The story of a cameraman filming material for the film.

2.    The shots of an audience watching the finished film in a movie theater.

3.    The film itself, which consists from footage, recorded in Moscow, Kiev, and Riga and is arranged according to a progression of one day: waking up-work-leisure activities.

6) Who first developed the idea of "Cybernetics"?

         Norbert Wiener

7) In "Computer Lib" Ted Nelson describes Hypertext as "Non ___________" writing (fill in the blank)

        

         “Non-Sequential”

        

8) (Lecture) why were transistors, even though 100 times smaller than vacuum tubes considered impractical for building computers in the 1960s?

         With transistors you had a wiring problem, which later became known as the “Tyranny of Numbers.” Though transistors enabled designers to create fantastically powered computers, they couldn’t be built for the simple fact that so many components couldn’t be wired together.

9) What was the name of the first commercial available computer (kit)?

        

         The “Altair 8800”, a sort of do it yourself kit.

10) Write a paragraph:

In your own words: What are things going to look like in 20 years from now in the average living room in terms of digital visual media? What types of digital media will your kids be using around 2030?

         We are already seeing big changes in technology today but if we flash forward 20 years, futuristic and unthinkable technology will surround our everyday lives. In 20 years from now I believe that my kids will be using a television that has the power to project a 3D object into the space of your living room, making interactions even more realistic. Our children will have cell phones that contain the ability to virtually read, identify, and provide information on objects through visual analysis. I feel that technology will ultimately affect human characteristics overwhelmingly, creating a society that seeks engagement, direct, and realistic advantages of technology.

Week One Questions: "The Machine that Changed the World"

Christopher Diaz-Mihell

DAI. 227.01, David Cox

February 2, 2011

“The Machine that Changed the World”

Week One Questions

1) What was unique about Charles Babbage Analytical Engine, compared to his original Difference Engine?

-  Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine, which was a compilation of wheels and shafts, added by a technique of method of differences which was fairly easy to mechanize. To avoid printing errors the machine would also print out the answers. But this machine could only do one thing, which was calculating by the method of differences. This is where the uniqueness of his Analytical Engine comes into play. Babbage thought why not create an engine that had the capability of doing many different things, this idea was a direct correlation to the concept of a modern computer. The machine was programmable through the use of punch cards and shared many of the similar characteristics of a digital computer such as a place for memory and a similar part to a modern cpu. The Analytical Engine, using punch cards, had the ability to be programmed. Successfully achieving the ability to accomplish different tasks rather than only being able to do one.

2) What role did Ada Lovelace play in the development of the Analytical Engine?

- She was the interpreter to Charles Babbage who provided help and encouragement. Her published notes contained detailed programs on the analytical engine. Because of her thorough notes she has been labeled as the first computer programmer.

3) How was the ENIAC computer reprogrammed?

- The ENIAC could not store its program inside so people programmed it. Reprogramming the ENIAC meant rewiring the machine. This took time because it involved setting up to 6,000 switches and then re-plugging the 100’s of cables connecting to different parts of the machine.

4) Name an innovation that helped make programming faster post ENIAC (see ep. 2)

- COBOL: which stood for COmmon Business Oriented Language helped make programming faster.  With the help of the compiler it was also easily translated back to the binary code, which consisted of two numbers, 0 and 1.

5) What is it about binary counting that makes it so well suited to computers?

-  Plain and simple it was the simplest element because the binary system uses only two numbers, 0 and 1. The binary system as said by Paul Ceruzzi, came about from an engineering stand point because to an engineer nothing is simpler than a switch that has two positions, an on and off. These numbers were represented very simply by a switch.

6) In what ways did UNIVAC influence the portrayal of computers in popular culture in the 1950s? Give an example. (see ep. 2)

- Because of UNIVAC’s success in tabulating live returns during the 1952 election, it gained trust from its thousands of viewers watching the election play by play on national T.V. The UNIVAC performed with no error even accurately predicting the Eisenhower landslide with only 1% of the vote giving computers a strong portrayal.

7) Codebreaking required the automatic manipulation of symbols to unscramble messages during WWII. What was the name of the rudimentary computer at Bletchley Park in England that unscrambled Nazi codes?

- The Lorenz

8) Alan Turing who understood the implications of such machines later went on to describe them as __________ machines.

- Universal machines

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Write two paragraphs for each:

9) Describe when you first used computers and what types of tasks you performed on them.

- I don’t quite remember how old I was when I first started using computers but know I was still in elementary school. It’s funny that this question was asked because not to long ago one of my friends brought up the early use of computers. I remember always using a PC as opposed to a Mac and only completing tasks such as inserting disks and finding the games.

My early exploration of computers began and mostly consisted of just playing games. Whether they were child learning games or little fun adventure games, my knowledge of computers came from my experience with computer games. The types of games I remember most were the learning how to add and subtract games. These games would mostly consist of an adventure through some type of environment with a little instruction on the basic principles of adding and subtracting or some type of elementary subject.

        

10) How restricted do you think computers are in terms of what they can do compared to how they are most often used?

- I believe that computers are indeed restricted when comparing it to the general use of computers by the people around me and other students. Computers today, especially when focusing on users in the age range of college students and younger, tend to be used just for social connectivity and Internet purposes.

The range of the capabilities of today’s computer expands beyond my knowledge. I feel that my use of a computer should not only consist of going on the Internet, writing papers, e-mailing, connecting with my friends, and occasionally using the range of editing programs. It’s my lack of knowledge on the tons of programs that can take your use of the computer to its full capabilities. It is not that the computer doesn’t have these capabilities, its that most of what I do doesn’t show the true capabilities of today’s modern computer.