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.
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