Programmed Vision
What New Media is I’m positive will remain an ever present question in our lives as we move from school to those with degrees. I know many people will ask what New Media means, and over time we will all have to have our own answers for what it means to us which I think is the only real way to define it much like anything else. I was about to say I don’t agree with software being the thing that unites us, however the more I think about it the more I realize it probably is. Whether we are programming, video artists, illustrators, or something else entirely I don’t think I’ve seen many New Media students make work without software of some kind, which is the biggest summary of the article. And as a whole, software as a means of definition or analogy aligns with what new media is, which to me like Chun said, is kind of an unknowable paradox. My question is with this information, knowing that about New Media, how does that inform or change our perspective on our art practice?
How to be a Geek
I like the line “beyond the private conversations of technical experts…ways of asking questions and making problems” It both really resonates with me in general as an artist who often gets frustrated by the private knowledge of experts (texts written by academics for academics and never anyone but). But it also resonates with me because it just seems like a chaotic statement, like we’re going to make trouble with software, and we do! That’s what so many extensions that obfuscate data are doing by some technically, they are making problems for others but in doing so solving the security breaches for the many. And to me that is exciting and so interesting and because of that, it makes me a geek by the definition of the book which I love as a concept. Is being a Geek a badge of honor in this capacity for everyone else? Does it feel like a proper title that connects to New Media as a whole?
Sad by Design
The biggest thing I got from this was the idea of infinite expansion, shoving both humanity, and the natural world, away in favor of technological advancements. It also speaks to how it is not technically the technology that caused this problem but the billionaires who are so keen on the expansion. Causing a lack of connection across the world, therefore in order to fix this issue of interface and software stopping our human growth; We need to connect via art and experience instead of being stuck in the technological bubble we are currently in because of the programming of social media and the online world.
New Ways of Hiding
This article discusses how the metainterface is the act of every interface trying to be so realistic or hidden that we don’t even notice they’re there while we go about our day on the internet. The metainterface is a large scale method of mapping us, and the article discusses it as less hidden but become a part of the reality. The author stresses that we need to see the metainterface rather than allow it to hide so that companies and interfaces will become less manipulative so we are able to trust them again. I will be the first to admit that this article confused me a great deal, so I guess my main question would be how do we define the metainterface? What exactly is it in our lives online and in person?