New Media Definitions, Part 1: Lev Manovich

(for anyone reading that isn't in NMD498, this is part of an assignment where we read portions of "definitions" of new media, and then decide whether our project fit these definitions, and then if we agree with the definitions.)

A. In the terms of Manovich’s definition of New Media, I feel my project does hold up in several ways. One of the strongest comparisons to the definition is in the project’s modularity (the second of Manovich’s principles). I envision the project as having several different components, including films and picture slideshows, each of which can stand alone or be combined or used in many different ways. Beyond this, the initial video files and photos can be taken away from the whole and used and recombined in new and different ways. Depending on what is necessary for the museum, the project can be very modular indeed. If I had to choose an element that my project does not excel in according to Manovich’s definition, it would definitely be in automation. There will certainly be some automation used in the project, considering I’ll be using today’s current and most powerful video editing software to edit videos, and there will be many simple tasks handled by the computer. But beyond that, there is not much automation that will be seen by the end user. They will sit in front of a TV and watch a video, or watch a slideshow, or something else… in other words, the experience will be human-controlled. I don’t know if I could really add any sort of extra automation in, considering the museum will want to control the experience. However, I think that may be where I would start to look in order to bring my project more towards Manovich’s definition.

B. For the most part, I would also agree with many of the points that Manovich brings up. Modularity (including the idea of remix) has always seemed to me to be a large part of what we are taught in New Media classes. I also agree with his idea of media becoming programmable, and changeable in a very deep level thanks to computers. Beyond even interaction with our media, before new media we were never really able to change and manipulate what we see and hear and work with as much as we can now. However, I do disagree with the idea of automation being key to new media as a whole. Many different things to do with new media can be automated, but I really can’t see it as being key to the definition of a new media work. Unless, of course, we count the simple automation of common tasks by a computer to be all the automation necessary to define a work as an automated work of new media… in which case I would agree and say that most any piece you could consider new media has been automated.