What is New media?

Lev Manovich desribed cinema as "the original modern multimedia" (Manovich, 2001, p67) becuase he saw how even early cinema had been one of the first 'old' medias to experiment with new media principles.  Manovich was interseted in the more 'human-centered' representation of the whole media and how through the experimentation of other methods for the media, the slow yet gradual process to what modern filmmakers are doing with this new media now.

Many New medias have digitilized themselves to allow easy access to data, storage and editable information however before the digitalization of these medias, old medias such as cinema and film were only able to store information sequentially. The technology of machines such as the Zootrope, the Tachyscope and even Mareys photographic gun all used the same mechanical principle. the placement of different images on a circular barrel that allows 12 consecuative frames per second to be taken. This was the start of the now hugly known frames per second concept within photograpghy and film now. Now this concept proves that old media as far back as edinson's first apparatus has been useing different media methods to allow the user to capture time and space within a 2-dimensional space so it can be managed and analysed more easily. Manovich points out "time was perpared to be manipulated and re-ordered" (Manovich, 2001, p68) as he talks about the storage capacity on the ninteenth centurie machines. This is the start of how cinema during its 'old' media state began trying to manipulate the footage within a mechnical sence. Instead of the machine just capturing a 2D image, new media cinema has digitalized and given full control to the human within its editing and storage capabilities. This media was becomeing new media or useing old media to adopt to new media long before any digital version for the cinema had been imagined.



Bibliography
Manovich,Lev. (2001) The language of new media, Cambridge, mass; London. MIT Press

Interactivity the refurbished concept

Interactivity is not something that has come with the industrial revolution or over a period of time. Interactivity already existed in a number of ways.
Both classical and modern art was always interactive. Artists and other media producers create work with missing detail and other ‘representational shortcuts’ that enable the viewer to become more involved and piece together the hidden meanings or information that allow the piece of work to achieve its purpose. Interactive art placing’s allow viewers to come in and interact by ‘walking’ around them and ‘observe’ them and or getting the artist to become part of an exhibition or artwork.
Old media forms such as theatre and cinema rely on cinematic techniques such as composition and staging to catch and hold the viewer’s attention, enabling the viewers to comprehend with what is going on, either on stage or on screen.
Manovich then also talks about sculpture and architecture as interactive forms of media. He states that the viewer has not only to visually interact, involving feelings and inspiration, but to move there self around the work and interacting through touch if allowed.
With the introduction and evolution of new media forms, has come a lot more physical interaction between the media object and the user. For example, pressing a button, touching a screen or moving to a sensor. Many people think that physical interaction is the only way to interact with a media form. “There is danger that we interpret "interaction" literally”, but in the 1920’s the introduction of new narrative techniques such as film montage taught audiences to think between the lines and piece together the unrelated images which involved both mental and visual interaction.

Manovich, L. (2002). What is New Media and Principles of New Media from The Language of New Media . MIT Press.

New Media is Interactive

As Manovich addresses cinematography as the 'essence of cinema', he strips the term, underlining the concept of a 'writing movement.' (Manovich, 2001, p.47) 'Film images would soothe movie audiences, who were eager to escape the reality outside', (Manovich, 2001, p.46) but how has this interactivity further developed through New media? As the lines of a fictitious space continue to blur, products and merchandise from fictional story lines are available elsewhere. Media texts don't necessarily exist primarily in a fictional space, but also expand knowledge, spilling out into "the actual." This has now become 'transcoded' (Manovich, 2001, p.64) throughout our society, influencing the convergence of Alternate Reality Games and "Second Screen" developments; allowing the consumer to interact and produce their own idealogical material through platforms of familiar media. 'Audiences become active outside the home.' (Hayes, 2011, p.16) 'Writing' (Manovich, 2001, p.47) becomes a movement increasingly difficult to establish. 'Old media involved a human creator who manually assembled [texts].' (Manovich, 2001, p.56) The interactivity of New media integrates human intelligence from not only the creator, but also the initiative of its users.

Unified and coordinated viewing experiences have been conveyed through multiple media platforms. For example, although games are commonly perceived as an inherent medium, it gives the possibility of character manipulation and participating in an active role; rather than becoming a passive consumer. Manovich's suggestion potentially opposes this; 'computer characters can display intelligence and skills only because the programmes put severe limits on our possible interactions with them.' (Manovich, 2001, p.54) We follow a scripted development, however our viewing experience varies as we interact not only with 'simulated human intelligence' (Manovich, 2001, p.54) within games, but furthermore with each other. The 'information left by other people, [helps] you find your way around'; (Manovich, 2001, p.55) particularly through social networks and specialised forums.

Although 'the popular definition of New media identifies it with the use of a computer distribution and exhibition,' (Manovich, 2001, p.43) when virtual story lines begin to merge into our 'reality', or 'humanity', (Barthes, 1977, p.75) they no longer distribute ready-made content, instead 'wanting the audience to produce' (Barthes, 1977, p.163) based on ideologic experience; 'the most perfect realization of the utopia of an ideal society.' (Manovich, 2001, p.61) 

Bibliography:
Manovich, L. (2001), 'The Language of New Media', Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Barthes, R. (1977), 'Image Music Text', London: Fontana Press.
Hayes, G. (2011), 'How To Write a Transmedia Production Bible: A template for multi-platform producers', Australia: Screen

The Modularity of New Media

Fig. 1. - A variation of the Sierpinski triangle fractal.

Modularity is the degree to which an object can be taken, disassembled, and then reassembled in the same or a different composition. This can be considered as an important property of new media, as it is what enables adaption of media across multiple platforms in modern technology. The most prominent example would be a mobile only home page using the same elements as a desktop, but in a different composition.

Manovich (p.20) defines the modular property of new media as a, "fractal structure of new media." A somewhat misleading term, as the typical property of a theoretical fractal is that it is self similar, i.e. it has infinite detail. (Mandelbrot, P1). This is not a property of new media as Manovich describes it, "Media elements, be it images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors, are represented as collections of discrete samples." (p.20).

Instead, Manovich is referring to the idea that when taken out of the visual context of the composition as a whole, any section of a fractal will maintain it's own form. This stays true to new media, for example, an embedded flash element can be taken out of a web page and viewed alone without the other elements. You can go even further by opening the file in it's authoring software, in which you can take each individual element such as an audio clip and view that without the other elements of the flash file. That audio file could then be re-purposed in an entirely new flash project and so on and so forth. Even compiled programs, such as an EXE can be reverse engineered to extract images, sounds, and video.

The importance of the second property, modularity, is arguable however as Manovich (p. 18) stated, "principles 3-5 are dependent on the principles 1-2." Modularity certainly paves the way for automation, as without it repeatable subroutines become impossible. Variability and Transcoding also become an issue without modularity, as can be demonstrated by the initial example of a mobile specific website. All new media has modular properties which make automation, variation, and transcoding possible.


Bibliography
Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Benoit Mandelbrot (May 1967). "How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension". Science Magazine.

Fig. 1.  "FireLizzard", (2009), Sirpinski Triangle Variation [ONLINE]. Available at: http://waprile.weblog.tudelft.nl/files/2009/04/Sierpinskifull_1797-fireLizzard.png [Accessed 13 October 13].