#12: Presentation Rough Draft

(emphasis on being a ROUGH DRAFT, subject to change)

Since my final presentation is coming up this Thursday, I’m using Dr. Edward’s suggestion to write out a rough draft of my presentation. The overall exploration of my presentation will be of how information is transmitted and experienced by an audience focusing on the visual art of infographics. Infographics are visually appealing representations of information and knowledge, I find them very intriguing by their use of techne, or arrangement of mixing theory and practice of productive arts (Wunderkammer). The core values of this course reflect this by the mixing information theory and history of the first half and applications for more modern examples in the second half. Using a few sources from the first half of this course, focusing on examples of historical means of transmitting information, whilst showing examples of how it has changed in our digital era including how infographics work and why they should be used more often.

From the first half of our course focused on the theory of information and how it came to be used by different technologies prior to the digital era. Taking examples from Gleick’s chapter on the different ways of encoding and transmitting information, at that time with the telegraph and Morse code connecting the country, the messages had to be specifically chosen not only to make sense but sometimes coded with a secret. This leads into Quine’s description of his “Universal Library” and the parameters he would use to express the enormous amount of information in his library. Quine gave specifics how one may narrow down information and category system similar to what the Library of Congress would use, which brings the thought of the ancient library of Alexandria. The most dominant source to use for techne, or arrangement, is Delagrange’s Wunderkammer digital text, where she explains the meaning of arranging information creates new meaning. A statement from her text works perfectly explaining techne as a mixture of theory and practice for productive arts.

This presentation will be taking the past concepts of transmitting information and the more modern concept of Big Data and visually appealing infographics. Infographics is the answer for exemplifying “the flood of information” brought on by web 2.0’s expansion on the Internet. As a visual learner, I would rather see what I’m supposed to be learning rather than numerous readings, the intriguing part of graphic design. I see graphic design as communicating through art and in this digital age, it is easier to get a point across with an infographic that can sum up an enormous amount of data in a much smaller area and time. Isn’t that the “modern view” of the Internet and digital assistance? To make our lives easier? An implication though of infographics is the rhetoric of choice of information; the author is the one who decides what is or isn’t involved in the finished product.

“Medium is the Message”

#10: SPIME and Labeling

From the stock option I choose to pick two of the questions to highlight and discuss. The SPIME article was a bit more interesting and is going to fit into my final project exploring data visualizations and for this class so I chose the questions focusing on  barcoding and measurement naming. Bruce Sterling is so focused with barcoding because the definition he has of spime is directly relational as a measurement of “tracking through space and time through the lifetime of the object (source).” Barcoding is used to mark the products with a specific coding scheme read by scanners to track time and place for example in shipments of goods. Sterling is able to use the example of barcoding to explain his concept of spime and the complex relationship between labels and materiality.

Barcoding is can also be an example of a naming measurement. From the readings the author states that naming enables people to talk about patterns and information. Before something is named or labeled there is still the opportunity to talk about it but a bit more difficult, it’s like the aggravating feeling of thinking of a word that’s on the tip of your tongue. Barcoding gives products a system of labeling and naming the products at the same time. The reading then puts all of this in perspective when the author says “I don’t worry much about having things, I worry plenty about relating to them.”

 

 

#9: Information as Economic Advantage?

On the topic of virtual economies, this term and online structure was very new to me. When it was mentioned in class was the first time I had heard it or even thought it was possible. It was baffling that economic currency in games was being treated in a way that it was being similarly outsourced like our country’s economy. I’m not an online gamer, but with basic understanding I see how this is has become quite an economic (and possibly social issue).

I had tried to find the real impact of virtual economies in the real world but the topics are quite new and could not find very much information. From an article found in Bloomberg Business Week  from a few years ago (but still relevant to this cause nonetheless), brings up the same issue of today’s generation being disjoint from past generations. A point brought up was for people born after 1985 don’t see the huge difference between reality and virtual. For the more recent generations, virtual or digital reality is used as another way to communicate with others. It’s considered natural through the game to have characters and buy and sell stuff for gold pieces; for example also like we were discussing earlier in the semester about how the user interface of desktops are meant to be based on real life applications so they are easier to understand and use.

There are other issues I found in this reading that weren’t all issues with the technology. The social impacts is also what stood out, the people who are goldfarming are paid minimally for what they spend hours trying to accomplish. Same with above trying to research more on this subject, I couldn’t find if the goldfarmers were a positive or negative effect in the societies where they seem like a commodity, primarily China. From a chart found in this weeks reading, it shows that the goldfarmer only receives a portion of the cost of the gold the consumer is paying for. They spent the most time completing this task, for example a $100 payment for gold would yield $23 for the goldfarmer, less than a quarter of the original price. The goldfarmers are depicted as those who need income but are unable due to lack of degrees or other reasons. In my opinion, this seems like a virtual form of a sweatshop creating cheap clothing for the rest of the globe.

 

#8 Personification of Information

From John Barlow’s article, he makes a point that information is a “natural host to paradox,” in which I agree wholeheartedly. Information can act like a tangible bit as it would appear in print or intangible as it is transferring to load a web page through the Internet. There are many ways of creating and reproducing information in abstract ways with their assigned properties, like with the previous example of how information is represented. It was strange to read the way that Barlow described information was by personifying it to sound almost like a living creature. The “taxonomy of information” he called it had arranged information to be known as an activity, life form, and relationship.

The easiest to follow concept of this taxonomy of information is referring to it as an activity. I believe that information is inherently an activity, whether you are generating content for the Internet or talking with your friends, you are engaging in an activity of transferring information. I believe the goal and reason for information is to be disseminated because there is an enormous amount of it in our lives that if it was left lying around there would be no point. The way the information is sent is what creates the meaning and without meaning to communication, there is nothing.

Barlow’s personification of information gives clues that information can be considered a life form. Similar to the point above with meaning and communicating information, it must be free and able to change. If the information created by humans 10,000 years ago weren’t able to change then we would still have no set alphabet and probably still speaking in grunts like Neanderthals. Information has similar qualities to the way humans have evolved over thousands of years, but in this case it’s the ideas and interaction that has changed. The digital era has monumentally changed how we communicate with others and with continue to change how we do in the future with the ever changing technological advancements.

The last part of Barlow’s taxonomy highlights the relationship of information and how the meaning changes the circumstance. Each case of information is unique to its own circumstance. Barlow also pointed out that exclusivity of information causes more value than a set of data that is widely known. You can relate this to the technology adoption cycle which shows when people generally acquire new technology. There are the very few innovators, then the bell curve grows to the early adopters, and lastly the later majority and laggards. Based on a created relationship with technology, one can find themselves anywhere on this graph. Most tech enthusiasts are found in the innovators section because they get the word first where those who are less technologically skilled are closer towards the later majority.

#7: Universal Archive of the Internet

The last reading from Lessig was split up into three different sections was involved with copyright creation, infringement, and other issues. The section I was most interested in was the collectors and the discussion about how to go about archiving the expanse of the Internet and it’s relation to print archiving. As the largest print archive in the world, the Library of Congress has mandated a specific way of cataloging published works. Over the past three years as an employee of the Holland – Terrell library it was tough to get a hang of in the beginning and later could recall the location without looking them up in the database. The system of cataloging can be found here.

An issue that may arise is the ability for everyone to access the almost infinite amount of information on the web, from Quine’s reading, he suggests binary or Morse code to compress the information. Although the information is already in binary to reach others on the web, there must be other extensive practices to decode the information into readable text. To rid of the excess information in a supposed “finite” collection, removing gibberish and multiple works will help create more space. This is also how I see where the web is going, reiterating the same information by different authors and creating more bulk of space taken up on the web. The space is slowly taking up IP addresses readily available.

As we have previously discussed in class about the Way Back Machine, which made an appearance in Lessig’s book, the Internet is also being archived. The issue of this archiving site is the enormity of information on the Internet and a way of searching for it. To access previous work maybe you have done, the URL must be known to access it, and this does not bode well for those who have forgotten theirs but still want to find it.

 

Response to William’s Post on Remix

It hadn’t previously occurred to me that the Disney movies were just remixed stories from the Brothers Grimm; they’re known first as Disney tailored for a large audience then the actual story. The example of RIP: A Remix Manifesto will come up a lot in the future for an example of remixing culture; I agree with your quote that sampling is another version of an instrument. A lot of the “pop” music today is turning to a lot of older songs to remix into theirs to revamp it, but they must have made past agreements with the artists and deciding on royalties before creating the remixed songs. I personally get annoyed when I hear these because I liked the original how it sounded, and when you get Pit Bull and Christina Aguilera taking parts of Aha’s “Take On Me,” I just shake my head at that.

Like in our vastly changing world, the laws for our current generation shouldn’t have to be referenced when they were first implemented, way back in the early twentieth century. Our lives are completely different now with circumstances such as easily downloading music for torrent sites instead of paying for them. The changes that have been made over the past decades have helped the big money makers of the time but not the population in general, our world has become digital and needs a fresh look at life and the rules around it.

#6: REMIX = COPY + TRANSFORM + COMBINE

This article that I found detailing modern copyright issues and creative ideas is a great introduction into the next portion of our course. Since this is my last required DTC course, other courses have covered and studied several examples of copyright and infringement in the past. This article gives more relevant reasons to back up my stance on copyright laws, which were created at least a hundred years ago. And if no one has noticed, a lot more has changed in the past decade in the technology world than the last hundred years.

At the end of the TED talk, Kirby Ferguson showed a picture of the title of the Patent Act of 1790 where the tagline states: “…promote the progress of useful arts.” The laws that have been implemented for our current generation were put into place decades ago in a very different time. The TED talk showed examples of Bob Dylan take music samples from past musical works and pass them off as his own, and also of Steve Jobs of a broad definition of the function of swiping to unlock an iPhone.

With the widespread uses of technology and the Internet has caused these laws to stay frigid in the light of the courts. If someone impedes on an author’s copyright it can cost the “victim” hundreds or thousands of dollars or even go to jail. Some people don’t know the protocols of what can be shared and what cannot, this small mistake could possibly land you in jail, which I think can be a little heinous.

The laws that were put in place years ago were trying to promote the progress of arts when they actually are in fact doing the opposite. Some coders and authors are in favor of remix or free culture on the web and let people freely take their stuff. Sometimes there are restrictions, for example they must keep their modified work free on the web as it was before. And so in the future I hope we can live in a world where ideas can’t be taken for ransom and put a price upon.

Original article

#5: Modern Era Plagiarism & Copyright

The reading by Lethem brings up an enormous issue that people in the Digital Technology and Culture major has to deal with on multiple levels. Copyright laws are not only specified to us, but to anyone who creates creative works. All creative work is technically protected by this law but can be bent due to the abilities of today’s digital media. As a primary example in many DTC courses, RIP The Remix Manifesto is used to exemplify the issues with creative works usage with the artist mixing together parts of old songs to make a new mix. A similar point was brought up in Jonathon Lethem’s article on plagiarism in the modern age, the first example brought up was an excerpt  from a previous writing that sounded like it came from Nabokov’s novel Lolita, but had come from a previous publication forty years before Nabokov. Another literary example of this phenomenon, called cryptomnesia, was when Ernest Hemingway used a part of  a quote from John Donne to title his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls.

During this time, these instances weren’t caught by the law like they could be today. The laws have been implemented for just under fifty years in which has been during an enormous technological reform and expansion. Increase of technology had increased the spread of knowledge and creative media usages which have caused an uproar in the digital media sector. I find it very difficult to accurately draw the line where copyright laws should start and end, for now I believe there should be some leeway for what people can use and follow the specifications. How would literary history have changed if Ernest Hemingway and Nabokov were caught for their apparent “plagiarism”? These works are both very well known, so would they have been condemned in our stringent coverage that covers creative works?

Copyright infringement is prevalent in all the courses I have taken due to the issues with plagiarism and actually doing your work, but the line is blurred with design and ideas. For example this quote from Mark Twain who realized that it’s impossible to think of original content, and this is not a new phenomenon based that he died in the early 20th century.

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
– Mark Twain, a Biography

And so, I believe in today’s world, plagiarism and copyright infringement is discovered more often and deflected due to new technology. New technology can help and hurt these issues because through technology you can infringe on others (sometimes unwillingly) creative works but you can also do some research with the technology to find other sources to prove that others have taken your seemingly original ideas.

#4: Cybernetics,Terminology, and the Brain

The beginning of Gleick’s chapter eight covered the relationship between Claude Shannon and Norbert Wiener. Norbert Wiener was described as an utmost logical thinking machine with very little room for a different view or scope. He was also known for learning about and seeing the universe by organizing them into packets, which is a homage to the packet switching system used today for transferring digital information in bits (236). This system is used ubiquitously in many technological systems such as smart phones using the Internet.

Wiener had coined a term that was mentioned throughout this section was cybernetics, which definition was unknown to me. Although it states the origin of the word in the book, it didn’t quite connect how the term came from that origin. Cybernetics comes from the Greek word for steersman, which also comes from the word for governor. Initially I was confused how a word used for a basis for computer technology was tied to a steersman and political standing.  My first thoughts was how could something technologically related also explain a new “field that would synthesize the study of communication and control and also the study of human and machine. This term has multiple meanings not only with the ones mentioned before but was also to become a future buzzword, proposed field of study, philosophical movement, and so much more (235).

The term feedback was also created during this time that could have only two options as either positive or negative, which sounded a lot this the usage of bits in modern technology for transferring digital data (238). Similar to technology using feedback, cybernetics were able to relate to the structure of the human brain. There are numerous brain relay and signals that must connect through a system similar to bits, either they passed between synapses or  not. Over the evolution of the human brain has significantly grown but the quantity doesn’t quite relate to the quality (jurlandia)

 

http://www.jurlandia.org/cybsoc.htm

#3 Correlating Babbage and Bush

While reading Vannevar Bush’s article, there were some instances that made me think back on the previous readings about Charles Babbage and his efforts to create his differential engine. The most prevalent issues that arose in Bush’s article and in Babbage’s story of creating his engine was the cost, ease and time used to produce technology. The primary reason why Babbage had an issue with producing his engine was because it was in the pre-Industrial Revolution era where the usage of interchangeable parts had not come to pass. Even with generous donations and support, Babbage was not able to create a fully working model (Bush 3). Interchangeable parts created a multitude of possibilites for workers who would’ve lost a lot of there already minimal amount of wage over a small broken piece in the production line.

While Babbage was inventing and trying to create his machine, his production had stopped because of the time, money and skill that was needed to create his machine. It was not only an enormous task to build his machine of moving and changing rotors, but they inevitably had to be fixed when broken. Once it had occurred, production would be out of comission for months while a master craftsman would have to recreate the part out of steel (Gleick 80). This is the same problem Bush’s article exemplifies and parallels Babbage’s attempts at making a working model of his machine; an inventor named Leibnitz had tried to create a calculating machine about a hundred years before Babbage but was unable to fully bring it to life it due to time and money involved. It was viewed as unnecessary at the time because the same functions of this machine could also be done with paper and a pencil (Bush 2-3).

Today’s culture shows a time that is completely the opposite of Babbage and Leibnitz era of pre-Industrial Revolution where manufacturing costs can now be done for cents. Not only produced very cheap but the widespread functions our modern technology can accomplish. Back in Babbage’s day if a piece broke he would have to wait on a master craftsman remake the piece whereas today there’s an abundance of parts that factory workers can replace the part in seconds. This goes to show the amount of technological reform over the last two hundred years, and will continue into the future at a much faster rate.