Here is a comic that illustrates the technique of adding motion to a still picture. I just took it a little further.
Looking at the CD that accompanied the textbook The New Media Reader I watched technology progress from Atari to interactive porn, and I thought, "Wow!, we've come a long way." But as I thought about the issue more, I realized that we really haven't. All we've done is make the graphics more lifelike and tweaked some theories. Did you know that in the '70s voice command computers already existed. It had Atari-like graphics (I think it was actually made by Atari) and limited use, but the technology was there, nevertheless. Looking back at all the games there were and all the games that we have now, I can see that the technology has become more complex, but it still stems from the technology that came before it. Now, does this mean it is new technology of merely an evolution of old technology?
The technology for everything we have now has existed for a while. The things we have now are just standing on the shoulders of the things that came before it. We are standing on the shoulders of giants.
In my multimedia writing and literature class, an assignment was given to read a selection by the Oulipo called "A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems." At first the title confused me, then the "poem" confused me. There seemed to be just a random gathering of sentences on a page. Then I got a little background on the piece (it would have helped to net skip that part in the first place). This poem was an illustration of potential literature. The poem is cut into lines. Every fourteen lines makes a sonnet. The reader can interchange lines wherever he or she (or it in the case of a computer, but more on that later) desires. The Oulipo (The acronym for a French group. The title translates to Workshop for Potential Literature.) recognized that such a system had the potential to define a new type of computer-mediated textuality, producing custom poems in ways that give the reader an enhanced role in the process of literary creation (Wardrip-Fruin & Montfort, 2003). The title describes the number of possible poems contained in the larger one. One may ask the question, "Is this really poetry?" The answer is yes. Just because you have prewritten sentences to work with doesn't change the style. It might constrain the writer, but it also challenges. We always only have a set number of words or letters to work with. This also constrains the writer, only it is on a smaller scale. Another question posed was, "Is this an example of multimedia?" and "How could it be made so?" To the first question the answer must be no. Only one form of media is being used. If one were to put the poem on the computer, would it then be multimedia? Again the answer would be the same. The same text exists on a different media, but it is still using one media. If one were to combine the poetry with sound ao images or both, then it could be considered multimedia.
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be me? It's not easy. Below you can check out what I am doing during any given part of the day or night. Just click on an hour and you will see what I was doing.
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Today I am going to finally practise with the rest of the cross country team. My ankle isn't completely better, but the stationary bike, eliptical jogger, and rowing machine are driving me crazy. I am also really worried about my Senior Sem. class. There are so many ideas I have to generate in seemingly very little time. It doesn't help matters by making me think about what happens to me once I graduate. I just got my critique of my degree plan in, and it says I need 21 hours next semester to graduate! Doesn't that sound like fun? I think I can shave six hours off of that by getting an internship. Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
Today I am setting up my first blog. I can't really think of anything to say, but here it is. Please don't think me an attention seeker because I put my life on the web for everyone to see.
