New Media Be What?

When I first started reading this chapter, it answered one of the questions I've had for a while about digital media... what is it? Now I know. It's a lot of stuff. Soon after that question was answered I had a new question, what in the world is daguerrotype? It's a reproduction process that was invented by Louis Daguerre (whatever that means). Google images tells me that it's those old ovular images that you see of famous people, good enough for me! The vocabulary in this reading is really keeping me sidetracked; the metaphor of the development of modern media and the development of computers as trajectories has got me thinking of cannons being fired off in a war, with daguerrotype photos as proof.

Back on track with focusing on what I'm reading, I find it very fascinating to learn about the development of procedures such as film. As they speak of the 20 second shorts in Kinetoscope parlors, and the progress that is made as films become longer and longer I am forced to remember a specific time in my life related to progress. "Now approaching Walt Disney's Carrousel of Progress." These words have been etched in my brain since my last trip to Disney World, repeated over and over by the tour train/ride that passed by above us numerous times. Reading this chapter reminds me of Walt Disney's Carrousel of Progress and how over time the family's home became more and more technologically advanced. That day we became stuck inside that carrousel, watching the last act about four times through before being made to evacuate the ride.

I like the idea of new media having discrete representation, in comparison to language. Also automation... how neat is that?! Programs automatically correcting photos that you scan onto the computer, generating landscapes and other crazily life-like scenes, that's pretty neat! Reading about all this new media makes me realize how amazing it truly is. "Beginning in the 1970s, computers were often used to generate poetry and fiction." (Manovich, pg. 33) It seems strange to me having computers create poetry and fiction when humans are the ones who have the creative minds, but I guess computers are becoming more like humans as technology advances.

New media be astounding.