Manovich's New Media

What is new media? It is a complex term which arose in the early 19th century to define the technological movement our culture was facing. In the 19th century the camera was considered one of the first types of new media. Today however, we are now living in a new media revolutionary due to the fast growing power of computers. Today computers allow us to interact with people around the world, create what we want and a storage point. Manovich said, "texts distributed on a computer (Web sites and electronic books) are considered to be new media; texts distributed on paper are not. Similarly, photographs which are put on a CD-ROM and require a computer to view them are considered new media; the same photographs printed as a book are not." (Manovich: 2002 pg43).

 A consumer of new media takes for granted that the computer is solely the creator of new media. However, according to Manovich in his book The Language of New Media there are five principles which he seen attributed to new media: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability and cultural transcoding.  

In my opinion, transcoding appears to be the most influential.  He speaks of two layers, 'cultural layer' and the 'computer layer'. Manovich says, "cultural layer are encyclopedia and a short story; story and plot... computer layer are process and packet (as in data packets transmitted through the network); sorting and matching; function and variable; a computer language and a data structure" (Manovich: 2002 pg63). The relationship between these two layers has now become inseparable consequently relying on each other to develop. Both layers are the mechanical behaviour of computers and the cultural uses for computers. Through this, new media becomes a combination of both computers and culture. We find it difficult to understand culture as we never truly invented, instead we became a part of it. However, Manovich seen the 'cultural layer' as a connotation for a organic object and the 'computer layer' has a connotation for a artificial object.

Manovich made the point  "computer layer is not itself fixed but is changing in time. As hardware and software keep evolving and as the computer is used for new tasks and in new ways, this layer is undergoing continuos transformation." (Manovch: 2002 pg64). As we look through time we can clearly understand the transformation computers have taken and how they have affected our culture. Every day we are surrounded by consumers of media speaking of social network sites or how they have created a piece of art through the computer. Computers are fast becoming a part of our everyday lives, we have a high dependence on them to complete just simple task.

Bibliography 

Manovich, L. (2002) The Language of New Media (Cambridge, Mass: London MIT Press)