After Class Writing: Galloway’s “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media”

Before our next class, write at least 250 words summarizing the important points from the reading and lecture on Alexander R. Galloway’s “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media.” Think about how Galloway approaches Manovich’s arguments and perspective, and include some of the keywords that we discussed.

13 thoughts on “After Class Writing: Galloway’s “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media””

  1. Alexander Galloway is a professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU currently. His background is very interdisciplinary, having expertise in writing as well as computer programming. To that end, his philosophies on art, gaming, film, technology, mediation theory, etc. are informed by his ID perspectives.

    We analyzed and discussed Dr. Galloway’s article, “What is New Media? Ten Years After ‘The Language of New Media’”. Dr. Galloway was just graduating from Duke with a Ph.D. in Literature at the time Dr. Manovich’s book came out (2001). As such, his lived experience was heavily influenced by the new media about which Manovich wrote. He feels that Dr. Manovich was flawed in his perspectives of new media, but he take pains to explain not only the flaws, but why and how Dr. Manovich may have made them. He creates a discourse by means of contextualization: he is careful to discuss “The Language of New Media” in terms of the technology and emergence of new media in 2001, as well as Dr. Manovich’s background and lived experience with new media.

    He argues that it makes sense that Dr. Manovich would be reserved in his openness to new media as well as in his definitions of media: he grew up in the communist USSR, immersed in a social and governmental system of monitoring and policing of language. He felt that the internet and new media simply made such monitoring easier to do. Mikhail Gorbachev embraced “glastnost”, or a newfound openness in information and relations in the 1980s. Despite this, Manovich appears to be uninterested in how this change in politics impacted media. Instead, he focuses on simply how these technologies work.

    Dr. Manovich’s approach to new media was both poetic and aesthetic, and Dr. Galloway regards these traits as strengths. A poetic stance regards new media that are put together into forms that move us, such as poetry, novels, art, and cinema, e.g. An aesthetic stance contemplates the perception, appreciation, and criticism of works that are beautiful. When Manovich discussed his 5 principles of new media, he was speaking to the aesthetics of the math behind the technologies. Since all media is rooted in mathematical functions (the 1st principle), the aesthetics of said media lay in their appearance as well as their mathematical constructs.

    In terms of what Dr. Galloway finds to be weaknesses in “The Language of New Media”, he cites the biggest flaws as cinema and history. Manovich’s definition of cinema is too narrow in scope: cinema lacks interactivity- it’s one-sided, or hot, media. With history, Manovich does not attribute enough import to the historical influence of media and says media are “formal devices” used to tell a story. In other words, Manovich calls media formal devices to act FOR social and historical systems; Galloway says that media are devices OF social and historical systems.

    Galloway further criticizes the layer metaphor made at the end of Manovich’s book: that the appearance layer of new media is cinema; the material layer of new media is its digital technology, and the logic layer is algorithmic in nature. I think he is saying that there are no definitive layers as such, just as there is no past or present to media, but rather a constant reframing and repetition (recursion) of media as time goes on. He calls this a “mise en abyme”, which means that an image contains a copy of itself embedded within it, and another within that, forming a recursive sequence that can be infinite.

    On the topic of recursion, we talked about GNU, a free operating system that is still in development. GNU stands for “GNU’s Not Unix!”, using its own acronym as part of the acronym. Another example is LAME, which stands for “LAME Ain’t an MP3 Encoder”. These recursive acronyms are all based on self-reference.

    We also discussed “indexicality”, which is a sign that points to meaning within the context of a sentence. For example, using “I” is relative because it will mean something different depending on who “I” is representing. Another term we talked about was “synecdoche”, which refers to a part that comes to represent the whole, e.g. “boots on the ground” represents the military as a large body of soldiers.

  2. Alexander Galloway’s work “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media” demonstrated the concept of the basic web 1.0 and modern web 2.0. He is a professor at NYU in the field of language communication and the media. From the beginning of web 1.0, it builds the identity and static, which is the fundamental of digitals in the data. After several years, web 1.0 has successfully transformed to web 2.0 due to the social platform. Among the web 2.0, we can connect with social media platform with networks; it forms the ages of the database. Galloway argues that the new media spreads with the primary form of the web 1.0. New media creates a digital identity for the government to control. Dr.Manovich’s mentioned the five elements of Numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. These elements build up all new media form with mathematical functions. Dr.Manovich indicates new media devices form with social platforms, but Dr.Galloway indicates social platforms form new media devices. In class we discussed about many terminologies. Poetic defines how things aggregates and move us forward. Galloway mentioned how digital technology is poetic and aesthetic. GNU is the term of the free operating system. Lime is the audio converter. Both GNU and Lime is formed based on self-reference. Synecdoche is like one piece of pizza from the total; it represents the part that comes to stand for the whole. Indexicality is the sign to point to the meaning within the context of the sentence.

  3. Alexander R. Galloway is a writer, a computer programmer, and a professor at New York University in the department of media, culture and communication. He received his BA in modern culture at Brown University then his PhD at Duke University. Galloway studies all of Manovich’s arguments from “Language of New Media” and Galloway tries to convince readers what and why someone today might be thinking in reference to what Manovich has written 10 years ago. The key aspect is the shift in internet technology in regards to Manovich’s “Language of New Media.” It characterizes the shift from Web 1.0, when the internet was first popularized and technology was about building identities online, to Web 2.0 which include social networking and dynamically responding websites. Galloway believes that Manovich’s work is a product of the Web 1.0 era, of widespread internet. He also describes his work to be “poetic” and “esthetic” in which we discussed in class how poetic is used in regards to how things are put together in forms that move us and esthetic as a perception, appreciation, or criticism of that which is beautiful. Galloway also mentions Manovich’s 5 principles and how the numerical data which is constantly manipulated has a certain beauty to it. Galloway also mentions about the layer metaphor in Manovich’s work, the appearance layer of new media being cinema, material layer is digital technology and logic layer algorithmic and calls this a “mise en abine” how the way we think can contain another thought and so on. Galloway brings up some important terms discussed during class which are synecdoche, a part coming to stand for the whole, and indexicality, a sign pointing to meaning within the context of a sentence. An example of synecdoche would be “suit” referring to a businessman. An example of indexicality would be the word “I” which can have different meanings depending on who is speaking.

  4. Alexander R. Galloway is an associate professor at New York University in the department of Media, Culture, and Communication. In addition, he is also other best known for his work on media and social theories. His work “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media”, builds upon Manovich’s media concepts ten years after. His ideas reflect the flaws of Manovich’s content of the fear of new technology.
    This work displayed the advancement of new media theory before today’s advancements. Galloway’s key aspect represents the shift of internet technologies. New media is essentially old media that has been “remixed.” From 1995-2000 is when the internet first was introduced. The new innovation presented much static in the technological world. This was software was known as Web 1.0. This important technological advancement which created leeway for the internet one may know today. Web 1.0 was the foundation for Web 2.0. This concept builds upon internet’s humble beginnings. Softwares and applications such as social media platforms, interactive web pages as well as instant access to databases added to media. The strength of this new media has shaped today’s culture and interactions with the world. Web 2.0 created a poetic form of instant communication with technology. Galloway’s work often recognizes the Manovich five principles used to create media’s dynamic effects. It is vital to understand Galloways wants his readers to comprehend the layers of media: appearance is known as cinema, the material is the digital tech while the logic is algorithmic. Professor Ellis also touched on the idea of recursion. This is a duplicate of an idea that is inserted in itself in infinity. This included GNU which is a free operating system created by Richard Stallman. The acronym means GNU’s Not Unix. Another acronym Ellis introduced was LAME which is LAME Ain’t an MP3 Encoder. Both terms used self-referencing. Furthermore, another interesting term I often use without realization was indexicality. This is when “I” as a noun changes with context. For example, as one reads, it is understood that “I” is the writer and not one’s self. In addition, the phrase synecdoche is used when a part can represent a whole. Normally when people think of America, they often recognize that the term represents the United States of America.

  5. Alexander Galloway is a professor in the NYU media, culture and communication department. He is also an author, computer scientist, and an international public speaker. Galloway’s article, “What is New Media? Ten Years After The Language of New Media”, is an article that critiques the points in Lev Manovich’s book, “The Language of New Media” which came out in 2001. Galloway argued that Manovich was referring to an earlier time of new media culture known as web 1.0. the beginning of the century where we were breaking down earlier traditions of communication by creating emails and forums that would give the consumer an identity online but it would not be us in real life; however, Galloway introduces web 2.0 where we have our real life identities online through social media, befriend other people over this medium, and follow their lives as well. From Galloway’s point of view, the five principles that defy new media (mentioned my Manovich) work together over an application as poetic and aesthetic factors that make us comfortable with these new mediums in Web 2.0, this is similar to N. Katherine Hayles concept of Skeuomorphs in her book, Toward embodied virtuality. In How we became post human: virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics. These factors help replicate things in old media form on to new media and move us. New Media in Galloway’s opinion did not start in the 1980’s under cinema like Manovich book states, he thinks new media started a hundred years prior with us being able to group techniques together over a certain medium like computers have been doing only for half a century. I think Galloway was just pointing out the ongoing process called remediation, where you combine old media and new media onto a new medium.

  6. Alexander Galloway is a writer and a computer programmer. In his essay What is new media he looks over the essay Manovich wrote ten years ago The language of new media. Galloway wants us to know that the difference in web 1.0 and web 2.0. web 1.0 is when the internet first came out and this is the web technology Manovich is talking about. Web 2.0 is social networks databases etc. which is the web were used to now. Galloway talks about Manovich’s five principles and shows how some of them are flawed. For example numerical representation is always changing because we’re always manipulating it. Galloway talks about how cinema is the first new media because it’s a combination of image and sound and you end up being zombified watching. Manovich gives less focus to historical context for media influence instead of media as formal devices, Media become formal devices for instead of social and historical systems. Manovich isn’t interested in the politics of technology but how they work. Galloway complaints were about the layer metaphor, appearance layer of new media is cinema the material layer is digital technology and the logic layer is algorithmic (rules and procedures). Galloway says this is a mise en abine, an image or phrase gets repeated within itself

  7. Jessica L.Roman
    ENG 1710
    04.17.18

    Alexander R. Galloway is a professor of media, culture and communication at New York University. Galloway’s research focuses on critical theory, digital media, semiotics, aesthetics, networks, software, media art, games, and film. Like many others we have read this semester Galloway is an interdisciplinary thinker, which allows for uniquely informed perspectives on our media, culture and technology. This is particularly useful in regards to his article, “What is New Media? Ten Years After ‘The Language of New Media’”. The article focuses on the discourse started by Manovich ten years prior and the shifts in technology resulting from the advent of Web 2.0. Galloway takes issues with a few elements of Manovich’s ideas. He explains that the two weaknesses of Manovich’s argument lay in cinema and history. In regards to history, like McLuhan and other, Manovich does not place a premium on the historical context and influence of media. In other words for Manovich media became formal devices (a means to tell a story) for, instead of, historical and social systems.

    Whether discussing his issues with Manovich’s argument in terms of history, cinema or his layer metaphor that is later mentioned Galloway presents very fair opposition. When explaining why he and other have taken issues with certain things we goes out of his way to try and offer possible reasons for his position. It was interesting to learn that one factor was Manovich’s upbringing in the USSR and the glasnost that was a fixture of his experience. Manovich has no interest in the politics of technology, just how it works. Galloway’s approach it this critique of Manovich’s work ten years after his book was released is one that seems productive to an evolving discourse on a rapidly changing topic. This kind of discourse is of the utmost importance in assuring we keep conscious of our media, technology and its influence on us as individuals and as a society.

    We also discussed few terms from the article. The recursive technique, mise en abyme, which is when an image contains a smaller copy of itself continuously. We were given examples of this simple recursion, GNU, a free operating system, has a recursive acronym, which stands for GNU Not Unix. Another example is LAME, which is for audio formatting and stands for LAME Ain’t MP3 Encoder. Each acronym is actually part of the acronym, this is self-reference recursion is based on. Two other terms we discussed were synecdoche and indexicality. A synecdoche is using a single element of something to represent the whole, for example ABCs is used, especially by children, to represent the alphabet. Indexicality, which is a sign that points to meaning within the context of a sentence. The meaning of here, for example, only exists in relation to who is using it.

  8. Alexander Galloway is a professor at NYU and teaches Media, Culture and Communication. He holds a B.A in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Literature Program from Duke University. Ten years after Lev Manovich’s book “The Language of New Media,” Galloway writes a paper called “What is new media? Ten years after The Language of New Media,” criticizing Manovich’s book. In this paper he talks about how Manovich’s five principles, numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding are aesthetic and poetic. When Galloway uses the word poetic, he’s not referring to poetry. What he means by it is how things get put together, it is about the form. The paper also shows how Galloway’s arguments have to do with the shift of the internet. The shift of the internet has to do with what is called web 1.0 and web 2.0. Web 1.0 was when the internet first was made popular and when the first web pages were first introduced and around back in 1995 to the early 2000’s. Web 2.0 has to do with websites that are more responsive. They are more interactive and easy to navigate. It also has to do with new programming languages being able to make the web pages more interactive.

  9. TO: Professor Dr. Jason W. Ellis

    FROM: Ronald C. Hinds

    DATE: April 17, 2018

    SUBJECT: What is new media?

    Lev Manovich is the author of “The Language of New Media” and other books on new media theory, and professor of Computer Science at the City University of New York (CUNY), Graduate Center and a visiting professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. His research and teaching focuses on digital humanities, social computing, new media art and theory, and software studies. He hails from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR.

    Manovich gives us great insight into his thinking on the subject. He tells us that new media acts as a forerunner of the general process of cultural reconceptualization. Reconceptualization being the act of developing a new concept out of a given thing.

    New media is old media which has been digitized.

    Old media or traditional media New media
    A.Print. Computer data

    B.Photography. Data; stored in files and/or

    databases

    C) Data. Retrieved, sorted, archived on computers

    and run through algorithms. Written to the output device.

    D) Includes human creators. Variability: Automatically assembled on a

    computer.

    E) Hard copy. Discrete samples: An array of pixels + zeros

    (0) and ones (1).

    F) Pre-new media logic. Production on demand: Just-in-time

    delivery.

    G) Presentation is fixed. New media is interactive.

    Generally speaking new media can be construed as consisting of a cultural layer and a computer layer. Manovich takes us on a historical journey and includes the Frenchman weaver, Joseph Marie Jacquard’s mechanical loom, which was controlled by punched cards, and he tells us too about Charles Babbage, a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, who originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Manovich then segues into still photographs and then cinema. The development of the computer and the cinema appear to be in tandem.

    Manovich points to 5 principles of new media. They are numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.

    1.Numerical Representation

    New media includes numerical representation and as such is subjected to manipulation. This algorithmic manipulation allows media to become programmable and therefore allows us to adjust the shape proportionately.

    2) Modularity

    Modularity can be described as the “fractal structure of new media.” Fractal means a geometric figure with each part containing the same statistical character as the whole while simultaneously maintaining a separate identity. This was widely considered as the Mandelbrot set. The Mandelbrot set has become popular outside mathematics, both for its aesthetic appeal and as an example of a complex structure arising from the application of simple rules. It is one of the best-known examples of mathematical visualization.

    3) Automation

    New media comes with an array of features including scanning and Photoshop. Photoshop can correct and change the images of a scanned document. Artificial Life or AL software can create flocks of birds. So wouldn’t film director Alfred Hitchcock’s life be made easier with this software to create the images in his movie “The Birds?” All of these interactions can be rendered in real time and communicated in real time.

    4) Variability

    A new media object is not something fixed to an old media paradigm. Variability can be closely allied with modularity as demonstrated above. Theodor Adorno, a German philosopher, sociologist, and composer known for his critical theory of society, had a good bead on society’s waxes and wanes. He argued that the culture industry commodified and standardized all art. In turn this suffocated individuality and destroyed critical thinking. New media can be a means by which items can be easily replicated and society can be made too uniform. I am not a fan of too much regimentation.

    5) Transcoding

    By transcoding, Lev Manovich enters on the subject of how computerization can and does turn media merely into computer data. Transcoding can rob us of individuality because many things within the transcoding parameter can appear to be a part of a mold. It is either mimesis or imitation versus catharsis or the process of relief from. As Manovich puts it, “The examples of categories on the computer layer are process and packet (as in data packets transmitted through the network); a computer language and a data structure.” Is variety not the spice of life?

    I admire Manovich’s technique and analysis. He even made his arguments in the negative which acts as a validation to verify the positive conceptualization(s) of his contribution. Friedrich Adolf Kittler, a German literary scholar and media theorist who focuses on all media, also writes that media determines our situation because the media defines what and how discourse is recorded.

    Manovich reminds me of Lisa Gitelman and her rendition of ontology. Ontology is how we see the world and Manovich’s world view could have been jaundiced by the Stalinist politics of, the deformed workers state the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR, from which he hails. This is perhaps best exemplified by the writer Alexander R. Galloway’s retrospective critique, “What is New Media? Ten Years After ‘The Language of New Media,’” in which he points out Manovich’s “deep seated phobia of political ideology, due largely to his youth spent in the Soviet Union.” Galloway sees evidence of this in Manovich’s essay, “On Totalitarian Interactivity,” wherein he admits that he sees digital interactivity as a sort of political manipulation. A casual observer might agree upon noticing the rather conspicuous dearth, or even avoidance, of his subject’s role in, relevance or relationship to any socio-political landscape on which it exists, even stretching as far back as it does, by Manovich, to the mid 19th century; a curious omission when one considers the fact that most authors cannot help but comment on the effects that any media’s given environment can have upon its development, expression, utilization and institution.

    References

    Manovich, L. (2001). What is new media? In The language of new media (pp. 43-74). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Manovich

    -LangNewMedia-excerpt.pdf

    Mandelbrot Set. From Wikipedia and retrieved on April 16, 2018.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set

    Keywords

    Algorithms, automation, digital representation, discrete, interface, lossy compression, mandelbrot set, mimises, multimedia, new media, old or traditional, media

  10. TO: Professor Dr. Jason W. Ellis
    FDROM: Ronald C. Hinds
    DATE: April 19, 2018
    SUBJECT: What is New Media: Ten Years after the Language of New Media

    For some historical context, Alexander R. Galloway, author of “What is New Media?: Ten Years after the Language of New Media, ” graduated with his doctorate (PhD) in 2001 at the same time that Lev Manovich’s (2001) “The Language of New Media” appeared. Alexander R. Galloway, Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, is a writer and computer programmer working on issues in philosophy, technology, and theories of mediation. With a decade’s worth of distance Galloway has been able to focus attention while praising and placing limitations on Manovich’s treatise. Galloway posits that “The Language of New Media” was written for and against the “new internet culture of the late 1990s.” Galloway depicts Manovich’s book as having an appeal relevant to the community of the social movements of the 1960s among other entities.

    To Manovich new media are essentially software applications. To Marshall McLuhan the media is simply the message. In addition, Friedrich Adolf Kittler, a media theorist who focuses on all media, media determines our situation because media defines what and how discourse is recorded. But, according to Alexander R. Galloway, Mr. Manovich’s strength lies in his description of digital technologies as “poetic and aesthetic objects.” Aesthetics are a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art. Manovich lends to the discussion a nuanced view to his recitation of five (5) principles of new media viz. numeric representation, modularity, automation, variability and transcoding. To him, though, these should not be seen as mere principles and/or considered as universal laws but observed more as “aesthetic properties of data.”

    Alexander Galloway teams up with Eugene Thacker and Mc Kenzie Wark to author an essay titled, “Excommunication.” They write a slant of the usual understanding of media and mediation and argue that these moments reveal the ways the impossibility of communication is integral to communication itself.

    One way of thinking of this particular Galloway piece, in my opinion, is its use of Manovich’s tome as a template to understanding building and its explication of his themes. Manovich’s work, flaws and all, has for the better part of two decades withstood the test of time. Manovich’s talk about the cinema as the “first new media” was not accurate. Another critic of Manovich was Mark B. N. Hansen, author of “New Philosophy for New Media,” who argued that Manovich’s book is tinted by an over investment in the cinematic. In addition according to Galloway new media began around 1880 in the outskirts of Paris. So there is also some disagreement with Manovich on historical context. Étienne-Jules Marey, who was born in 1830, was a French scientist, physiologist and Chrono photographer. Marey went to Paris in 1849 to enroll at the faculty of medicine and to study surgery and physiology. He was a true interdisciplinary personage as he is also widely considered to be a pioneer of photography and an influential pioneer of the history of cinema. He was also a pioneer in establishing a variety of graphical techniques for the display and interpretation of quantitative data from physiological measurement.

    As Galloway sees it, “The world no longer indicates to us what it is. We indicate ourselves to it and, in so doing the world materializes in our image.” He also goes down the road of synecdoche: he describes it as a part of our dialogue, which comes to stand for the whole; for example, when the English refer to the home of the British prime minister they simply just say, no. “10.” “I” can mean me, Ronald C. Hinds, or to whomever “I” is intended to refer.

    Galloway’s book appears to be, in some ways, a validation of the work done by Manovich and as an extension of it. My life and education are richer for reading and sampling both of their works.

    Reference

    Galloway, A. R. (2011). What is new media?: Ten years after the Language of New Media. Criticism, 53(3), 377-384. Retrieved on April 18, 2018 from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/462193

    Keywords: Aesthetics, interdisciplinary

  11. Alexander Gallaway was born in 1974 and is a associate professor in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. Galloway obtained his Bachelors in Media Culture and Median from Brown University and his Ph. D in Literature from Duke University. Galloway has penned several pieces, but none as pertinent as his piece “What is New Media?: Ten Years After The Language of New Media”, a discourse on Lev Manovich’s book “The Language of New Media”. Galloway’s first point is to keep in mind of when Manovich penned this piece and how it was. This time period which Manovich is writing about is called Web 1.0. During that time period of the internet’s formative years people’s identities were hidden and they viewed information as something that should be free and accessible to all. Living in Web 2.0 we aren’t devoid of anonymity like the people in Web 1.0 were. We use sites where we chronicle our every action and thought. Another point Gallaway raises is Manovich’s definition of New Media. His definition has elicited a litany of definitions from people which focus heavily on the computer. Gallaway posits that the New Media that Manovich is referring to in his book was not the first, but rather cinema was .Cinema is “first medium to bring together techniques like compositing, recombination, digital sampling (the discrete capture of photographic images at a fixed rate through time), and machine automation.” With this combination of techniques, the New Media Gallaway is writing about is a direct evolution from cinema. In Manovich’s New Medai, there are three layers: cinema, digital and algorithm. With these layers Gallaway points out that this is a mise en abîme: a layer that leads into another layer.

  12. Alexander R. Galloway was born in 1974, and he is an author and associates professor in the department of Media Culture and Communication at the New York University. He completed his bachelor’s in modern culture and media from Brown University. In addition, he received his PhD in Duke University in 2001. He wrote a passage, “What is New Media? Ten Years After the Language of New Media”, while introducing the concept of the web 1.0 and the modern web 2.0. Since the start of the web 1.0 which basically is the stomping ground for the web 2.0. Galloway argues that thanks to web 1.0 the new web 2.0, over the years web 1.0 became the fundament for web 2.0. Galloway wrote his passage 10 years after Lev Manovich wrote his passage. He explains how Manovich’s 5 principles are ecstatic properties of the data underline representation made possible of that data. The numeric and coding that makes the web. All we might be seeing is images but being them, it is all numbers. In many times Gallloway disagrees with Manoviches’ writing. Galloways believes that what Manovich work is done based on is the web 1.0. As discussed, he mentions the 5 principles and how all of the coding when precepted the right way has more than just numbers and numerical. I come think of it and I question is this really the way web 2.0 has become so popular, and I also add if there is any type of connection to new media shaping the society today, or maybe society is shaping new media?

  13. Galloway was born in 1974. He is an author. Also, he is a professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He has acquired his bachelor’s degree in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University in 2001. Galloway is a writer in computer programming and is known for his writings on philosophy, media theory, contemporary art, film, and video games.
    He revisit the idea “10 years after the language of new media” He argues that the idea of new media is a product of the beginning of the wide spreading opinions in the 1990’s. This it the Web 1.0 era as opposed to the next stage if internet technology evolution called Web 2.0. He explains how Manovich’s 5 principles, numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding are aesthetic properties of the data underlines representations made possible by that data. For example we can say the digital photo is aesthetic, it has good form, exposure, an interesting subject. Likewise te digital data the photo is comprised of is aesthetic for Manovich’s 5 principles. There is a beauty to that data. Its manipulation, its effect on culture, etc. Galloway targets Manovich’s books greatest weaknesses: cinema and history. I the case of cinema and film, Manovich argues that it is the first new media even though it pregates the personal computer by 100 years. Manovick’s view of the immobile cinematic frame is the default condition of the human computer inner base seems too narrow rings false if we compare the cinematic experiences in personal computer experience. Galloway last complained about Manovich’s approach is the layer metaphor. That he uses at the end of the book. The appearance layer of new media in the cinema material layers is the digital technology and the logic layer is algorymitch. The layer metaphor. Appearance layer in cinema
    Material layer is digital technology
    And logical layer is algorithmic, rules and procedures. Galloway calls it the “mise en abyme” french phrase.
    Recursion. A copy of an image embedded within intsel, implying infinite occursion, implying infinite occurison.
    He mention “poetic” in sense not about poetry. How hting are put together in forms that move us. Including but not pertaining to poetry. For example string words together to from meaning. Like author string words together to make a story. He also mentions Aesthetics, the percatoin, the appreciation, the criticism of beauty.

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