Joe Roberts
Blog Post numero uno.

In the first chapter of his book, The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich summarizes the history of digitization and computing. He also introduces and defines five key principles of new media; numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.

Numerical representation means that for every piece of media there exists a copy of that image, song, or document that is expressed simply with numbers that can be viewed, and modified, mathematically. Characters or creatures in video games are simply programs that have their own unique numerical representation, or code, that makes them what they are. It is the program that they derive their purpose and their essence from.

Any form of new media is composed of many different components, each of which is its own individual form of media. This principle is called modularity. Essentially, it's like an iPhone interface, which is composed of many different icons which are just the thumbnail representation of an app. A lot of these icons lead to places on the internet, and those which don't lead to other places within the phone, like games or a calculator.

Automation is the phenomena that occurs when a piece of new media, through its programming, is able to operate and even "think" on it's own without a human directing its actions. This occurs all the time on the internet when companies like Google and Yahoo look at a list of websites that a user has accessed or frequented recently in order to display the most relevant ads.

Variability is the quality of new media to constantly be changed and modified, moving from one version into the future constantly. There is no such thing as a fixed work of new media. The best example of this is the internet itself, which changes every second. The internet is constantly acquiring new users and through these users websites and through these websites it acquires more media and with this media comes the internet's variability.

Finally, and possibly most significantly, is the principle of transcoding. This principle states that anything written in either a human language or in numerical representation can be translated into the other language, making the two completely interchangeable. This interchangeability gives the two to change and effect each other. Through this they are both able to effect and shape society, changing what it means to be human.

In this way, the human experience is even starting to become a piece of new media. There is a lot of who I am that is written down in numerical representation on websites like Facebook. Who I am is certainly a product of many different pieces of new media, like the videos I watch, the websites I visit, and the music I listen to. Much of what I do is automated. Even though it may seem like I'm making choices, where I go and what I do with my life is largely predetermined by my programming and it all happens of its own accord. I am definitely not fixed in who I am at this moment; I may be a completely different person an hour from now depending on what happens in my life between now and then. And I think that all of this, this digitization of the human, is the best example of transcoding.
I am new media.