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Errors in Things

and

The Friendly Medium

Daniel Rourke

machinemachine.net/open-media

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Errors in Things

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Media:

In communication, media (singular medium) are

the storage and transmission channels or tools

used to store and deliver information or data. It isoften referred to as synonymous with mass

media or, but may refer to a single medium used to

communicate any data for any purpose.

Source: Wikipedia.org

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Open:

That which is not closed;

accessible;unimpeded;

as, an open gate.

Source: Wiktionary.org

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How do we open media?

Use as verb:

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1. Inflexibility of the written word

Socrates thought writing was CLOSED

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B.S. Johnson, Albert Angelo (1964)

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2. Destruction of memory

Socrates thought writing was CLOSED

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1st Folio (Henry Folger Collection)

Collected works of Shakespeare (1623)

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3. The loss of control (authority)

Socrates thought writing (& painting) were CLOSED

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William Hodges,

View in Pickersgill Harbour, Dusky Bay

(New Zealand, 1776)

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How do we open media?

1. Media is equallyabout content and form:

Great art knows the limits of a form and uses it TO ENHANCE the content

2. Whether a media is open or closed is apparent only from particular perspectives:

Authority is relative / intention is irrelevant

3. Therefore, all we can do is try and MAXIMISE potential openness (noise and excess):

MORE layers of paint,

MORE smudges in the margin,MORE spatial components to the book

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The Friendly Medium

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Alvin Lucier,

I am Sitting in a Room(1969)

UBUWeb: http://www.ubu.com/sound/lucier.html

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How do we open (new) media(s)?

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(Team from) Uni of North Carolina,

Building Rome on a Cloudless Day (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cEQZreQ2zQ

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Christian Marclay, The Clock (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8svkK7d7sY

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1. Inflexible / Thingness

- Original work becomes a (digital) representation

- Authors become online identities

2. Destroys some pre-determined value

- The frame in cinema is lost to Digital Compression

- The physicality of a film-reel (interface editing)

3. Authority / Control

- YouTube has rights to the work

- Everyone has access to the work

A case study: Social Video

YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook etc.

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www.ontologist.us, Video Room 1000 (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icruGcSsPp0

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How do we ensure

a media/medium is friendly?

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it can be a shock to remember that for

information to exist it must always be

instantiated in a medium...

Katherine Hayles, How we Became Posthuman(1999)

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machinemachine.net/open-media