reading post #7 As we may think

This article is also the reading requirement in New Media History class. Bush’s prophecy about Memex and many technologies is very impressive. He predicted the invention of hypertext, the internet, computers, the WWW, and even the online search engine/Wikipedia: “Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified.” He also envisioned website functions such as website navigation/index, page comment section, and info search function.

Memex is a device where individuals can compress and store all the info, data, records and communications “mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.” It has infinite storage and hyperlinks integrated within the text. And there is “a special button transfers him immediately to the first page of the index.”

Text video critique

After Effects is a powerful digital motion graphics and video compositing software. It took me a while to adapt myself to the new operating interface because it’s slightly different from Adobe Flash. AE does not have any keyframe or tween, and user doesn’t need to calculate the frames to count the timeline. The control of motion is very straight forward and easy understood.
I did not realize my text size problem until I final rendered two files and put them together via iMovie. My view setting is 100%, so everything became very small when zoom out to fit the window. On the other hand, I think my topic is interesting. I want to discuss the relationship and impact between text and image. Does text can be seen as an image if in a certain situation? We know that image is very informative. One image could say hundreds of things, but how text could easily affects the meaning of an image? The video is experimental and I think I failed to convey my points due to my font size problem and the time that text stays on the screen is too short to read. I put music at the last second, because I just figure out how to do it.
This is not a satisfied work, but it will be a good start of my video software studies.

artist Jennifer Steinkamp

Jennifer Steinkamp is a living installation artist. She mainly works with video and new media in order to explore ideas about architectural space, motion, and perception. Her work uses computer animation to craft immersive interactive projections. 3 dimensional computer graphics are the basis of her animation. She fully uses the advantage of computer modeling and rendering technologies to create motions and views which are not accessible by any other means.
Lighting is the most important element in her art. Since most her works are about architectures and spaces, she dematerialize architectures by using multiple lighting methods and combing the space and movement. Her lighting creates an illusionistic sense of space and dimension.
I like her because I feel that she and I share something common in the perception of light, and her work has evolved out of a deep interest in issues of feminism, since I consider myself as a feminism artist. About the technology aspect, she uses tons of software tools such as Maya, After Effects, and Macromedia Director. She likes to use particle dynamics and paint effects. Her work is very overwhelming saturated and patterns are complex.

here is her official website: http://jsteinkamp.com/
her video installation video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlRWxLB-CcI

after effects exercise

Assignment #2 text part

Asian style emoticon is more complex and detail on facial features. It has more expressions on eyes and action. Emoticon is very closely related to language and the Manga expression marks. Because it’s vertical orientation. Asian emoticon is more vivid and lively, and probably more effective associated with emotions and brain activities.
Western emoticon only contains three elements: eyes, nose, and mouth. It’s very easily understood.
They convey not only verbal messages but also nonverbal information--emotion and gesture. more directly points out sender’s attitude and make the metaphor more clear
What are emoticons? They are symbols for faces, usually used by teenagers and young adults in informal social writing.

assignment #2

1st Assignment

reading post #6

Invisible Cities is composed by conversations between Marco Polo, a Venetian Traveler, and Kublai Khan, an oriental emperor. The plot is very strange— there is no beginning, no development of characters (besides the two mentioned), no direct background reference to the reader. Calvino’s writing can be described as surrealistic. Towards the end of the book, cities that described by Marco Polo and told to the emperor are surreal: they are rarely built of bricks or mortar; they are full of aluminium springs, silver domes, crystal, bronze, seashells, etc. It seems that every time Marco Polo told Kublai a completely different city. They are strange, magical, invisible cities that nobody else ever saw. None of them are the same. But finally readers will find out that all the cities are exactly the same one—Zobeide.

The conversations structure reminds me the book of One Thousand and One Night. The emperor was bored of the stories brought to him by his messengers across the empire. Only the stories told by Marco Polo, of the cities that he met during his travels, keep him interested.

I think the point when the story comes into Art is visualizing the invisible city. After each short new description of the city, reader has to stop and to think; to integrate each piece of prose into a real living city. Just like play a puzzle.