Digital Media Artifact Analysis

V_Aoice Of The Northwoods – 

Gone Digital

By: Julia Weiss
9/26/2012

VAoice of the Northwoods is a new digital media artifact.  The Oscar G. Johnson Veterans Affairs Hospital assigned their 2012 summer intern Julia Weiss (me) with the task of creating, designing and digitally publishing their first ever internal affairs newsletter into the virtually accessible pathways of the World Wide Web, and that is what I did.  The intent of this newsletter was to create a medium of communication and sense of community among the VISN 12 hospital; done by having content that acknowledges the current events and specialties of the hospital and people within.  I know the purpose, content, design and audience inside and out, and I will prove to you that this is a digital media artifact, as well as what I have learned to be “new media”.

I created the newsletter through a media program; Microsoft Publisher 2010, which is a type of publication software, enabling the formatted and numerical creation of digital media artifacts.  In order to prove my point of the newsletter being a digital media artifact, I must make sure you – the reader understands what digital media is:

“Digital Media – digitized content (text, graphics, audio, and video) that can be transmitted over internet or computer networks” (WebFinance Inc. "Meaning and Definition.").

So, then what is digitized content?

“Digitalization (digitally converted content) – conversion of analog information in any form (text, photographs, voice, etc.) to digital form with suitable electronic devices (such as a scanner or specialized computer chips) so that the information can be processed, stored, and transmitted through digital circuits, equipment, and networks”, (WebFinance Inc. "Meaning and Definition.").
            Microsoft Publisher 2010 is the prime example of a program that can hold, store, create, design and format digitized content.  Within the newsletter consists, a self-designed template (blank originally), a color scheme – with a numerical code breakdown, organized formatting for boundaries of text, shapes, pictures, headings, subheadings, captions, design layouts, links, customization, logos and other general time relevant veteran stories.  There are several things that help to establish this artifact as digital media and essentially a new media artifact: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.

First off, how did I create this artifact?  The software program itself is a media database, enabling my images, texts, shapes, sequences, templates, to all become computable.  The data that comprises my artifact is simply comprised of more data, thus a numerical representation.  Through this software program I have been able to create affective media communication by acquiring, manipulating, storing and distributing digital objects within the artifact, such as pictures, text boxes, shapes, colors … etc.  Since I had to build this artifact, one object, one edit, one composition at a time, I created a make-up of media. This is beneficial, because this means you have the ability to break it down, isolate, edit and delete without risk of collapsing the entire project itself; whereas with traditional media, you are just one wrong click away from deleting a module that will potentially crash an entire program (Manovich, Lev. "The Language of New Media.").
            The entire newsletter is numerically represented through resolution amounts, volume controls, contrast levels, color scheme codes, page numbers, words per text box, text boxes per page, boundaries, borders, imagery, and pixels; my point is there are separate levels of content, all of which can be broken down into a database of digital codes.  It is the design codes/context that you choose that affects the readers rhetorical decoding of the information; this newsletter is representative of the government and the Veteran Affairs Association.  The choices of color, layout, font, spacing and content is vital when wanting to create the appropriate ethos, pathos and logos of the artifact.

During the creation I had a strict conduct code for color schemes, logos, and context placement.  It is casual, but informative with the intent to educate and entertain the hospital staff and participating veterans. The newsletter has a modular structure throughout due to the guidelines, and also had to be compatible with the structure of the publisher software itself.  Having separate objects capable of shifting around and design manipulation, allowed for each media element to come together with the programs format, but also with each other to create a larger picture of systematic structure throughout.  This is digital media principle known as modularity (Manovich, Lev. "TheLanguage of New Media.").

The principle of automation goes hand in hand with the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of a media object.  Together they allow for the automation of many operations involved in media creation. Publisher is considered to be a “low-level” automation of media creation; the computer user modifies or creates from scratch a media object using simple algorithms or templates.  This is very common in commercial software, for things like word processing or image editing programs like Photoshop.  So, the numerical coding sets up the structure, and the modularity is then accessed by the user (Manovich, Lev. "The Languageof New Media.").

Principle 1 (numerical coding) + principle 2 (modular structure) = Principle 3(automation)
               An easy to operate system where you create from scratch what has already been created. Being able to access this type of media creation enables the computer storage and access of incredible amounts of media material, which left me with a lot of options for virtual design.

               Because the newsletter is constantly available to breakdown and edit how I want, when I want (even though it has already been published) I can keep updating or recreating new issues, none quite like the last, a new version bimonthly, once again due to the adaptability that comes from the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of media objects.  Traditional media was typically set to a certain format that was sure to work and store, and successfully enter the virtual realm with no translation issues; new media on the other hand is not constrained to the limits of “one version”.  It has infinite versions waiting to be discovered, and this is the principle of variability, the ability to exist in many forms (Manovich, Lev. "The Language of New Media.").  I have already created different drafts of the V_Aoice of The Northwoods digital artifact, and all are visually
pleasing, are color coordinated with the seasons in which their issue is set to be released.  Not to mention the format in which the newsletter could be saved (PDF, XPS, JPEG.  . . Etc.) giving rise to many different versions all applicable to different situations of external publishing locations.

Throughout the entire process of developing this artifact, I had to assemble a digital layout, and object setup that wouldn’t conflict with the publishing data structures.  In other words, I had to make sure my designs were compatible with what Microsoft Publisher was capable of.  Transcoding, the final principle and my final point proving that this is a new media/digital artifact.  Everything in the newsletter had to be compatible, run smoothly, and work well together.

The modular structure and numerical organization leads to a user friendly automation/self-design mode, which then creates opportunities for infinite design versions, and transcoding or what I like to call the “publishing principle”, then establishes that your digital artifact does indeed fit the proper protocol for its location, and you may then send it into the public sphere of the virtual world. 

          The newsletter itself can be printed off, but its original medium is digital. I installed hyperlinks that create usability; that is an accessible connection between two elements, connected on a network and World Wide Web (Manovich, Lev. "The Language ofNew Media.").  The newsletter contains short stories, and informative text, and direction (through hyperlinks) for readers who are interested in how they can get involved. It is like Andrew Sullivan said “Links are as legitimate as thousand word diatribes — in fact they are often more valuable” (Sullivan,Andrew. "Why I Blog.").

          Some people may say that a digital newsletter is a representation, but I created the newsletter through digital software from the beginning.  Thus, the original is not a digital representation, but a digital artifact.  Maybe people would say that the digital presence or absence of physical presence takes away from interaction and hands on development.  I stand beside Google when they say “The web is what you make it” (Miller, Claire Cain. "Google Takes to TV to Promote Browser."). It is hands on, and engages the reader through virtual means.  It only reacts when the user acts or physically types/programs something into it. It may not be like the ‘old days’ when people took ten minutes out of their day to go get the paper, but the digital format is appropriate with the norm of our culture.  We no longer live in a reality where we have all the time in the word. A ten minute walk could mean the difference between getting your child to or back from daycare.  The digital realm or reality compliments the society of today, and establishes the simulated ‘reality principle’ of the lives we lead (Baudrillard,Jean. "Simulacra and Simulation.”).  Physically, each day everything we see and do has a presence.  The virtual world is a world with consisting of the absence of physical presence, we know objects through the absence of them, thus making what we know about our physical reality ‘true’ (Baudrillard, Jean."Simulacra and Simulation.”).

          When it comes down to it, this newsletter is accessible, it is user-friendly, and it follows protocol for design and compatibility elements.  Culturally, it is up to date and complementary.  The substance is digital, it is not a representation, because it is in its original creation and format. It is a gateway to the World Wide Web, and establishes ethos, pathos and logos within its content/context.  It is made for the the workers and patience of the Iron Mountain VA Hospital, and created using the latest software technology digital media has to offer.  V_Aoice Of The Northwoods is a modern media digital artifact.

Works Cited

Baudrillard, Jean. "Simulacra and Simulation." Google Books. N.p., 2003. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://books.google.com/books?id=9Z9biHaoLZIC>.

Manovich, Lev. "The Language of New Media." Chapter 1 What Is New Media? (2002): 19-63. Print.

Miller, Claire Cain. "Google Takes to TV to Promote Browser." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 May 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/technology/04chrome.html?_r=0>.

Sullivan, Andrew. "Why I Blog." The Atlantic. N.p., Nov. 2008. Web. 31 Aug. 2012.

WebFinance Inc. "Meaning and Definition." Business Dictionary. WebFinance Inc, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/digital-media.html>.

Digitial Media Artifact Analysis -- Rought Draft

Digital Media Artifact Analysis – Rough draft

V_Aoice of the Northwoods is a new digital media artifact. The Oscar G. Johnson Veterans Affairs Hospital assigned their 2012 summer intern Julia Weiss (me) with the task of creating, designing and digitally publishing their first ever internal affairs newsletter into virtually accessible pathways of the World Wide Web, and that is what I did.  The intent of this newsletter was to create a medium of communication and sense of community among the VISN 12 hospital; done by having content that acknowledges the current events and specialties of the hospital and people within. I know the purpose, content, design and audience inside and out, and I will prove to you that this is a digital media artifact, as well as what I have learned to be “new media”.

I created the newsletter through a Media Program; Microsoft publisher 2010, which is a type of publication software, enabling the formatted and numerical creation of digital media artifacts. In order to prove my point of the newsletter being a digital media artifact, I must make sure you – the reader understands what digital media is:

·        “Digital Media is digitized content (text, graphics, audio, and video) that can be transmitted over internet or computer networks”

So, then what is digitized content?

·        “Digitalization (digitally converted content) – conversion of analog information in any form (text, photographs, voice, etc.) to digital form with suitable electronic devices (such as a scanner or specialized computer chips) so that the information can be processed, stored, and transmitted through digital circuits, equipment, and networks.”

            Microsoft Publisher 2010 is the prime example of a program that can hold, store, create, design and format digitized content. Within the Newsletter consists, a self-designed template (blank originally), a color scheme – with a numerical code breakdown, organized formatting for boundaries of text, shapes, pictures, headings, subheadings, captions, design layouts, links, customization, logos and other general time relevant veteran stories.
There are several things that help to establish this artifact as digital media and essentially a new media artifact: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.

 
First off – How did I create this artifact?
            The software program itself is a media database, enabling my images, texts, shapes, sequences, templates, to all become computable. The data that comprises my artifact is simply comprised of more data, thus a numerical representation.  Through this software program I have been able to create affective media communication by acquiring, manipulating, storing and distributing digital objects within the artifact, such as pictures, text boxes, shapes, colors … etc. Since I had to build this artifact, one object, one edit, one composition at a time, I created a make-up of media. This is beneficial, because this means you have the ability to break it down, isolate edit and delete without risk of collapsing the entire project itself; whereas with traditional media, you are just one wrong click away from deleting a module that will potentially crash an entire program.
            The entire newsletter is numerically represented through resolution amounts, volume controls, contrast levels, color scheme codes, page numbers, words per text box, text boxes per page, boundaries, borders, imagery, pixels, my point is there are separate levels of content, all  of which can be broken down into a database of digital codes. It is the design codes/context that you choose that affect the readers rhetorical decoding of the information, this newsletter is representative of the government and the Veteran Affairs Association, and

During the creation I had a strict conduct code for color schemes, logos, and context placement. It is casual, but informative with the intent to educate and entertain the hospital staff and participating veterans. The newsletter has a modular structure throughout due to the guidelines, and also had to be compatible with the structure of the publisher software itself. Having separate objects capable of shifting around and design manipulation, allowed for each media element to come together with the programs format, but also with each other to create a larger picture of systematic structure throughout. This is digital media principle known as modularity.

The principle of automation goes hand in hand with the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of a media object. Together they allow for the automation of many operations involved in media creation. Publisher is considered to be a “low-level” automation of media creation, the computer user modifies or creates from scratch a media object using simple algorithms or templates. This is very common in commercial software, for things like word processing or image editing programs like Photoshop. So, the numerical coding sets up the structure, and the modularity is then accessed by the user.

Principle 1 (numerical coding) + principle 2 (modular structure) = Principle 3(automation)

               An easy to operate system where you create from scratch what has already been created. Being able to access this type of media creation enables the computer storage and access of incredible amounts of media material, which left me with a lot of options for virtual design.

               Because the newsletter is constantly available to breakdown and edit how I want, when I want (even though it has already been published) I can keep updating or recreating new issues, none quite like the last, a new version bimonthly, once again due to the adaptability that comes from the numerical coding of media and the modular structure of media objects. Traditional media was typically set to a certain format that was sure to work and store, and successfully enter the virtual realm with no translation issues; new media on the other hand is not constrained to the limits of “one version”. It has infinite versions waiting to be discovered, and this is the principle of variability, the ability to exist in many forms. I have already created different drafts of the V_Aoice of The Northwoods digital artifact, and all are visually pleasing, are color coordinated with the seasons in which their issue is set to be released. Not to mention the format in which the Newsletter could be saved (PDF, XPS, JPEG.  . . Etc.) gave rise to many different versions all applicable to different situations of external publishing locations.

Throughout the entire process of developing this artifact, I had to assemble a digital layout, and object setup that wouldn’t conflict with the publishing data structures. In other words, I had to make sure my designs were compatible with what Microsoft Publisher was capable of. Transcoding, the final principle and my final point proving that this is a new media/digital artifact. Everything in the newsletter had to be compatible, run smoothly, and work well together.

The modular structure and numerical organization leads to a user friendly automation/ self-design mode, which then creates opportunities for infinite design versions, and transcoding or what I like to call the publishing principle, transcoding then establishes that your digital artifact does fit the proper protocol for its location, and you may then send it into the public sphere of the virtual world.

               


(Some of the things I'm hoping to get some feedback on today is how ti embed the personal opinion of the artifact, as well as the proper way to cite these sources) I am thinking about visiting the learning center to assist with the finishing touches- and touch ups and the peer editing responses. )

The Medium is The Massage

The Medium isThe Massage
Blog Response 

Julia Weiss

I have to say, the Medium is the Massage is probably the fastest I’ve ever read a 154 page book; probably because all of the pictures, which I also have to say are quite interesting. From what I understand, this book is a visual breakdown of how society today is molding itself in correspondence to media.
             It’s true in all honesty, the book looked at how at the beginning, places like Greece used oral communication (before written), and their original societal structure was completely changed with the introduction to written communication and the art of rhetoric. They then formed into a democracy, and developed a wide variety of diversity and advancement.

A change in mediums of communication directly affects the format of society and the context by which we live. Our advancements have led us to a place of digital media as a source of culture. We have somehow managed to link ourselves in every aspect of our life. We represent ourselves through media on a personal level, physical level and emotional level. We as a society have begun our identification through digital means, over action, but that is my opinion. We use digital media to shape the opinions of our society; for example, politics uses digital media as a tool to persuade the minds of everyday citizens in favor towards or against something. With quality digital rhetoric, we have introduced society into a way to exist without living. The book illustrates how clothes are merely an extension of our skin, how words are merely an extension of our thoughts, and that leads me to wonder if digital media is merely an extension of cultural personality, broken down into individual personalities of the people within.

“The eye – it cannot choose but tosee; we cannot bid the ear be still; our bodies feel, where’er they be, againstor with our will” – Wordsworth

This describes rationality, the means of making sense of reality, however if digital media is a means by which we attempt to capture or represent reality, then our original sense of rationality discovered through direct senses is compromised. Perhaps we see only symbols (mere representations – like a photo), we here electronic noise (but do not witness how it is produced) and we feel with emotions that we as a society attach to digital symbolism. In other words, society has thrust itself forward into a reality where life is connected to symbols and the symbols are connected to senses. We have discovered a reality based off of detachment of actuality.   

Simulations and Reality

Julia Weiss – Blog post #3 Response on Baudrillard – Simulation

      Throughout reading the first 15 pages of this technical piece I kept coming back to one thought. This entire article is talking about the rhetoric of simulation and what’s behind it. This piece was harder to read and interpret so in order to figure out my own thoughts about the message I had to highlight and write constant notes on the print-out. I’ll admit that it took me about a half an hour to break down the first 3/4ths of the introductory page. I found that as I read further and further there were recurrent themes and I was able to pick up the message and the style of writing became easier to read

     The first page I broke down by first figuring out what it was talking about, which was simulacra, reality, and the hyperreal. The ideology that territory no longer precedes the map nor survives it. My mind linked this to digital abstraction.  During The Desert of the Real Itself paragraph I began to understand societal views on reality and how we use representation to invoke a reality or simulation of our own truth. The dimensions of simulation are vast, especially in the digital world (which is heavily linked with our cultural and current world). As we saw in the previous article on Already New there were complications (original build vs. representation of an artifact) between the credibility and ‘reality’ of history based representation of the internet.  Through programs and systematic means, we have created an artificial resurrection through systems and signs. For example, Imagery is a representation of the past, produced simulation or faking the presence of something or someone who is not actually there. 

     So, then what is real or not real? Who’s to say? This is where rhetoric comes into play.

“The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. Simulacrum is true.”

     I completely understand what this quote is saying, and I wholeheartedly believe it does not make any sense. It is a contradiction of itself. Everyone has an opinion, creating their own reality and own truth. This quote assumes if you have your own beliefs about anything that your truth tries to over-power/conceal the truth of others. Thus saying there is no truth, but then it says simulacrum is true, but that in itself is an opinion, creating a truth trying to overpower the opposing truth; making simulacrum and the statement that it is true an attempt to conceal another truth (mine) that it is not true. My conclusion is that is that simulacrum does not exist because it is a truth itself.

On another note, I found the concept of unconscious work production to be quite fascinating. Imagine if we could understand the process of which we dream and harness unconscious production of work, like doing homework, making discoveries in our sleep/dreams. In an unconscious state we could realize portals of discovery.

     The objective truth becomes a topic of discussion, leading back to imaginary representation, faked or frozen in time? Evanescence becomes key in images of visible theology. Does divinity remain when it becomes an icon? I think it depends on the viewer, and each individual view. In all honesty, you could probably argue that visible divinity is false in representation, and that they don’t exist. You could also argue that it is the objective truth and very much accurate, it is also dependent on the rhetoric of the encoder, decoder and the noise/static throughout the message.  We live in a reality or simulation where signs have meaning and only when they are not connected will this whole system become weightless, then the understanding of reality will be based on the principle of equivalence. This will never happen, because are conscious is constantly learning and forming understandings/opinions/truths about life.

     This quote made a point that I personally agree with. “We need a past, a visible continuum, a visible myth of origin to reassure us as to our ends, since ultimately we have never believed in them”.
 Are society is based off development and self-image. We must look back in order to move forward, but is everything we look back at a simulation? The answer is maybe.  Disneyland is just another great example of this. A simulated reality within the reality that we live in. Either way it is what it is, you can call into the question of existence, or you could focus on what I find important. Figuring out whether the truths you believe in were brought to you through manipulation or deliberation.

My final thought is this, I feel as people, we all have a puzzle called life. We put together the pieces to create a picture (reality) that makes the most sense to us.  We each have an attempt at reality, and we make it our own, colliding with the reality of others, all together simulating a world of impossible possibilities.