2007년 12월 16일 일요일

conclusion: the extent of the 'extensions of man' (12/11)

This day was end of our class.
There were many things to learn, which will be very useful for me to know in my future career as a media artist.
I was very happy to attend this lecture.

As our last class went on, Professor Yoon explained all over which we have learned.

We talked about some people. Mc Luhan, Williams, Vilem flusser, Bruno Latour, Paul Virilio, and so on.
They all had their different ideas on media. There isn't an exact answer of what media is but by learning there thoughts, we can expand our thinkings about media.

My thought of media is.. with what I have learned in this class is that media keep on changing in both useful ways as well as creating uncomfortable things too in some way. Still it will develop for our needs which will never change.

Media is also a medium to communicate. Also it is used for art too. It have various kinds of media. They all will someday contribute to our well being life.

I, in the future will be one man who will influence in this part, and I really thank Professor Yoon for this class. Thank you!

2007년 12월 9일 일요일

The many virtues of Sant McLuhan (12/6)

There are some extension thesis.

Aristotle said that "The idea that tells are extensions of soul and body(Body is the soul's matural too.)" We can give slave and the master for an example. With out soul, we can't move our body. The core of idea is that instruments extend the functions of the lobouring body.

Marx said that "It is a productions of Human industry" Such as railways, electric machines..

Kapp sees technology as a form of 'organ projection', by comparing human organ with technology. Such as, telegraphics=nerve system, railways=circulatory system.

Bergson said "If our organs are matural instruments, our instruments must then be artifical organs." For instance, a fake leg last much long than the real leg.

Well.. all of these are their point of view. I think they all are reasonable. They also studied more than me. But the reason why they have a different thoughts is that the environment surrounding them were different. That might brought up all those different ideas. My idea is a little close to Kapp's.

In environmental thesis, by this we can do lot more than that we can do. A good example for this is 'Robocop.' It can do many police works that real human police officers can't do.
In real world we can find out many things like this. Internet allows us to not be in like while we register some things in off-line. We can watch TV anywhere with the help of the cell phone.

There is anti-content thesis. This says "The medium is the message." This means that societies have always been shaped more by nature of the media by which men communicate than by content of communication.
I think this is very interesting point. Sould we focus the contents on the medium? Or should we focus medium on content?
Well.. I think it really depends on the situation. I think if the content is a reall good, we should focus on the contents and put the medium so that we can actualize the content. If the medium is so good(a well developed technology), we should think what kind of content we could put on.

Mapping Marshall McLuhan and Williams (12/4)

As media technologies change, a way of delivering message also have changed.

First, messages were delivered by primitive oral culture. Next, by literate culture. After, Mechanical printing, and now by electric media.

These were changed due to a technology development. And I think also, by people's need. Just by a literate way, we couldn't express a message effectively. Like when we say "I love you!" It can really mean that I love you, but I also can mean I don't love you, when it is pronounced differently. Anyway, later mechanical printing was developed. This is like 'pal man dae jang kyung'. By this we could print out a lot at once. Now there is an electric media to send messages, like web, cell phones, and etc.

The important thing is that, while delevering a message it could be changed. Like when Korea didn't have a skill to make our own money, we had to send the picture to another country to make it. For example, when we sent a picture of 'King Sae Jong', they couldn't make it exactly. When it first came to drawer's hand, he changed a little bit, and sent to a draftman. The draftman also changed as his way. He cut of what he thought it was not needed. Next carvler carved in his way as he used to do. When the print came out, it was quite different compared to the original. It looked more like a foriegner.

For another example, 'Story Chun Hang', which we can say it is in a small group have changed into many similar stories, like 'chun hang duen', etc.
Many media contents can be changed or translated to other media. This is why story telling came out.

If we see above, we just can't say that the changes of the message is really bad for us. Changed messages could be distracting to us, but on the other hand it makes a lot of fun stories. So it is important to figure out on which occasion is good and bad.

2007년 12월 2일 일요일

New media : Determining or determined? (11/29)

On this lecture, we have learned about whether a new media is determining or determined, which means.. is new media a active or passive.


We have discussed this problem by talking about Mc Luhan and Williams. Also by talking about centeral culture and popular culture.

McLuhan said that new media change everything. On the other hand Williams said that medium is a part of our culture, and it includes socual processes.
I think it is just a way of thinking. It is very similar to the phrase, 'Is egg first or a chicken first?' That's because new media can change everything with it's new technologies, and also we can think that those new media(new technologies) is brought up in our culture. If we see TV as an example, we can ask... is TV made up as a part of our culture? or did TV changed our life style and our culture? This, we should ask to the person who developed the TV.

Again, centeral culture and popular culture.
Centeral culture is enjoyed by only few person, like classic, oppera, etc. This have a history, and contain a lot of studies and researches. We also call this a high art.
Popular culture is a culture which is popular to us. TV shows could be an example, and this have no historical background. To make popular culture to centeral culture, we have to research many things and study, so that it can have a historical background. Many proffessors and students are doing this works.
Prof. Yoon said arts like pictures are considered as a centeral culture, but media artrs like interactive arts are not considered as a centeral culture. That's because arts like pictures have a long histories, but media arts doesn't. But I'm sure media arts will become a centeral culture soon, because technologies are developing and things are changing very rapidly in this century.

the return of the Frankfurt school critique in the popularisation of new media & conclusion (11/27)

In this lecture, on thing which was important was that there are two ways to create a media.

One is to reflect the traditional to make a new thing. This can be thought as paintings like Picasso, and so on. these paintings are not a new way. They just followed the traditional ways to paint.

But on the other hand, there is a way to create new by not reflecting the traditional. By just combining many new things, it create another new thing. By this we can get various of new things than before.


I also have learned that the politicans used media to scatter people's concentrations. For example, in Korea, Jeon Doo Hyun used 3S( sport, sex, screen) to scatter people's concentrations. So I can say media is a very powerful weapon.

Who was dissatisfied with old media? (11/20)

Am I dissatisfied with the old media??

Well.. not exactly until the new media came out. For example, when TV was there with no other new media, it itself was very interesting and new.

As time passed, many new media have been developed with new technologies. Such as video player, and after DVD player came out. Many new media comes out due to the dissatisfings of the media before. That's why media keep on developing.

As a conclusion, I think rather saying that we are dissatisfied with the old media, it is more wright to say we want new functions in the media as technologies develop.

the return of the middle ages and other media archaeologies(11/13) / a sense of deja vu & conclusion (11/15)

We have talked of dejavu in this class.

Dejavu is a situation which you think it really happened just like it happened in your dream.
I had many dejavus. There were many situations which exactly happened just as in my dream. When I was in India, I was lying down on a bed, and the telephone rang. That was exactly same with my dream when I was in Korea. So I thought it was some kind of prediction that I will go to India. There are many other dejavus which I have experienced, and it is always a strange and new sensation to me.