Interactive Media Arts @ NYUSH
Our interactive comic idea is a timeline scrolling webpage. The stick figure is holding materials on the bottom of the screen. The timeline is of households, from ancient to present. At each different time period, the stick figure will tell you what and how much materials is required to build the house. The point of this webpage is to portray the houses of different cultures throughout history.
I had trouble uploading my link :\ but will get help during office hours.
Comics is merely the medium…the messenger but not the message itself. Scott McCloud shows, not tells us what comics are and how they are defined in his eyes. This reminds me of the previous reading we had about how technology is merely the medium to internet, as is electricity is a medium to light. We tend to look at things and determine that what you see is what you get, but we don’t look deeper into it.
I really admire the way he decides to tell the audience his viewpoints on things because it’s not too pushy for the reader, but at the same time he uses examples and history of comics to explain his point which I think makes his argument strong. Like a paper, an argument always needs examples and reference points to back it up, and he showed that in such a different light using the concept of comics, his humor, and diving into what comics really represent, what they are, and not just hitting the surface level.
Lastly, I really like the way in the last chapter (4), he approached the readers in a more emotional and psychological way. Explaining how the use of space that the author uses is critical to portraying the message that is trying to be conveyed. Also explaining that each drawing in a comic is so carefully drawn and carefully placed and put, so that to evoke the emotions that the author is trying to get from the readers.
I wanted to start off with a quote in the passage: “…the medium is the message because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action (152).” This quote is basically underlining McLuhan’s point of how it is the medium itself that should be valued, not the usage or the content, because of the simple fact that it is a fuel which starts or gives life to the fire of the internet, night light, phone companies, communication, even happiness.
There is also a misconception that mediums are the content, but it is the usage of those mediums that are the content of the medium. However, even with this idea of “content” in mind, this is usually perceived as something that you can see, touch, smell, etc. — a tangible item for instance. Basically, things that use the medium are usually mistakenly identified as the medium. Therefore, a lot of mediums get pushed under the rug and not fully recognized for the purpose it serves.
In my opinion, I believe that the acknowledgement of the medium, the source, of what the fuel is to the fire that I mentioned before, will allow us to progress forward with new technology, big advances, new research, more answers, etc. because instead of studying what is using the medium, we should instead look at the medium itself because that is what should truly be valued. Working from the core and the root of things will ultimately help us understand many unanswered questions.
Author Tim Berners-Lee expresses the importance of having the internet, especially because of its massive global network connecting people, governments, data, research and more. He breaks down the basic fundamentals of how “the web is an application that runs on the internet (83)”, the separation between them, and uncovering the onion layers of the internet’s process. However, he goes more specifically into detail about the tight control certain governments & businesses have over what they want their viewers to see and limit the amount of information or browsing they can use. I agree with his belief that the primary purpose of the web and internet is to serve its viewers (us), so having a tight rein on what we are able to view and learn on this widely connected digital world, goes against that.
Ingrid Burrington’s article is an interesting piece that focuses on describing how the internet is everywhere, moving 24/7, and is delivered through fragments. I particularly liked the ending part describing how we are all connected with that cell towers located miles away just out of the corner of our eye, just in another world (digital). As well as the fiber-optic cables embedded underneath our railroads and highways allowing us to be connected with others on the go, able to send that email to a colleague in another country, and post on social media.
These two readings have similar things in common like: the internet and it’s amazing network that can be accessed almost everywhere, all the time, connecting people from across the globe, sending important research to other research facilities, sending that important text while on the road, etc. Its presence is from another platform, able to reach us in the physical (world), and luring us into the depths of the digital world, The power and network the internet has can definitely satisfy how Huang puts it — satisfying the primary purpose of the internet: respecting human values; humanity.