Perec’s paper on classification brings up some interesting ideas and concepts that examine they way we perceive informational hierarchies. Perec uses some (slightly hilarious) examples to illustrate how classification tends not to consider the depth of a topic prior to classification, such as his distinction that Utopia’s are inherent’s depressing due the taxonomical nature of… Read More »
As Christian Paul points out, “the tension between the mostly linear and hierarchical structure of databases and instructions, on the one hand, and, on the other, the seemingly infinite possibilities for reproducing and reconfiguring the information contained within these structures,” very much characterizes digital art. Aesthetics can necessitate certain structural shifts and these are more… Read More »
This week’s topic reminds me a lot of stuffs in my previous work. At that time, I was a data analyst in a research company. Everyday’s job is to deal with bunches of data,data,data… Yet the research data in our clients eyes are totally different from our perspectives. In client’s perspective, the data are orderly… Read More »
This week’s reading was very interesting to me because I felt I was reading about hard core archeologists and archivists even though what they dealt with was digital files. What they do has its own beauty and excitement and recognize the importance of their work. The video on discovering Warhol’s lost digital arts on Amiga… Read More »
Finding cultural relevance in databases is no easy task, but the discovery (or implementation) of meta-narratives in databases has begun to give their aesthetics a cultural form. From questioning browsers such as internet explorer and netscape and how they provide web portals that are based on the format of the printed book, this new form… Read More »
How we keep track of things – how we remember and store our ideas, arguments, facts, and questions always comes down to some sort of record. Sometimes that record is only our mind, a mental record – the simplest, yet most convoluting method possible. Our minds may think we remember purely, but with all the… Read More »
For this week’s reading, I found the “Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge” of Chaim Zins is quite inspirational. In this article Zins argues identifies the concepts and concretes of “data”, “information” and “knowledge” with a semantic method. With Zins’ concept, the data are existing symbols, the knowledge is embodiments and the information… Read More »
In the film Information Machine, the narrator describes people store information “in active memory bank” and use the information to “sort out and relate to the problem”. The narrator calls people “artists”. Human brains are described as if they are machines when information is being processed and stored but when information is taken out of… Read More »
Every once and a while, after a carefully debated argument, the discussion will eventually end with a statement like, “Well, it’s just semantics anyways.” It’s such an innocuous little phrase that until this week’s reading I’d never really given it much thought. Of course, everything is semantics! Our language is incredible, it gives us powerful… Read More »
When does information turn from data into meaning? While reading Information by Ted Byfield I was struck with how the language used in this essay reminds me of the language used to discuss the forming of personal belief systems, in that both are based in the intangible, yet hold powerful meaning and potentiality. The concept… Read More »