Overview digital media...

Discussion -- revisit theory

What does ‘the media’ refer to? Press, cinema, broadcasting, etc.)

The ‘new media’ as a term? Less settled, known, identified Intensity of change Ideological connotations of new Non-technical inclusiveness (gui)

New Media…

New textual experiences (hypertext, cgi) New ways of representing the world New relationships between subjects Shifts in the personal and social experience of time,

space and place Unclear distinctions between human / artificial,

nature / technology New patterns of organization and production

“Key terms in discourses about new media” Digitality – (vs. analogue) – assigning numerical values

to phenomena Interactivity – an opportunity to manipulate and intervene

in media Hypertextuality – when a work is made up of discrete

units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other units

Dispersal – distribution of information – for new media, through multiple input / output channels

Virtuality – immersive experience, or identification of being in a space (MMORPGs, Second Life)

Key Terms... Postmodernism – a sense of blurring of boundaries

between previously distinct or opposite phenomena: high culture / popular culture, local/ global, public/private

Technoculture – Concept of a modern culture where technology has so deeply saturated into cultural practices that the two distinctively different spheres are seen to be inseparable

CMC – Computer Mediated Communication Convergence – the coming together of previously

discrete media forms and processes through digital technologies

But how did we get here?

Before personal computers...

Mechanical computers Vacuum tubes Mainframe computers Transistor (Bell labs / Shockley, Bardeen,

Brattain) Integrated circuit

Personal Computers

World’s first personal computer? (kit) MITS -- Altair 8800

First mass market personal computer Apple II

IBM impact / open architecture Compaq clone First GUI (PARC - Zerox) / Apple / Windows Mouse / Ethernet / wired / wireless ChromeBook? Tablets? Cloud Computing?

Vannevar Bush(1890-1974)

Many consider Bush to be the Godfather of our digital age, often making reference to his 1945 essay, "As We May Think."

Bush described a theoretical machine he called a "memex," which was to enhance human memory by allowing the user to store and retrieve documents linked by associations.

This associative linking was very similar to what is known today as hypertext.

Others…

Gottfried Leibniz (math, logic, philosophy) Charles Babbage (invented first mechanical computer)

Alan Turing (father of computer science and artificial intelligence)

Ted Nelson (‘discovered’ hypertext) Roland Barthes (structuralism, semiotics) Bill Gates? Steve Jobs? Jaron Lanier? Tim Berners-Lee? Who else?

Internet Review

Advanced Research Projects Agency Pentagon / University relationship

LANs and WANs Single location / wide geographic area

ARPANET combined with LANs and WANs became the Internet in 1983 Made possible by... TCP/IP protocol (Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf) Packet switching and IP addresses

Domain Name System (DNS)

IP address 158.135.172.2 Text-based DNS translates human language into

the computer’s ‘phone number’ TLD -- .com , .net, .edu. (also gTLD -- generic)

ccTLD -- country code -- .ca , .uk (list) Determined by IANA -- Internet Assigned Numbers

Authority

Organizational identifier -- tamu-commerce , google Domain names administered by ICANN -- Internet

Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

Programs on the Internet…

WWW -- Tim Berners-Lee devised HTML language which led to Mosaic

A browser interprets the HTML What else has come along?

XML--extensible markup language SOAP--simple objects access protocol (based on

XML XHTML--another form of XML VRML

HTML extensions…

Continued HTML development... HTML 5

CSS Cascading styles sheets -- a way to style HTML. Whereas

the HTML is the content, the style sheet is the presentation of that document.

PHP An HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax

is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly."

Programs on the Internet…

E-mail Newsgroups / Usenet (link) Chat / IM (AIM, Google Talk, Meebo) Telnet -- remote access to server FTP -- like Fetch (file transfer protocol) Internet Phone (Skype, MagicJack) Web 2.0 (blogs, Second Life, podcasts…)

Video streams (Bittorent, Veoh, Hulu, clicker)

Web 2.0

Top 10 Broadcast Media

Top Video Sites

http://websearch.about.com/od/imagesearch/tp/popularvideosites.htm

What’s going on today…

Blogs / moblogs / vlogs Journalism / bloggers

RSS feeds Podcasts, etc. / newsreader software

New economic models -- Google Legal issues -- RIAA, MPAA Other issues

Malware, Digital Divide, charging fees to Internet sites, net neutrality (Comcast)

Mobile Computing Devices PDAs -- Functions / changes through the years GPS

Vehicle fixed / portable Satellite connection vs. most others

Cell Phones -- iPhone example Portable Video Games

GameBoy, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP / music, movies Ultra Mobile PCs

CES -- Focus on touch technologies iPad Readers

Wearable Computers?

Cell phone Generations

‘two-way radio’ style, then cells ‘cellular’ process developed by (‘old’) AT&T IG -- analog -- 1983 -- AMPS -- ‘advanced mobile

phone service 2G -- digital introduction -- early 1990s

CDMA, TDMA initially in the U.S. (CDMA: Sprint, Verizon) GSM type adopted first in Europe (AT&T / T-Mobile)

3G -- higher data transmission speeds -- switch to packet switching (AT&T article) -- 1-3 mbps

4G -- up to about 10 mbps -- download speed

Broadcasting vs. streaming

DVB-H (digital video broadcasting - handheld) standard for broadcasting to handsets

DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) for multimedia broadcasting -- not available in North America

Streaming allows VOD -- AT&T Mobile , Verizon

Development of Technologies 3G cell phones -- packet and circuit switching

EV-DO example 4G LTE -- ‘not true 4G’

Wi-Fi 802.11 and 802.11x refers to a family of specifications developed by

the IEEE for wireless LAN technology. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, pronounced I-triple-E

WiMax Also known as IEEE 802.16--intended for wireless "metropolitan area

networks". Provides broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations.

WiFi/802.11 wireless local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 100 - 300 feet (30 - 100m).

Why 802?

The 802 group is the section of the IEEE involved in network operations and technologies, including mid-sized networks and local networks. Group 15 deals specifically with wireless networking technologies, and includes the now ubiquitous 802.15.1 working group, which is also known as Bluetooth.

Other Wireless Technologies Bluetooth

Name comes from Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the late 900s

There are lots of different ways that electronic devices can connect to one another--Component cables, Electrical wires, Ethernet cables, WiFi, Infrared signals…

Bluetooth is essentially a networking standard that works at two levels: It provides agreement at the physical level -- Bluetooth is a radio-

frequency standard; AND, it provides agreement at the protocol level, where products

have to agree on when bits are sent, how many will be sent at a time, and how the parties in a conversation can be sure that the message received is the same as the message sent. (cell phone, GPS, PDA--Starfield example)

Other Wireless Technologies ZigBee The set of specs built around the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless

protocol. Name "ZigBee" derived from the erratic zigging patterns many

bees make between flowers when collecting pollen. The standard is regulated by a group known as the ZigBee Alliance, with over 150 members worldwide.

Bluetooth focuses on connectivity between large packet user devices--laptops, phones, major peripherals….

ZigBee is designed to provide highly efficient connectivity between small packet devices -- thermostats, home appliances to the home network

Developing Technologies WPAN

Wireless personal area network Bluetooth and Zigbee

RFID “IBM Uses RFID to Track Conference Attendees” “New chip promises to track kids from miles away” Tracks things and people

DTV? / HD Radio Multicasting channels -- data transmission? Two way interactivity FCC approval

Technical changes

Copper wires to fiber optic cable Circuit Switching to packet switching Landline to wireless Convergence of technologies and companies

Technical examples

Fiber Optics, satellite, microwave Making ‘free’ phone calls

(VoIP) Skype Magic Jack Netzero Voice / Messenger / iChat Jajah.com

Cell phone as a hybrid medium

Delivery of video to cellular phones is becoming more widespread… voice / data … and

Verizon’s V-Cast service; Sprint’s MobiTV service. Both use the cellular network to deliver the content. New service and technology, MediaFlo, developed

by Qualcomm, uses part of the television broadcasting spectrum (channel 55) to send multi-media content to mobile phones. --see FloTV

Allows wireless carriers to offer video content without taking up much needed bandwidth in their cellular network.

Broadband delivery -- wired DSL

DSLAM / extenders (digital subscriber line access multiplexer)

IPTV (AT&T: U-verse, Verizon: FiOS) Dedicated line (no slowdown)

Cable modem (DOCSIS -- 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0) Shared down trunk line (slowdown) Information service / no open access

Fiber to the home/premises (FTTH/P) Or ... FTTN -- fiber to the node (last mile is coaxial cable for cable &

twisted-pair copper for DSL Broadband over power line (BPL)

Interference State approval

Broadband delivery -- wireless

Fixed wireless broadband (FWB) (from MMDS) 3G mobile wireless (4G / pre-4G / 4G LTE) Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) (‘WLAN’) Wi-Max (802.16) -- www.clear.com Satellite

HughesNet & WildBlue Latency problem (VoIP, games) “a time delay between the

moment something is initiated, and the moment one of its effects begins or becomes detectable”

Some downlink only (dial-up modem uplink)

Broadband today (3)

Sites like Metacafe.com, blip.tv, Veoh.com Hulu.com and others are driving a whole new category of video that could eventually be a more popular format than 30 or 60 minute programs.

These days consumers themselves are driving this "broadband or TV" debate into irrelevance. They're busy accessing programming on demand - whether "broadband" or "TV"

This is through a host of devices and services whose popularity is only going to skyrocket in the future. These include TiVo, Xbox, Netflix, Wii, etc.

Broadband Today (4)

With the proliferation of available broadband video comes a massive user navigation challenge. Modern Feed launched (4/8/08) to address this. Now Clicker.

Part search engine, part aggregator, with a specific focus on indexing professionally-produced programming, not user-generated video. It's also focused on actual programs, not promotional clips.

Broadband Today (5) J.D. Heilprin, Modern Feed's founder/CEO: But -- check it out and see if it has managed that

the company is targeting mainstream users providing the easiest way to find available, high-quality video.

It employs a team of "Feeders" charged with curating the best videos to include on the site. The result is approximately 550 "networks" and 25,000 pieces of content now indexed

”Networks" is a loose term ranging from traditional broadcasters to indies new entrants like Boston Symphony or Architectural Digest.

What else is important? -->

Smart TVs / connected devices Apple TV -- hard drive / non hard drive New Apple TV? Boxee Google TV Roku WDTV Slingbox (?) Tivo Premiere MeeGo DEVICE vs. PROVIDER (new ‘networks’?)

Home Networks

Residential gateway (aka - cable/DSL router) ‘the key device in most home networks’

Wired (server / hub / router) LAN Wireless (wi-fi / WLAN / 802.11) Interconnects all computers and other IP

devices Connects the home network to the

broadband connection

‘Specs’ Technical specifications or standards

Or, the marketplace decides? HPNA -- Home Phoneline Networking

Alliance -- technology, built on Ethernet, allows all the components of a home network to interact over the home's existing telephone wiring without disturbing the existing voice or fax services

IEEE -- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Proprietary or agreed-upon?

VHS vs. Beta (home) DVD-R / DVD-RW vs. DVD+R / RW vs. RAM HD-DVD vs. BluRay WMA vs. RealPlayer vs. Quicktime etc.

codecs HDTV (8-VSB / COFDM)

Home ‘hot spot’ Applications?

Multiple networked computers Computers share one printer Integration of phone / cable or satellite systems / DVR,

Slingbox, etc. with IP Security system connections Control any IP device -- Microsoft has been working

with Whirlpool to allow users to monitor their laundry with their home network, computer, TV, and cell phone.

Continuing growth in American homes operating a wireless network, making the US the leader in adoption of wireless home networks.

Wireless security

Wireless ‘cloud’ -- public places Encryption types

WEP -- Wired Equivalency Privacy easily hacked -- do a ‘Cracking wi-fi’ or cracking WEP search on YouTube

Wireless Hacking / WEP hacking / Free wi-fi anywhere

WPA -- Wi-Fi Protected Access 128 bit encryption WPA Personal -- password protected WPA-Enterprise -- server verified

Evil Twins Phony hotspots to steal information

What else?

RFID (ubiquitous?) Smart Home (video) / robotics Speech recognition

Types: Discrete, continuous & complete Speech recognition gone awry Better success demo (click screen when page loads)

Ultra HD video (cinema--to replace film projection) Electronic paper (Kindle, iPad) (e-paper demo) Wikis

GIGO conundrum? LA Times experiment Google docs as collaborative authoring?

Virtual / Augmented Reality (RWWW)

Second Life (promo/commercial) Google Earth and other competitors Education, Entertainment, etc. in a ‘virtual

world’?