Editors Marsha Kinder and Tara McPherson present an authoritative collection of essays on the continuing debates over medium specificity and the politics of the digital arts. Comparing the term ...“transmedia” with “transnational,” they show that the movement beyond specific media or nations does not invalidate those entities but makes us look more closely at the cultural specificity of each combination. In two parts, the book stages debates across essays, creating dialogues that give different narrative accounts of what is historically and ideologically at stake in medium specificity and digital politics. Each part includes a substantive introduction by one of the editors. Part 1 examines precursors, contemporary theorists, and artists who are protagonists in this discursive drama, focusing on how the transmedia frictions and continuities between old and new forms can be read most productively: N. Katherine Hayles and Lev Manovich redefine medium specificity, Edward Branigan and Yuri Tsivian explore nondigital precursors, Steve Anderson and Stephen Mamber assess contemporary archival histories, and Grahame Weinbren and Caroline Bassett defend the open-ended mobility of newly emergent media. In part 2, trios of essays address various ideologies of the digital: John Hess and Patricia R. Zimmerman, Herman Gray, and David Wade Crane redraw contours of race, space, and the margins; Eric Gordon, Cristina Venegas, and John T. Caldwell unearth database cities, portable homelands, and virtual fieldwork; and Mark B.N. Hansen, Holly Willis, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Guillermo Gómez-Peña examine interactive bodies transformed by shock, gender, and color. An invaluable reference work in the field of visual media studies, Transmedia Frictions provides sound historical perspective on the social and political aspects of the interactive digital arts, demonstrating that they are never neutral or innocent.
The
, or album of friends, is a singular visual example of early modern travelers' fascination with swiftly changing fashions, regional customs, family lineage, and manuscript decoration. A type of ...souvenir scrapbook, the
preserves in its pages colored depictions of local fashions in dress and various regional customs witnessed while traveling. Along with these miniatures, the album combines sententious mottoes, heraldic shields, and personalized inscriptions from friends met during one's travels. The album owner and friends display their newly acquired humanist education by quoting from ancient, medieval, and contemporary authors in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, French, and Italian, often on the theme of everlasting friendship. This essay looks closely at one album, owned by a German student attending law school at the University of Padua from 1575 to 1579, in order to determine the organizational structure of the
and how the visual material interacts with the written mottoes and inscriptions.
My dissertation “Short Circuits of Reality: Reproducibility, Simulation and Technical Images in Villiers de l’Isle Adam’s L’Eve Future (1887), Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Welt am Draht ,(1973) and ...Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005)” examines the reciprocal relationship between the evolution of visual media technologies and sensory perception. Reading the 20th century as an era of simulation shows that there has been a historical connection between tendencies of simulation and the invention of audiovisual media technologies that enabled the increasingly “photo-realistic” reproduction of our material reality. This interplay and feedback loop between reality and literary imagination created the first female android in literature as a new media technological dawn was on the horizon in the outgoing 19 th century. The rise of the mechanical machines and media technological apparatuses inaugurated the industrial age and the beginning of modernity. Preceding the analyses of Villier’s de L’Isle Adam’s L’Eve Future (1887), Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Welt am Draht (1973), and Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005), I offer a theoretical and terminological foundation. It is based on three thinkers on the impact of media technologies on perception from the now considered “classic era of media theory.” Walter Benjamin’s thoughts on reproducibility and the replacement of original sources by ubiquitous copies are followed by Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulacra and simulation. Here, the distinction between original and copy gradually becomes obsolete in the state of simulation and hyperreality. Vilém Flusser’s theory of technical images and technical imagination stands in contrast to Baudrillard’s, as he counters the deceptive quality of the simulacra by approaching “technical images” (images created by apparatuses) as signifiers that project meaning outwards instead of inwards. The following second chapter is concerned with the notion of unstable sources and the depiction of phonographic, photographic and cinematic media technologies as narrative devices in Villiers de l’Isle-Adam’s novel l’Eve Future from 1887. I argue that the simulation of these media technologies in the narrative enables the destabilization of original sources and replaces them with simulacra that ultimately cannot be sustained. The third chapter analyzes the “aesthetics of simulation” implemented in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s World on a Wire (1973). In a combination of philosophical and existential reflections on the nature of reality, the film calls the perception of reality radically into question while employing a simulative aesthetic that includes the spectator in its cinematic framework. The fourth and final chapter reads the “image as projectile” in Michael Haneke’s Caché (2005). It includes not just the spectator in its visual framework, but also what is purposely left outside of the film-frame. By combining Benjamin’s notion of shock and Flusser’s concept of projection in relation to technical images, I intend to show that Haneke’s moral impetus is related to the (mis)perception of technical—and in this case, digital—images, which have a simultaneous abstract and concrete violent quality. The question that Haneke transfers to the viewer is then, to what extent are we responsible for the violent images we are willingly exposed to on a daily basis?
This dissertation examines the use of visual media as a means of resistance to oppressive political narratives in five Mexican works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Included are two ...novels: Nellie Campobello's Cartucho: Relatos de la lucha en el Norte de México (1931), on the Mexican Revolution, and Elena Poniatowska's La noche de Tlatelolco (1971), about the 1968 Mexican student movement and the October 2 massacre. I also analyze three projects, both visual and discursive, related to the 2014 forced disappearance of 43 students of the Ayotzinapa Teacher's College in Guerrero, Mexico. The three historical moments the five texts explore are marked by particular trends in visual representation as well as by official narratives that manipulate or misrepresent history for political purposes. I analyze Cartucho and La noche de Tlatelolco with regard to their distinctive structures using theories on photography and cinematography, which help to describe the narrative dimensions of the works. The photography theory is primarily drawn from the work of Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, and Roland Barthes, while the cinematographic theory is drawn from Sergei Eisenstein's work on intellectual montage. I argue that Cartucho functions as a textual "album," in which each brief text (relato) presents a snapshot of a participant or moment during the Mexican Revolution related to the Villista forces. Campobello's work responds to the commercial and political uses of photographic images of the time (1916-1920) and was written with the goal of refuting the "black legend," which characterized the Villistas as criminals. Concerning La noche de Tlatelolco, I analyze the way in which early editions of the book incorporated images of 1968, and argue that the text is best understood as an intellectual montage, which communicates through interactions between the fragmentary and contradictory texts that comprise the book. I analyze the three Ayotzinapa projects, a museum exhibit, an online platform, and the Antimonumento +43, by considering how an audience must interact with each; my goal is to understand the discourse these works generate regarding the Ayotzinapa case, and I explore the problems of historicization and memorialization in relation to ongoing Ayotzinapa activism.
The ＂digital Other＂ is a useful description for a phenomenon we often face in contemporary literature. Many characters act as if an invisible observer is judging them, even when they are alone or in ...an intimate situation. They continuously undergo acts of self-objectification, which require an optical medium, like a camera shot. The ＂Other＂ who holds the camera has no physical presence in the story but a psychological presence in the character's mind. I call this internalized authority the ＂digital Other,＂ and it refers to today's omnipresent digital visual media. The power of the digital Other could be compared to the power the air has from the perspective of an aircraft pilot. Even though the air cannot be seen or touched, it moves the plane and forces its pilot to react to it. The internalized idea of an invisible observer has the same effect on literary figures. It makes them not only decide what to wear or say but also whom they are allowed to regard as desirable and how they should perform their sexuality. Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul J. D'Ambrosio claim that nowadays having an identity feels like presenting yourself through a social media profile, and the digital Other can be described as an agent supporting this profile-based identity. The burden of permanent self-objectification also has an impact on modes of literary narration. The digital Other entails a remarkable connection of internal and external focalizations. Literary voices seem to simultaneously describe actions both from internal and external points of view. The narrative voice sounds odd because it is subjective and yet inauthentic. Through this bizarre voice, characters are staged as objects even when they are presented through first-person narration. The narrative voice presents an imaged, idealized ego, a mode of self-presentation that obeys the digital Other.
This chapter aims at revising common historiographic views that consider the origins of cinema and of television within different trajectories of technological development and in distinct cultural ...moments of the twentieth century. It starts with an assessment of what the methodological prospects of media archaeology may contribute to the study of early cinema today. Drawing on such media archaeological approaches, the chapter then demonstrates how the history of electrical transmission media (such as radio and television broadcasting) was in fact intertwined with media of recording and inscription (such as phonography, and, of course, cinema) long before the digital turn made their intersections more readily perceivable.
Purpose - This paper aims to explore the entangling of economic, social and cultural values which circulate in visual branding, reflect business practice and add intangibles to organisations.Design ...methodology approach - The study is placed in the context of the difficulties and shortcomings of accounting for brands. A conceptual framework is constructed, based in critical theory from arts disciplines, notably from the thought of Barthes, Panofsky and Peirce. The icon is a primary denotation or representation. Iconography is a secondary level of coded meaning. Iconology is an interpretation that calls on the unconscious. Intermingling of the icon and the logos is considered. This accounting context and arts framework are used to compare the financial statements of the Bradford & Bingley Bank with its visual branding.Findings - The financial statements are almost silent regarding brands, in line with regulation. In response to the greater competition that accompanied deregulation and globalisation, the Bank's lending and funding practices become more innovative. The visual framework reveals a changing iconography and iconology where class, detectives, music hall and the bowler-object may be discerned. An iconology is suggested of dreamlike connotations and magical powers in the collective unconscious. The Bradford & Bingley have actively managed their visual branding to reflect and appeal to a changing society, and a more competitive business environment.Research limitations implications - The study provides a model which may be applied to visual aspects of financial reporting and branding. It would benefit from an assessment of readership impact.Practical implications - The analysis is of interest to accounting researchers, practitioners, trainees and auditors. It illuminates the ways in which visual branding interacts with business practices and conveys intangible values that are not reflected in the accounts.Originality value - The paper augments theoretical and empirical work on visual images in accounting.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the presentation medium of corporate social and environmental web site disclosure has an impact on user trust in such disclosure, and to ...examine the effect of media richness on user perception about corporate social and environmental responsibility.Design methodology approach - The paper's methodology is a three-by-two between-subjects design experiment, manipulating presentation medium and industry type. Participants viewed social and environmental web site disclosures and completed and communicated their perceptions of trust and the experimental companies' corporate social responsibility.Findings - The presentation medium richness of social and environmental web site disclosures is positively associated with: trusting intentions, but not trusting beliefs, of web site users; and user perception of corporate social and environmental responsibility.Research limitations implications - As with all controlled experiments, the research design focused on internal validity to maintain control over the task design, manipulation, and measurement of variables. While this required trade-offs with external validity, the task was designed based on real-world scenarios to maintain high levels of external validity within the experimental setting.Practical implications - The paper provides evidence that corporations could use enhanced web-based technology to potentially mislead users regarding their performance in the social domain.Originality value - The paper extends the visual disclosure literature by examining the richness of the image visual media, and investigates whether user perceptions are impacted by the variations in its richness.
The triple visual Justesen, Lise; Mouritsen, Jan
Accounting, auditing & accountability journal,
07/2009, Letnik:
22, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze relations among different kinds of visualization in annual reports and to trace their interaction with activities in marketing and sales, in design ...and planning, and in operations. For this purpose it is intended to produce insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual report: the 3-D visualization.Design methodology approach - It is a case study of a firm that uses different kinds of visualization in many parts of its activities. The case study is based on different kinds of empirical data, such as annual reports, interviews and field observations. This allows a better understanding of relations and translation between visualization and organizational practices. The paper draws on theoretical work on photography and 3-D visualizations and is inspired by the actor-network theory approach in its analysis of how various kinds of visualizations interact.Findings - It is suggested that visualization is important in all aspects of the firm's activities such as accounting, communication, selling, planning and operations. It is shown how the visualizations interact with one another and are superimposed on one another to develop even stronger modes of reporting in the annual report and stronger coordination towards the market, production and operations. Visualizations in annual reports are not merely window dressing but also their traces and referents have to be found elsewhere than in the financial reporting system.Research limitations implications - This is a single case study, and more cases need to be analyzed to understand the complexities of interactions between visualizations.Originality value - The paper produces insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual report: the 3-D visualization.
This dissertation examines a corpus of 486 satirical images of artistic life in Paris. The Parisian art-world was regularly the subject of a form of satirical criticism conducted in visual media. ...More significantly, this satirical criticism was produced in the medium of print, and in its reproducibility, could broadcast its satire to large audiences. By doing so in the amusing and subversive tone of satire, it constituted a visual counterpart to art criticism. I examine what these images reveal to us collectively over time as they overlap with representations of the art world disseminated in other equally understudied popular media, namely popular theater (vaudeville and opéra comique) and panoramic fiction (physiologies, short fiction, and so on). This project sits at the intersection of the study of graphic satire and visual culture, and several strains of the social history of art, namely institutional histories of Paris’ art world, and the study of the representation of the artist and of artistic sociability. I also employed Digital Humanities Methodologies, namely Qualitative Data Analysis using NVivo, to produce distant and close readings of this corpus of images. Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century art-world caricature was preoccupied with the art world and its actors, such as artists, connoisseurs, art critics, Salon juries, art audiences, dealers and sellers, and patrons and buyers. Further still, art-world caricature was overwhelmingly attentive to the relationship among different types of actors as mediated by an invisible system of structural relations, made visible via graphic satire’s representational language. These objects thus collectively mounted a coherent critique of the shifting structural relations within Paris’ art world. This dissertation argues that satirical images of artistic life in Paris presented a social type designed to contradict images of the artist as exceptional and as genius. Instead, art-world caricature proposed the “inglorious artist,” or the mediocre, common, and ordinary artist who toils, struggles, and ultimately fails to succeed in an increasingly liberalized art world.
