Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
In the Gutenburg Galaxy, what change to human thought does McLuhan argue is brought about by print culture?
|
The main change was that the primary sense went from being hearing to being sight. This resulted in a more linear train of thought in the human race.
|
|
|
Why does McLuhan argue that media, and not their content, should be an object of study?
|
Because the medium has always been much more important than any of the information transported across it. For instance; nothing on the internet is anywhere near as important as the internet itself.
|
|
|
In Borges' "Garden of the Forking Paths," what artifact does the title refer to? What is the significance of the artifact as a precursor of computational media?
|
The title is referring to a garden labyrinth. This is an effective metaphor when talking about Computational Media because of the way the focuses of this field all have a branching, sprawling sort of structure.
|
|
|
In Calvino's understanding of computer-aided literature, what purpose does the computer serve?
|
The computer serves to help randomize the "cut ups" that Calvino was experimenting with. This is not to say that the computer was the only component in this randomization process, but human interaction was much less than it used to be.
|
|
|
Why did Vannevar Bush think a Memex machine was necessary?
|
Because a large referential database was necessary for more inter-personal communication (which would enable more efficient research). The difference between having to leaf through multitudes of referential text and being able to bring up linked documents at the touch of a finger is the difference between old-age technology and new-age technology.
|
|
|
Name three features of current computational environments that were prefigured by the Memex.
|
Linking - the ability to link between different documents.
Storage - the ability to store data in a medium. Copying - the ability to copy data in a medium. |
|
|
According to Janet Murray in Hamlet on the Holodeck, what are the four properties of the digital medium? Briefly describe each.
|
Procedural - patterns of rule-based behavior.
Participatory - Patterns of participation. Encyclopedic - Patterns of labeling, sorting, segmentation, categorizing, and grouping. Spatial - Patterns of navigation and boundary definition. |
|
|
What computational artifact does Murray compare to the film "Arrival of the Train at Ciotat Station"? Why?
|
The printing press. The printing press enabled people to experiment with cut ups, altering text, and all those sort of things just as the camera did.
|
|
|
List three effects of the invention of print, according to Marshall McLuhan.
|
Three of the following:
Nationalism Dualism Domination of rationalism Automisation of scientific research Uniformation and standardization of culture Alienation of individuals |
|
|
In Nelson's unrealized system Xanadu, what party managed the system?
|
The users of the Xanadu system were the primary managers. They would be the ones to link documents together in collaboration, as such a large managerial database would allow for even larger amounts of growth.
|
|
|
What does Ted Nelson's backtrack feature do?
|
It is pretty much the "undo" button. You could view previous editions of the current work and things of that nature.
|
|
|
Describe Ted Nelson's stretchtext.
|
Stretchtext would allow for different levels of detail in text by zooming in or out (zooming out gives a larger view of the current topic, zooming in gives more details about the current part of the topic).
|
|
|
What recommendation does Nelson have for managing categorization and directories in the proposed system?
|
Nelson recommends using what we now know as hyperlinks, as linking between the available items on Xanadu by flipping through like objects will organize itself.
|
|
|
Why did Weizenbaum choose the Rogerian psychotherapist as an initial script for Eliza?
|
Because of the fact that the Rogerian psychotherapist's main purpose is to recite back to the user what he or she is saying (ex: patient states something about his family, therapist then responds with a question about his family).
|
|
|
According to Turing, what is the main material obstacle to achieving universal machines capable of succeeding at his imitation game?
|
Computers are too unintelligible to ever completely and seamlessly mimic what goes on in an intelligent being.
|
|
|
What is the name Turing gives to the process of constructing instruction tables used to make computers carry out operations?
|
Turing machine
|
|
|
Douglas Engelbart is famous for delivering the "Mother of all Demos." List at least three key innovations that he demonstrated.
|
Computer Mouse
Hypertext Video Conferencing Teleconferencing Paper paradigm (use of folders, files within folders, white text on black background, etc) |
|
|
What do Mateas and Montfort argue is the main commentary minimalist languages like Brainfuck make about computation?
|
These languages stress the fact that while logical methods of code are important, aesthetics of code can be just as important.
|
|
|
Describe Ted Nelson's "quote window."
|
A representation of a quotation of a compound document in Xanadu. This can be either dynamic or static.
|
|
|
Who came up with the term Hypertext and what did it mean?
|
Ted Nelson. This refers to a link in a document that, when clicked, will pull up another document/window.
|
|
|
What does the name Oulipo mean? What characterizes the Oulipo as an artistic movement?
|
Oulipo: workshop for potential literature. This organization stressed "potential literature," a phrase referring to text made using artificial constraints and boundaries.
This characterizes the movement as artistic, as whenever art is created using a new set of boundaries or rules (ie: the surrealism movement) it is considered an artistic movement. |
|
|
What does Donald Norman mean by "designing for error?"
|
This means to design for the biggest idiot out there. An example of this is to make sure the aesthetics of an artifact make the use of it obvious (such as having the push bar on the correct side of the door so that one does not mistakenly push on the side with the hinges).
|
|
|
Describe the structure of Queneau's A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems. Why does it have this name?
|
The book was made with multiple lines of a sonnet on each page, each line separated with a dotted line. All of these lines were at the same places on the pages so that if each one of the lines was cut the lines of the sonnets could be interchanged with each other. This results in the possibility of millions of different poems.
|
|
|
The Oulipo is characterized as a "combinatory literature." Describe the general nature of this idea of "combinatronics."
|
Combinatronics refers to a method of randomization used in cutup literature. It is a sort of map, where noun A can connect to verbs A, B, C, D, and these verbs can then traverse to other words. Each time this method is run through, a new and unique (yet coherent) sentence is created.
|
|
|
Who wrote, "The Medium is the Message." What does it mean?
|
Marshall McLuhan. It means that the medium is always more important than the things transmitted across it.
|
|
|
What 20th century avant garde artist was Burrough's idea of the "cutup" based upon? What were the differences between the two?
|
Brion Gysin. Gysin's work was almost completely random, whereas Burrough's work adhered to a more poetic and interactive basis.
|
|
|
Briefly describe "double coding" or "multicoding" in programming.
|
Doublecoding - Same representation meant for multiple audiences.
Multicoding - multiple representations (such as a visual model, a physics based model, and a sound based model) |
|
|
Explain Engelbart's notion of augmenting human intellect.
|
This notion was to use computers to enhance the networking capabilities of humans. The idea of a centralized node that could be worked on by multiple people at multiple work stations at the same time.
|
|
|
What does a "thinking machine" mean for Turing?
|
A thinking machine is a program which imitates human though process. A good program that represents this idea is Eliza
|
|
|
Why did Weizenbaum worry about people's reaction to Eliza?
|
Because of the bond that could possibly be formed between man and machine. In studies it was shown that people more often confided in the computer faster than they would have with a human being.
|
