The Computational Turn: Thinking About The Digital Humanities
"first-wave digital humanities involved the building of infrastructure in the studying of humanities texts through digital repositories, text markup, etc., whereas second-wave digital humanities expands the notional limits of the archive to include digital works, and so bring to bear the humanities’ own methodological toolkits to look at ‘born-digital’ materials, such as electronic literature (e-lit), interactive fiction (IF), web-based artefacts, and so forth."
(David M. Berry, 2011)
Berry, D. M. (2011). "The Computational Turn: Thinking About The Digital Humanities." Culture Machine 12.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Syllabus for Information Aesthetics at UIC School of Art and Design
"This studio course investigates the database as cultural form (Manovich, 2001), in the context of data visualization, digital fabrication, and computational aesthetics. Traditionally viewed as a tool for scientific reasoning and data exploration, information visualization has emerged as an artistic practice, propelled by the democratization of data sources and the advancement of computer graphics. The massive amount of data collected and disseminated online constitutes the basis for this course. Participants will be introduced to the basic skills for developing creative projects in two-, three-, and four dimensions, such as indexes, graphs, prints, digitally fabricated objects and maps. Students will also become familiar with the a basic vocabulary to co-create and collaborate with professionals in future contexts.
The course focuses on current standards for web development and mobile applications, including HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, PHP, MySQL, and Processing(.js). Fundamentals in XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, and programming are beneficial, but not required. Throughout the course, students are asked to utilize the class blog to collect and share resources, collaboratively collecting interesting data sources towards a final project. A series of presentations, screenings, readings, and discussions will expose students to creative projects and artworks in the context of information visualization. Each student selects a research topic followed by an in-class research presentation (see schedule). Participants will also present their work during class critiques and interdisciplinary workshops to receive qualitative feedback from the instructor(s) and the class."
(Daniel Sauter, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Art and Design, Fall 2011)
Fig.1 Matt Wizinsky (2011). "Chicago unDensity", University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
The process of conceptualisation can be seen as an emergent process that involves the constant re-projection of prior understanding onto new and changing circumstances
"An inspiring new website for digital culture and creative practices has been created by School of Art & Design academic Simon Perkins. The Folksonomy - www.folksonomy.co - is a knowledge commons and social bookmarking tool for digital culture and creative practice. The brainchild of Simon Perkins, as part of his research, the Folksonomy simplifies the process of clipping references and features photographs, videos and published documents. The Folksonomy is simultaneously a device for engaging with and a product of digital culture. It acts as a teaching tool for supporting the generation of ideas and digital culture creative practice. The research project is of a broader practice that extends from creative technology and design teaching and is focused on the nature of knowledge construction within digital culture environments. One of the unique aspects of the site is the way content is categorised, as it simultaneously belongs to multiple and sometimes contradictory categories, encouraging the viewer to make new discoveries. This sits in stark contrast to the more traditional logic conventionally employed by libraries and computer operating systems where books and files are organised according to a linear, centralised and hierarchical form. Simon says: 'The process of conceptualisation can be seen as an emergent process that involves the constant re-projection of prior understanding onto new and changing circumstances. The Folksonomy tool aims to support this type of tactical interaction through its use of linking and association.'"
(NTU, 2010, p.140-141)
Fig.1 Simon Perkins (2010) 'Stellarscope Constellations'.
2). NTU (2010). 'OPEN: 50 RESEARCH PROJECTS exploring the boundaries of creativity', College of Art & Design and Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University.
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
Database of Virtual Art: a richly interlinked online repository
"The Database of Virtual Art documents the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art. This complex, research-oriented overview of immersive, interactive, telematic and genetic art has been developed in cooperation with established media artists, researchers and institutions. The web-based, cost-free instrument - appropriate to the needs of process art - allows individuals to post material themselves. Compiling video documentation, technical data, interfaces, displays, and literature offers a unique answer to the needs of the field. All works can be linked with exhibiting institutions, events and bibliographical references. Over time the richly interlinked data will also serve as a predesessor for the crucial systematic preservation of this art."
(Oliver Grau)
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The Constellations ProjectSHARE
Lev Manovich: Database Logic
"In contrast to standard film editing which consists in selection and ordering of previously shot material according to a pre-existent script, here the process of relating shots to each other, ordering and reordering them in order to discover the hidden order of the world constitutes the film's method. Man with a Movie Camera traverses its database in a particular order to construct an argument. Records drawn from a database and arranged in a particular order become a picture of modern life — but simultaneously an argument about this life, an interpretation of what these images, which we encounter every day, every second, actually mean."
(Lev Manovich, p.210)
Manovich, Lev. 2000 The Language of New Media, , : The MIT Press. 0-262-63255-1
[Lev Manovich's commentary on new media, The Language of New Media discuses various key issues, making connections between contemporary new media discourse and Dziga Vertov's seminal work A Man With a Movie Camera (1929).One of his contentions is that the structure of Man with a Movie Camera follows a database logic (despite being created half a century before their invention). Manovich argues that the film uses a non-linear, ad-hoc logic to present its argument.]
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The Constellations ProjectSHARE
