Lecture 9 - Media Specificity

Media Specificity:

Media Specificity, this is the relationship

between media and medium,

The medium is all about the communication

channels 

Powerpoints design makes it more difficult to communicate

with the audience it encourages bullet point

information ( Incomplete thoughts listed as bullets)

Media Specificity can be about the tools used:

All of these tools come from features of the human form:

We use media to extend

Human development becoming human.

For example:

Tools are the extension of the human features for

example:

an extension of the human eye - The telescope

The first products based around sound, where based on the 

humanistic feature of an ear.

It is apparent that new technologies mimic old ones

Media specificity can be used to evaluate art and design, 

for a piece of art to be successful, it must combine the specific stylising

properties of its own medium.

Truth to materials:

Bauhaus 

In order for a medium to have characteristic qualities it

must be grounded in a tradition that has already established

these qualities as intrinsic properties.

"The Medium is the massage" 

this typographic mistake was intentional and was kept

"The alphabet created forgetfulness" - Socrates 

Our social patterns are shaped by the media this had 

an effect on social life as the format of living arrangements changed

for example room structures now revolve around T.V

Electronic media, collapses time and space on a global

scale, Idea of a global village. 

Technology is changing the way our brains work:

now training us to find patterns

Technology as memory extensions:

Drawings, Paintings and Symbol making

Writing

Printing 

Film 

TV

CD

DVD

MP3 

Photography

Sound 

in the 1920's the 10 inch 78rpm shellac gramophone dic became 

the most popular recording medium, this is when people began making songs 

in the 33mm format

95% of songs are around 3 mins long

during the 19th century photography mimicked paintings

The photographic lens is shaped in the form of the eye it extends vision

again this is an extension to the human eye. 

Film: 

Musterberg - 'these devices are all objectifications of the mental process' 

Einstein 

The wizard of oz - 1939 - kansas is is in black and white, oz is in Technicolor 

Uses of film stock rely on an expected audience response,

Scott McCloud - Understanding comics 

Comics share speech bubbles, Gutter and Layout. 

we can never be sure how a message will be received

Format - Graphic design software format and filetypes 

Papersizes 

Typeformats live as a memory of old technology

The design is a ghost of the Guttenberg from 1439