overview | structure | concepts | applications | supplementals
Part II: Design and Aesthetics
In Chapter 6, Maribeth Back
claims that reading "continually adapts to whatever technological or social
changes come along (158). She argues for a new kind of multisensory reading,
which "relies on people's ability to collate and decipher multiple sensory
streams simultaneously" (161).
Peter Bøgh Andersen, in Chapter 7, illustrates how digital media are "dissolving many boundaries,"
including the benefits of exploring other domains of knowledge when designing
computer systems. He uses the example of a design project involving computerized
maritime instruments, in which he borrows knowledge from film theory and linguistics
to formulate his design (183).
In Chapter 8, Ragnhild Tronstad
conceptualizes multi-user dungeons (MUDs) in terms of "performance and
theatricality" and discusses "how the different possibilities of acting
and interacting within a MUD environment affect the games that are being played
there" (215). However, describing gaming in these terms is not always sufficient.
He suggests that establishing game studies as a separate discipline might promote
"game-specific concepts" (231).
Lars Qvortrup argues in
Chapter 9 that contemporary digital art is influenced by the avant-garde movement
of the twentieth century and by the computer as a digital art medium (258).
The chapter examines the concept of digital poetics, the meeting point between
art and design, to "identify the poetic potentials of projection and interaction"
(240).
Chapter 10, "Low Tech-High
Concept: Digital Media, Art, and the State of the Arts," focuses on the
impact of media technology on art. Stian
Grøgaard discusses the
shifting attitudes in regards to art theory that can be attributed to the Internet.
The author questions ways in which art should account for such a shift (263).
See the summary for part 1, 2, 3, and 4.
