Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA25305 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 7 Feb 2002 15:35:49 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3102A6D22C@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: ply to Grant Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 15:22:25 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Filter-Info: UoS MailScan 0.1 [D 1] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Wade,
<Interesting....
> I would have said that cinema, as a medium, with it's need to montage,
> and the frame of its POV, and its temporal distance from the recorded
> event, is practically _limited_ to fiction. It was TV, with its real-time
> 24/7 ability to distribute, that approaches non-fiction in its essence.
>
> But, that's media study and cinema crit stuff....>
>
> Well, that's true to some extent. There certainly were logistical
> problems of filming real events with early cameras making it easier to put
> things in front of the frame etc. Yet there was a demand for "real" film,
> often met with what today look like really obvious fakes (e.g. 1905 San
> Francisco earthquake) because of the problems of really filming such
> events.
>
The thing is that the conventions of montage emerged, to some extent, out of
how people used film, and experimented with it. The way Grant is arguing it
sound like you should be crediting Gutenberg for Shakespeare, or to keep the
film analogy going to thank Edison/Lumieres for Eisenstein.
There was also the scientific use of the photographic image, evident in a
lot of the 19th early 20th century rhetoric about these new media forms. All
I was saying was that how a technology impacts on society isn't determined
by the inventor of that technology.
I don't know if the segway makers have ever heard of the Sinclair C5 (the
Spectrum inventor's most public flop). I believe there are some nostalgic
websites about this previous attempt to revolutionize how people get around
that would be useful lesson (basically that if people think they'll look
silly using it, it doesn't matter how useful it is, it won't sell).
Besides, as a firm believer in all that late 20th century sci-fi said about
what the 21st century would be like, I want my flying car, and I wnat it
now!
My techie colleague, who does most of the clever stuff in our online Masters
programme, is always going on about the value of books, and how one of the
first things a smart techie with a new piece of kit does is get an
authoritative book on it. The more things change the more they stay the
same (including the cliches).
Vincent
-- The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by charter at Stirling, FK9 4LA. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of the University of Stirling shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 07 2002 - 16:17:16 GMT