New Media Dictionary: Part IX: General Terms in New Media
- New Media Dictionary
The New Media Dictionary project [1] was born out of the desire to name and define the many and varied forms of art that have developed in conjunction with technology. A whole lexicon is being created to describe the many processes, techniques, instruments and critical and aesthetic concepts—in short, the entire emerging culture—of this immense laboratory workshop.
The terms selected for this issue are general terms used in many fields within the broader scope of "new media." The terms and definitions have been chosen by the Groupe de recherche en arts médiatiques (GRAM).
Interested artists and researchers are invited to submit additions and comments to Section Editor Louise Poissant [2]. These contributions will be added to the electronic version of the dictionary, with credit to the author. In this way, the New Media Dictionary will gradually become a collective project, in which each significant contribution will find its place.
These definitions were prepared by Ginette Daigneault, Francis Dhomont, Chantal duPont, Georges Dyens, Monique Langlois, Suzanne Leblanc and Robert Normandeau. Project director: Louise Poissant. Translator: Lou Nelson.
Dictionary Terms—Part IX: General Terms in New Media
AMPLITUDE—The maximum value, either positive or negative, of a wave in relation to its undisturbed position. Maximum variation in sound intensity is represented by electrical voltage in relation to a balance point. The intensity of a light signal is determined by its amplitude, which is represented on an oscilloscope or monitor as a waveform.
ANALOG—Pertaining to data represented by continuously variable physical quantities (e.g. voltage or current). An analog measurement is usually represented by a curve, which expresses an indefinite number of successive values, rather than a sampling of discrete values. In music, the intensity of the current that displaces the membrane of a speaker and the variation in air pressure perceived by the human ear are analog quantities. In video, the signals are analog by nature.
AUTHOR—1. In film and video, the director who puts his or her mark on the film (or theme, style or technique). 2. In multimedia, a person who uses an authoring system to build hypertext or hypermedia. Alexandre Astruc, in his essay "La caméra-stylo" (1948), was the first to compare the camera to a pen, by which he meant that it is the instrument by which the director "writes" his film and imprints his style upon it. Taken up by the French review Cahiers du Cinéma in 1951, the idea was reprised and developed by François Truffaut, one of the review's critics, in January 1954. Truffaut stated that a film should reflect the viewpoint and personality of the director, who should be more than a simple stage director. The term auteur was used later by Andrew Sarris, who introduced the principles of the auteur theory to the United States in his article "Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962," published in Film Culture. He felt that in addition to possessing technical mastery, the director should impose his personality on the film and give it his interior meaning. The expression "film d'auteur" is still in use and has even expanded to include video and multimedia.
BALANCE—1. A fader used to decrease the amplitude of one of the channels in a stereo signal. 2. Balance in the acoustical output level of two different channels in recording and sound reproduction equipment. 3. Proportional balance in the level of video signals.
COLLAGE—1. An artistic process that consists of pasting various elements (paper, small objects) onto a paper or canvas surface. Collage implies two operations: extracting elements and then integrating them into a new whole. Through borrowing, the artist creates new meaning. Such borrowings may involve elements taken from reproductions of famous paintings or even entire paintings. Collage was first introduced as a visual art in 1913, by Braque, Picasso and the cubist movement, and is still practiced today. When large objects are integrated into an installation, the process is called bricolage, a concept defined by Claude Lévi-Strauss in 1958. 2. In computer graphics, a technique that consists of pasting pieces from different pictures...
