[iDC] shelf life

[Adrianne Wortzel]

>  Euripides remains interpretable today because the 'code' it is 
>written in (whether the
>original or a translation) is open to humans to read. In the case of digital
>media (which is only one type of media that a media artist might choose to
>work with) the code is written to be read by a machine.

Hi All

I think the key word here is "language" and I am not sure we should 
make a distinction between human and machine-read language, Language 
can be considered such as spoken, written , coded, or it can take the 
form of electronic and/or mechanical parts of anything that moves 
where the parts "speak" to each other.  We don't know what 
"language" w

ill be in the future...   it may not be biological, it may not be 
mechanical, it may not even be electronic.  We can struggle to create 
our work so it's capable of being divided into its tiniest elements 
in order to be more easily reconstituted at a later date in light of 
new developments, but its a dilemma.  Most artists are too busy to 
deal with archival issues as a separate issue from their work, and 
perhaps very few archivists have an understanding of how important 
all this work is to the culture.  In fact,  there is another factor - 
resonance --- most of the work being produced now which unfortunately 
cannot be fathomed by the culture at large might have more of a 
resonant effect  in the next 10-20 years. Some things are not 
appreciated till they acquire patina.

Adrianne



-- 
Adrianne Wortzel
Professor, Communication Design
New York City College of Technology
City University of New York
300 Jay Street, N1113
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Phone:  718 260-5512
Fax:  718 254-5888
Email:  awortzel at citytech.cuny.edu