Writing in the Electronic Age
Although Lev Manovich presents several relevant issues in his essay, his work was utterly impossible to understand. After days of blank stares at incomprehensible words, I finally had a breakthrough. Could he be discussing databases in relation to our everyday lives and new media? That is exactly what he is saying, just in ten pages longer than it really had to be.In the first few dozen pages of his work, Manovich discusses narrative style. Narrative style tends to be a linear, or chronological, way of explaining an event or process. Typically this is done orally in the form of a story. Narrative style is syntagmatic, or following a natural order. The story is easy to understand and normally is arranged chronologically. For example, when someone is describing their day, they would explain the highlights in chronological order using narrative style. Another way Manovich thinks we present information is by the use of database. He defines databases as a structured collection of data. Databases can be linear or non-linear. Simply put they are files of information s
After reading Manovich's novel length essay, "Database as a Symbolic Form", I believe that our society tends to think in narrative form due to conditioning over several thousand years. Younger generations seem to be more accepting to the new databases, which have come to be used for many technological advances. Since the development of databases, we are able to entertain ourselves with video games, computer games, CD-ROM's, radio, television, movies, and photography. Influenced by Manovich's essay, I believe that databases will certainly continue to affect our society. Over time, something better will be created to dominate over databases just as databases are dominating narratives today. Although long, difficult, and mind boggling, I mainly agree with Manovich's arguements on databases and narratives. They do not seem to have many similarities, although they both translate information for our society to understand. They contrast each other so much that they are almost opposites. Narrative form is more traditional, but databases open the door to the future of com
Some common words found in the essay are:
Lev Manovich, Symbolic Form, Influenced Manovich's, narrative style, radio television, lev manovich, narrative form, databases able, computer games, video games, individual files, everyday lives,
Approximate Word count = 723
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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