Digital Noise

Notes from class

Sound waves, instruments, sound by technology , old computers, modems, spectrums, unwanted sound.

Claude Shannon 1916-2001, communication theories, a mathematical theory of information theory , schematic diagram, 

'everything is miscellaneous' David Weinberger 

1948 - landmark paper'A Mathematical Theory of Communication'information theory was put on the mapdefined 'binary digits' (or bits)led to work on computer science, communication capacity, redundancy in language (how much do we need to hear to get the message), measuring of information.

noise is the interference that impacts on a signal as it is transmitted from the source to the destinationnoise - detrimental to the purity of the original signal
Shannon was an engineer, working to increase the efficiency of telephone wireshowever - his ideas have also been used as a model of communication in a wider contextuse of 'transmission', or 'transport' as a significant metaphor for communicationthis metaphor, noise in the enemy of transporting communication.

evelopment of digital technologies - once again noise is seen as a dysfunctional factorDigital environments have been seen as a space in whichperfect copies are made and transmittedbut David Weinberger in book 'Everything is Miscellaneous'suggests that noise is where the world turns upthe use of Shannon's model - abstracted, formal, informationnoise is the world refusing to be quietbroadcast medium - one to manybroadcast medium can't contain differencethe web is really noisy (its strength & weakness)but it contains difference'differential hermeneutic' an idea talked about by AKMA a theologian, he suggests the possibility of a 'noisy peace'digital environment far from perfectbut the noise gives the view of the otherthe other point of view creates the noise
noise & the other's view come together


Mark Hansen (Hansen, Mark. N. B. New Philosophy for New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 2004.)suggests that to perceive a digital image it is necessary to have an 'embodied experience'artistic digital practice shifts 'from perception to affectivity'a shift from 'a dominant ocularcentrist aesthetic to a haptic aesthetic rooted in embodied affectivity'
I think he means a shift from simple visual recognition, seeing somethingshift to possibility at least - experiencing the moods, feelings of a piece of art - not least by physically interacting with it
Hansen suggests this is artist's effort to 'specify what remains distinctly ‘human’ in this age of digital convergence'

I think its good to be able to make a perfect copy so technical glitches are limited, however I like the rough, raw pieces that aren’t so much.  I guess it depends what the sound is being used for/describing.   When noise is produced you become more involved in what’s happening, we react to noise.  Getting from one site to the next is about being as clean an quick as possible, and  be able to gather and communicated with ease.   The ‘noise’ created is our voice, our presence online, it may appear lacking in human feeling sometimes but really I think the majority of it is ours?