At first glance the video seemed to have nothing to do with the Memex. What does an old person have to do with the Bush's very influential concept for a piece of technology that could store, connect, and find information all in one place. When I looked deeper, I started to see the metaphor the video was presenting. If you link the Memex with the old guy a powerful message appeared. more than just looking at a connection in age you could see the importance the Memex has had as the importance each person has. The Memex takes information and stores it. It then makes connections between each of these things. That's just like what people can do. When you link this person to the Memex you can see the connections people make every day. Every day people are forced to remember previous experiences and make connections just like the Memex. And also like the Memex the person in the video was old and outdated. There are newer "models" doing the hard work today, but when thought of in terms of the Memex the actions and achievements of this old guy are multiplied. The Memex was very influential to technology today. The person in the video was also very influential. What they did back in there younger days set everyone up for what is possible for today. But also like the Memex their time has come to move out of the spotlight and let others take over innovating and changing the future. This video originally seems to have no connection to the Memex but when looked at deeper and with a more critical eye the true point to the art comes out. The connection between the old guy in the video and the Memex helps to strengthen the message of the piece.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Memex: old people with wrinkles?
When I googled "Memex" I found a 4 minute video on nowness.com. Watch it here (x). The video was entitled Memex. I went on to watch it, expecting a video explaining the implications of the Memex on society. What I got was a an art piece. The video was an abstract video of and close up footage of a wrinkled old person, a white bed sheet, and a dying flower with epic music in the background. It was very well shoot, but very confusing.
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After watching the video I was also wondering how it related to the Memex. I very much enjoyed your interpretation of it and the connections you made in relation to the machine. It's amazing how much we, as humans, compare to information technologies.
ReplyDeleteThe video is really interesting. I also ran across it and watched it, but I couldn't really interpret the memex meaning behind it. It's a beautiful piece of work and I enjoyed your interpretation. I wonder how other people interpret the piece without really knowing what the memex is.
ReplyDeleteThe video was even more stereo-typically artsy than I thought it would be. I think you did a great job of really pulling out the true memex meaning behind it. I definitely would not have been able to make those connections. I also had the misfortune of pausing at 1:40, with the old person (who doesn't have a gender) staring into my soul, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep tonight.
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