Understanding Meta-Media

rethinking mapping
from Article by Lev Manovitch
If we want to describe what new media does to old media with a single term, 'mapping' is a good candidate. Software allows us to remap old media objects into new structures -- turning media into 'meta-media."

In contrast to media, meta-media acquires three new properties. First, with software, data can be translated into another domain -- time into 2D space, 2D image into 3D space, sound into 2D image, and so on. (More complex and unusual mappings are also possible -- and the search for new mappings allows us to access old media objects in new ways congruent with information interfaces we use in our everyday life represents one of the most fruitful research directions in new media art.) Second, media objects can be manipulated using GUI (Graphical User Interface) techniques such as: move, transform, zoom, multiple views, filter, summarize. And third, media objects can now be 'processed' using standard techniques of computerized data processing; search, sort, replace, etc.