Multiplex translations | Entangled aphasia

Abstract

In the past few years, the development of digital experiences increasingly stumbles across rigid paradigms used in industry and academia to describe the processes and products of digital art and design. The distinction between the “container” and the “contained” might in some cases be an obstacle for true interaction of different media.

This paper discusses the need for a shift of focus from multimedia to “intermedia” and has two primary threads:

• In Multiplex Translations we suggest that current computer based systems which separate different media, and reinforce the traditional approach of separating authoring from representation do not meet the needs of developers. We look at the problems and the opportunities of a “media synesthesia” and discuss properties of an intermedia environment
• Entangled Aphasia analyses the current problem of tools and environments that do not degrade gracefully, aphasic systems unable to remember their past or current conditions. Systems not even able to make basic associations or interconnections between the myriad of content which flows through them. We examine the possibility of viewing the computer as an interwoven mnemonic space, where the techniques of remembering and forgetting information may lead to [re|de]construction of media rich environments, unique to the computer systems and responsive to the needs of the people that use them.