Idea...

In thinking over where my original ideas started and where I have been continually coming back to, I think my project will be going through a fairly major change. It's been too long trying to make a square peg fit a round hole, in a manner of speaking.

NM definition part 1: Vin Crosbie

a) The first "issue" my project would have with his definition, is that he does little to address the "art" side of New Media. It is hard to say what does and doesn't fit into his definition because of this. He does bring up computer games, and I would say if anything my project comes closest to a game in the way that it brings things together, but even this doesn't fully commit to his definition as it is not quite accurate enough.

b)It took me a little while to fully comprehend where Vin Crosbie was coming from with his definition of New Media, but looking now on it, I love the idea of starting with transportation and working from there. It was a bit confusing at first why he was talking about the land and sea in relation to New Media, but when it leads into defining a New Medium, I think it all becomes quite clear. In addressing it from a different direction like this, it makes it much more apparent that the emphasis on "new" is much more about the possibilities of a completely new form of information "transportation", and less about how much technology it contains.

NM definition part 2: Lev Manovich

a)Lev Manovich's definition of New Media is generally the first one brought up when trying to define the topic, and is almost always followed by several questions starting with "But...".
Along this same line I would have to apply his "myth of interactivity" to myself, in that I think my project and ideas both agree and disagree with him. Interactivity is a word that is often taken either far too literally or used as a blanket statement to cover a lack of concrete ideas, and I will not be the last person to honestly say "yes, I am guilty of that". Based on the definition he gives, interactivity can have a wide range of uses, but it is really up to the individual to define it for each situation.

b) For the most part I do agree with Manovich and his definition. I especially like the section detailing "What New Media is Not", in that it addresses the most common issue of people shoehorning concepts into New Media on the basis of it just being around in the digital age. This defeats of the point of calling it "new" if everything that exists now can be put in this category.

NM definition part 3: Henry Jenkins

a) Based on Henry Jenkins' definition of New Media, I would think that my capstone project fits into most of his categories at least reasonably well. Innovative in particular comes to mind first, as being the most descriptive of my project. By combining what can be called "traditional" animation with an interactive element of computer-scienceness and merging them into one unique project, innovation should follow if the idea is solid.

Of all of his categories, Networked is probably the one that fits my project the least. It is currently taking shape as a sort of installation, a singular piece of work that is not "networked" with any other source directly in a traditional network sense.

b)Out of all of the definitions of New Media, I can say that I generally agree the most with Jenkins. This may be due in part to my opinion that it is the easiest to understand and fully comprehend, but I think he makes valid points on nearly all of his categories, and justifies them well.