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"Digital Media Revisited written by Liestol et al, ed shared by 'tsek honT 34 minutes ago Theoretical and Conceptual Innovation in Digital Domains "

"VOICE: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media, a new anthology edited by Norie Neumark, Ross Gibson and Theo Van Leeuwen from MIT Press, takes stock of the voice's various transformations in the arts in the wake of the technological innovations of the digital age, and the ways in which artists anticipated these changes. One might expect musings on Barthes, man vs. machine, hauntology, linguistics or body politics, and those are all here; but there is also a refreshing and suitably wide-ranging cross-section of pop cultural examples and namechecks (Wolfman Jack, Portishead, Winnie the Pooh, BioShock, Meshuggah). Beyond its interdisciplinary parameters, the more theory-oriented papers are counterbalanced by an experimental essay (Theresa M. Senft's "Four Rooms", which juxtaposes phone sex, cancer care tapes, a voice recognition program, and Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting in a Room"), a poem (Mark Amerika's "Professor VJ's Big Blog Mashup"), and a meditation (Michael Taussig's "Humming"). The multiplicity of forms and inclusion of writerly as well as scholarly voices create an appropriately reflexive resonance."

"Tangible computing has a long history of interest in technology circles; like augmented reality and computer-supported cooperative work, it has long been the focus of research studies in academic institutions, and not ironically, the focus of a large quantity of science fiction movies, too. It is only in the past half-decade, however, that the stars have aligned to support tangible computing in practice The low cost of technical components, a more ubiquitous approach to rapid prototyping, and introductory behavioral memes (such as touch-based computing, made popular by the iPhone) have pushed tangibility to the forefront of actually shipping consumer products and have encouraged the development of product ecologies as related to systems, services, and the blurring of lines between physical and digital computing. Timely, then, is Mark Gross and Mark Baskinger's cover story describing the opportunities-and challenges-of tangible computing in normal life. They introduce the new and old, and emphasize the importance of product form in bringing tangibility to life in an appropriate and reflective manner. Don Norman builds on the premise of "transmedia"- technological media solutions that aren't just functional, but are also pleasurable and satisfying."