As my journey with artefacts slowly come to an end, I have realised the different forms of that a list can take, starting from more literal and physical list to the idea of abstract and endless. I have also understood that many forms of these lists can overlap with each other and not one individual list is seen as one certain category but rather a range, example of this is a list can be both an explosive list and personal list. List takes the form of many and can also be represented in different ways, which lead to the idea of endless and infinite. The further we travelled throughout this course, the closer we get to the main idea of this course, ‘Infinite List,” which is exactly we focused on this week. The idea of infinite list was not introduced to me this week but rather has been constantly pushed towards my direction ever since week 2. We discuss how our own personal list is seen as boundless and we could go on forever on about certain things that relate to us. this has continued until now, where each list I experiment with could have been done and seen in different ways, I just chose one idea out of million or limitless ideas to represent that certain list. But how do retain or remember a certain list or how can an infinite list be represented? this is what Lev Manovich discussed in his book “The database’ in The Language of New Media” where the idea of a database has allowed for infinite list to take form within media. Manovich discusses how “the world appears to us as an endless and unstructured collection of images, texts, and other data records, it is only appropriate that we will be moved to model it as a database”(Manovich 2001, p. 237) With a database it has allowed us to retain information while also making infinite list possible as act as a way of an archrival system; this database system doesn’t need to take in the form of pen and paper but also new media as digitalization has opened new sites and media platforms which, in a way, act as a database for infinite data or an endless list of photos, messages, idea and things.
One idea that spoke out to me within the reading was that “There is hardly a Web site that does not feature at least a dozen links to other sites; therefore, every site is a type of database” (Manovich 2001, p.225), although this quote looks at the idea of endless links between one site to another, I interpreted this idea as being a countless link between certain ideas and messages. this notion suddenly evolved to what I call the modern message thread, and sites such as Reddit and Twitter accommodate this notion of an endless link between message. Within this weeks artefact, I explored Twitter, and how the idea of leaving opened ended question could create an unending comment thread or section. Yet not only does the comment thread could be seen as endless but also the whole site was a massive everlasting list as people/companies/business come together to one site to post or respond or read certain peoples feelings, ideas and suggestions. this highlight the idea that Twitter is just one huge infinite list as the data that is shown is been to be endless but yet people are able to comment or bring back a certain post from the past. this idea of twitter being an endless list also links to Manovich reading as “with the rise of Internet commerce, most large-scale commercial sites have be come real databases, or rather front-ends to company databases” (Manovich. p.225). I explored this concept of endless list by replying to my own questions to highlight the idea of boundless and also putting up as many tweets as possible to show that much new media is a representation of an infinite list.
In the end, my journey with artefacts may be over, but my knowledge of list still lives on as being endless and abstract. although at the start I thought list as basic, I now realise the true complexity that many list has, In saying all of this I still have a lot to learn before truly understanding what a list is.
-Simon Tran
Manovich, L., 2001. ‘The Database’ in The Language of New Media. The MIT Press, Cambridge. pp. 218-243.