Saturday, December 5, 2015

Extra Credit Opportunity 3 - Crystal Giraldo

Response to reading, "Characterizing a New Seriality" by Marc Steinberg

               Baudrillard defines a series as a (mass) reproduction of an object that is made possible by industrial modern advances in order to provide people from different social classes an equal access to particular goods. The definition of what a series is hasn’t changed much since then but the way they are created/developed has changed a bit. The way I interpreted this change towards the “new seriality” is that there is a much more decorative approach and more “logic of continuous transformation”. This shift allows series to be more diverse from object to object and this metamorphosis happens a lot quicker; because of technological advances, series become available to the public a lot sooner. Unless something is one-of-a-kind and custom-made, it is probably part of a kind of series of items similar if not identical to it. I recently purchased a leather planner from a bookstore that could be considered part of a series because of its unique design; which is just one of probably many kinds of series that that company manufactures.

               The main difference between an iterative and discrete series is that an iterative series is nonlinear while a discrete series is linear. Because of its structure and the importance of the differences between objects in the series, future possibilities of an iterative series are a lot more difficult to predict, such as series (or collections) in high-end fashion, items are a lot more unique. On the other hand, the repetition of a discrete series make it possible to predict its future via mathematical calculations, such as different series of iPhones and other technological devices. There were a few ideas in this article that definitely took some breaking down in order to grasp, but I now have a much better understanding of different kinds of series and their functions/roles in society.  

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