A note from the editors
The world as we know it is changing: drones can deliver burritos, cars can drive themselves, all movies are remakes, and our middle school math teachers were all wrong – we do always have a calculator in our pocket. Welcome to the future! We’re talking about your smartphone. These small rectangular devices have affected nearly every aspect of our lives. New media is no exception. For this issue, we have curated a collection of pieces, both desktop and mobile, that exemplify all that new media has to offer in this future we live in.
First up is Salt Immortal Sea by Ken Joseph, Mark Marino, John Murray, & Joellyn Rock. An immersive hypertext that drops the reader into the distress of a shipwreck. The reader is then rescued by a mysterious boat with passengers drawn from the present and the ancient past. But reader beware – one of these passengers has angered the gods, and unless you can discover who it is, all on the boat will suffer the consequences. The reader gets to choose who they move throughout the narrative as a leader, a fighter, or a reporter. Unsure of who you can trust, the reader must gather clues and decode secrets by interacting with the other passengers on the ship. Be sure to choose wisely: Salt Immortal Sea is all about making choices and sticking out the consequences.
Next we have Do It by Serge Bouchardon. Similar to the piece above, Do It is an immersive experience that encourages the reader to be a more active participant in their lives. Posted in this issue is a sample video of Bouchardon’s app. Upon opening the app, the reader is told they are at a job interview and then is prompted through the various existential anxieties that follow. You can shake, tap, and expand the narrative, but the most important thing asked of you during the experience is: can you adapt?
This Spring issue finishes out with two pieces by Jody Zellen, The Human Touch and News Wheel. We were incredibly inspired by Zellen’s work. The Human Touch started out as an augmented reality project where Zellen took images of graffiti and animated them with her signature line-drawing style. Most of the images focus on human figures, faces, or birds and move from static to animated in varying levels of frantic. Viewing them all together leaves you with a feeling like there might be something you missed. This is a feeling we hope will remain with you. Slow down and notice the possibilities in all the static images that surround you.
Our last piece News Wheel is a poignant commentary on news media. It is an interactive app in which spins of newspaper collage wheels send out snippets of headlines that the reader can then manipulate to form their own sentences. We loved this piece for showing the malleability of these headlines, the constructed nature of the beast. The only meaning, therefore, is the one you create yourself. So create carefully.
We have had such a pleasure getting to know New Media and it’s new face this Spring. We hope you enjoy the issue and the future you live in.