The Manovich chapter challenged my pre-existing conception of a narrative. In my other English classes, I work to identify and analyze the narrator or narrative in a given work. The computer world, conversely, introduces an entirely new construction of retelling existence: the database. With so much going on, a database is a complex structure with the capacity to contain immeasurable amounts of content. By adding new components as well as enlisting the resources that already exist in a given space, each database surpasses any narrative’s wildest dreams.
Just because we understand narrative as our main route to access doesn’t mean it’s the only one, or even that it’s the most efficient one. The computer world’s version of cataloguing introduces a new vision. A database presents the world as a list of objects— with no preference for order, it automatically is placed at odds with narrative. Interestingly enough, because it lends itself to randomness, the database became the center of the creative process in the computer age. We have seen this truth in several of the games and programs we’ve encountered thus far in our class. Sea and Spar Between did a fantastic job of drawing attention to the epic scope that randomness allows in a creative setting.
That being said, I wonder how the computer age and its development of the database coexist alongside the established narrative to which we’ve grown so accustomed in traditional schooling. Despite their being “enemies”, according to The Language of New Media, isn’t it possible for one to inspire the other, or are they truly as separate from one another as oil and water? Additionally, what are the various fields that alot merit to each of the two? Meaning, is one preferred in an academic setting? A professional one? And what about recreational activities as well as innovative ones?