I just typed about half my response, which I accidentally wiped out!!! Anyway, as I was saying, I hardly get the readings, so my answers are based on whatever little I actually understood, and will probably be quite brief and shallow.

1. In “What is New Media?” Lev Manovich proposes 5 principles of new media: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. Choose an example that you consider to be “new media”, and describe it in terms of these principles. What implications do these principles have for narrative and play within interactive media?

While doing the readings, I kept thinking about the only online game I ever played, Gunbound. Since it is an online game, and from what I understand through the readings everything involving computers are numerically represented, I guess Gunound has to follow the principle of numerical representation too.

Gunbound, like most computer programs I can think about, consists of various components. In this case, the costumes, avatars, characters and landscapes are just a few discrete sections in Gunbound which come together to make a proper complete game. As such, one can change one's costume or avatar without changing the other components.

Because of its numerical representation and modularity, Gunbound becomes largely automated. Unlike the real world where there is space for flexibility, in Gunbound, much of the game is controlled by codes and stuff. Players cannot promote themselves, they have to reach an exact point to increase in rank. The different avatars you use automatically grant you a different power.

The variability in Gunbound is obvious. Everyy game, and player, is different. Players can choose from a few landscapes where they want to battle. They can earn money to buy costumes to look different from their opponents. The amount of damage you make with each hit varies. Even the factors influencing the game such as wind strength varies from game to game.

Transcoding is the main principle I'm basically clueless about. I guess the way players choose their costumes can be an example of transcoding. The player chooses what he likes, which in a way represents himself as a human being in the computer world.

2. Manovich questions the usefulness of the term interactivity, suggesting that “once an object is represented in a computer, it automatically becomes interactive. Therefore, to call computer media ‘interactive’ is meaningless – it simply means stating the most basic fact about computers.” In contrast, in “What exactly is Interactivity?” Chris Crawford proposes a much stricter definition of interactivity. Compare these differing views, with reference to your own experience of interactive media systems.

Crawford describes interactivity basically as an 'input, process, and output' cycle. If something doesn't follow these steps, it is not interactive.("Printed books are my first target because you can't interact with them. A book can't listen or think. It can only speak..."). Manovich, on the other hand, equates interactivity to a wider span of factors. He considers painting, sculpture and architecture interactive since there are 'psychological' interactions taking place when someone admires it.

I agree with Manovich's theory more. Crawford seems to be contradicting himself, by saying that there are varying degrees of interactivity then totally dismissing the fact that books could have some tiny degree of interactivity. While reading printed books, the reader will have an emotional engagement, which would automatically cause him to respond to different aspects of the text differently. Even more extreme are storybooks with different endings. As a child, I remember reading a particular Goosebumps book by R.L. Stine, where we could choose an ending we wanted by turning to different pages. Isn't this considered interactivity?

3. Narrative, interactivity and play – how does Run Lola Run reflect these concerns? How does this relate to Manovich’s concept of transcoding?

As I said, I know nothing about transoding. Run Lola Run follows the typical conventions of a narrative. The protagonist encounters a problem and has to make choices which eventually affect the outcome. However, the 'computer layer' of it comes in because unlike most movies, Run Lola Run is set like a computer game, where one can always try again after the 'Game Over'.