高级英语If Picasso Were a Programmer

,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,Unit 8,If Picasso Were a Programmer,新世纪高等院校英语专业本科生系列教材（修订版）高级英语,1,电子教案,3,Detailed Reading,Contents,2,4,5,1,6,Warm Up,Global Reading,Consolidation Activities,Text Appreciation,Further Enhancement,Section 1: Warm Up,Work in groups of four and discuss the following questions.,Lead-in,Background Information,How is computer art different from traditional art?,What tools do traditional artists use?,What are the typical features of traditional art?,What tools do computer artists use?,What are the typical features of computer art?,Section 1: Warm Up,Lead-in,Background Information,Section 1: Warm Up,Lead-in,Background Information,Section 1: Warm Up,Lead-in,Background Information,Art using computers and the Internet is a natural evolution of traditional art forms. Moreover, these new computer art forms reflect recent trends and are an integral part of modern society, technology and culture. Technological innovation enables artists to enjoy the benefits of interactivity, multimedia, widespread distribution, low cost, equal creative opportunity, accessibility and simplicity. Thus, computer art helps overcome technical, financial, political and environmental issues that have traditionally limited artistic creation.,Today, many institutions and functions are being shifted to virtual space, and the field of art is no exception. Computer art enables individuals to express themselves without censorship and to circumvent the traditional art establishment that until now has dominated the field.,The art world is on the verge of a revolution that will completely overturn artistic conventions and, in fact, our entire perception of art. Computer art is accessible,multisensual, and interactive; it varies over time and is conscious of the art consumer. These salient features of computer art call for a reassessment of our entire conception of art.,Section 1: Warm Up,Lead-in,Background Information,Sec,tio,n 1: Warm Up,About the Author,Susan,Delson,is editor-in-chief of Museums Magazines, a group of city and regional publications for active museum-goers. She is a former film and video programmer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she also served as a senior staff member of the Program for Art on Film, a joint venture between the Met and the J. Paul Getty Trust. “If Picasso Were a Programmer” was originally published in Forbes, Best of the Web.,Background Information,Lead-in,Sec,tio,n 1: Warm Up,Background Information,Lead-in,Section 2: Global Reading,What is the text mainly about?,Structural Analysis,Main Idea,This article ushers us into a new field of artonline,artwork, introduces us into the colorful and magnificent world of this specific artistic form, and causes us to think about the question of what attitude we should take towards new things.,Sec,tio,n 2: Global Reading,Please divide the text into 3 parts and summarize the main idea of each part.,Structural Analysis,Main Idea,Part I,(,Paragraphs 1-,3) Introduction,The first three paragraphs serve as the introduction. A specific piece of online artwork is mentioned, which brings into our sight the growing trend of online art,.,Structural Analysis,Main Idea,Section 2: Global Reading,Part,II,(,Paragraph,4),Transitional paragraph,Paragraph 4 is a very important transitional paragraph which raises the question openly and directly whether or not online art should be deemed as art. In this paragraph, a tentative definition of art is provided and the two elements of it proposedbeing beautiful and changing the way people see the worldwhich are used in the following paragraphs to further the discussion on this topic.,Structural Analysis,Main Idea,Part I,I,I,(Paragraphs 5-19) Providing answers to the question in Paragraph 4,Paragraphs 5-19 answer the question in Paragraph 4 and raise several other questions concerning such issues as the different role of the viewer, the way people appreciate and collect this new form of art and the advantage of Net art, all contributing to a better understanding of this new form of art and a deeper thinking on the attitude we adopt in dealing with new things.,Section 2: Global Reading,Forget paintbrushes and chisels. Todays hottest new art tools are,XML and Java,.,1 Type a Web site,URL,any URLinto “FEED”, an online artwork by Mark Napier (,www.potatoland.org,). Immediately the screens nine windows jump into action. Text,zooms,by at unreadable speed. Colors careen through a grid of tiny squares. A horizontal graph whips up three-color spikes like a demonic,EKG,. Abruptly, the action ceases for a moment; the screen,radiates,an almost meditative calm. And then it all starts again, until the entire Web site has been processed. Stripping away,Section 3: Detailed Reading,If Picasso Were a Programmer,what Napier calls the “distracting,veneer,of content,” “Feed” turns Web data into a dizzying display of graphical activitypart mathematical,algorithm, part,Jackson Pollock,.,2,1,This is not your mothers over-the-couch art.,Napiers “,antibrowser,” is just one example of a new type of visual expression: digital, dynamic and made specifically for the Internet. Some works, like “Feed,” reshape live data from the Web. Others use,telerobotics, Flash animation and Web browsers the way,Leonardo,da,Vinci,used paint and charcoal. As varied as the technologies that produce it, online art is,Section 3: Detailed Reading,flourishing. This year it hit the museum scene, big-time, and now galleries are trying to,figure out,how to sell it.,3 This spring,saw,the,rollout,of major Net art exhibitions on both coasts, from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts,010101: Art in Technological,Times,to,the,Whitney,Museum of American,Art,s recent,Data Dynamics,. New Yorks Museum of Modern Art, Londons late,Britain,and even the staid,Smithsonian,are getting into the act. Meanwhile, long-running digital culture sites like,Rhizome.org,and,Turbulence.org,act as,incubators,for this high-tech art.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,4 So, online, arts out there. But.is it art? For the people who make it, the answer is indisputably yes, “My criteria for art is that its beautiful and that it changes the way you see the world,” says,Martin Wattenberg, whose works are,featured,on several museum sites. “To my mind, this art is both.”,5 But those of us who dont program software might not be so sure.,2,Net art is less than a decade old, and even its most ardent champions wouldnt describe it as a mature medium.,Photography took more than half a century to be taken,Section 3: Detailed Reading,seriously as a fine art form. Video spent years on the countercultural,fringes,before reaching the museum gallery. By comparison, online art is still in its formative stage. Observes Wattenberg, who has worked visualizing financial data for,SmartM,since 1996, “,3,If Net art were a company, right now would be a couple of months before the IPO.,”,6 For the artists thats part of the appeal.,4,But it also means that the idea behind a work can sometimes be more compelling than what actually appears on the screen.,And,Section 3: Detailed Reading,QUESTION,for viewers without a thorough,grounding,in technologyor advanced maththe most innovative visual programs can seem like little more than high-end screensavers.,7 But Web art is much more than that. Its most striking difference from traditional art is the more active role of the vieweror should we say, userwhose input is often essential to completing the work. Take “Apartment,” a work by Wattenberg and,Marek,Walczak,. As users type their thoughts into the computer, the program translates their words into,blueprints,for individual apartmentsthe more talk about dreams and sex, for instance, the bigger the,Section 3: Detailed Reading,bedroom.,5,The basic set-up couldnt be simpler: no user, no art.,8,6,You might get used to interacting with your axe.,But will you want to collect this stuff? Art dealers call Net art a tough sell. “People love objects,” explains gallery owner Sandra Gering, who first worked with online art back in the mid-1990s. This art is only,accessible,to those with a computer and a Web connection.,9,7,For the time being at least, works that embed Net art in physical installations,fare,considerably better in the,Section 3: Detailed Reading,QUESTION,marketplace.,While computer code is the core of,John F Simon,s art, Gering sells his work as sculptural objectssoftware, computer and screen in a complete package. And in a concept borrowed from printmaking (and video art), she issues them in limited editions of a dozen or lessall of which have sold out, at prices,ranging,from $20,000 to $50,000. If the software,crashes, the collector simply ships the piece back to the gallery for a quick fix by Simon.,10 One collector, New Jersey physician John Burger, whos bought all five editions,to date, never ever owned a personal,Section 3: Detailed Reading,computer. For him, Simons works are abstract art“so intelligent, so creative, so unlike anything Id ever seen”,8,and the digital aspect is almost,beside the point,.,11,9,Other dealers,bear out,Gerings assessment: you need an objecta,tangible,thingto sell.,Julia Friedmans recently opened Chicago gallery handles sculptural pieces with Web elements, like,Eduardo,Kac,s,“Genesis,” a work that incorporates live, eerily beautiful Webcam images of,mutating,bacteria.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,QUESTION,12 But other sales models are emerging. Simon sells an unlimited edition of “Every Icon”a work featured in last years,Whitney Biennial,on the Web for $20, in a do-it-yourself download. So far, hes moved about 90 of them, and sales have,picked up,since operations moved to an,A,ZShop,.,13,Netomat, an online application offering an “alternative browsing experience,” has been,available,for free download at,N,since June 1999. So far there have been 750,000 downloads. Now its developer,Maciej,Wisniewski, has quit,Section 3: Detailed Reading,his post as an XML developer at,IBM.com,to,convert,his art project into an interactive e-mail client.,14 Michele,Thursz, director of New Yorks,Moving Image Gallery, is working with artists to sell,shares,in limited-access collecting communities. The collectors will share in the ongoing creative work of artist-designed Web sites, and in the sale of any digital prints or other objects that result.,Etoy, a Net art group represented by New Yorks,Postmasters Gallery,has already issued 640,000 shares in its digital collective, 15% of which are owned by collectors. Buyers even get signed,Section 3: Detailed Reading,collectible stock certificates,emblazoned,with the artwork. Even if,Etoy,art never appreciates, the certificates on your living room wall may still brighten your day.,15,10,Surprisingly, corporations and government agencies are buying into this untested art form.,John,Klima,s,Net-based work, “ecosystem,” was,commissioned,by Zurich Capital Markets for the employees lounge of its New York office.,11,Converting individual world currencies into competing flocks of birds, “ecosystem” tracks currency,fluctuations,which directly affect the well-being of each,Section 3: Detailed Reading,flockand global weather, both in real time.,Cost: $14,000 and counting. And that doesnt include the extra $14,000 that Zurich spent for a 50-inch gas,plasma,monitor to display it all on.,16 Another,Klima,work, “Earth,” has been,leased,for $1,000 a year by the National Library of Medicine for its Bethesda, Md. building. “You license it like Windows 98,” the artist notes. “At the end of 18 months, theyll still own the software, but there are no more,updates,or tech support.”,17 Artist Wattenberg is also looking to design custom-,Section 3: Detailed Reading,interface art for corporate Web sites. “I can see a corporation commissioning me to design a beautiful front end,” he says,“,like the big, impressive sculpture in the front lobby.” With,Rhizome.org,as the producer, Wattenberg is currently developing an interface for NASAs art collection on the Web, expected to,launch,by early 2002.,18 Its not surprising that Web-based art dealers, like,E, are getting into this market. The U.K.-based company, which began selling digital photography online in December 1999, now has a dozen digital art projects,Section 3: Detailed Reading,QUESTION,in the pipeline, half of which should launch this fall. Like other dealers,Eyestorm,is looking at a wide range of sales strategies, from corporate commissions to limited-edition CD-ROMs and DVDs to,micropayments,on a pay-per-view basis.,19,12,Lest,you think the medium is pausing to catch its breath, rest assuredthe envelope is still being pushed.,Currently in the works: at least one show of art created for pagers, cell phones and,PDAs,. Which,begs the question, how do you prevent illegal copying when art is being,beamed,from cell phone to cell phone?,Section 3: Detailed Reading,QUESTION,ACTIVITY,Section 3: Detailed Reading,How do artists perceive art and especially online art? (,P,aragraph,s,4 and 5),The measurement of art is that it is beautiful and changes the way we look at the world. Net art that flourishes now fulfills this task, so it is art.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,What is the role assigned to viewers of Net art? (,P,aragraph 7),Viewers have a more active role to play. Indeed they are users because their input is essential to completing the work. In other words, there would be no Net art without users. However, there is a tougher requirement for viewers of Net art. They must be technology-savvy and have a Web connection.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Why did Sandra Gering say that “you need an objecta,tangible thingto,sell?” (,P,aragraphs 8-11),As Net art is only accessible to those who have a computer and Internet connection, it is a tough sell in the market. On the contrary, works that embed Net art in physical installations fare considerably better in the marketplace. The reason is possibly that people love objects.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Why is it surprising that government agencies and corporations buy into Net art while it is not surprising that Web-based art dealers get into this market? (Paragraphs 15,-,18),It is surprising that government agencies and corporations buy Net art because Net art is not mature enough, or untested. It is still in its formative stage. It is normally believed that Net art collectors must be avant-garde individuals, rather than government agencies or corporations that are usually regarded as conventional. It is not surprising, however, that Web-based art dealers get into the market, since there is a bright prospect and a great opportunity.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,What can be said of the future of Net art? (Paragraph 19),The development of Net art is in full swing, and its application is extending rapidly to other media, such as mobile phones and,PDAs,. But there is a problem with Net artpiracy, or illegal copying.,Class Discussions,What makes some people doubt that online art is art?,What is the most striking difference between Net art and traditional art?,Section 3: Detailed Reading,First, it does not take the traditional and widely accepted forms of art. Some of the online artworks are, in essence, computer programs and therefore, do not have stable forms. These works, unable to be appreciated until the programs being run, are actually some ever-changing processes.,Second, the producers of these works are so much different from the traditional artists. To produce such a piece of work, one should acquire a thorough knowledge of computer science. This has greatly blurred the formerly distinctive dividing line between art and science and makes the new form of art hard to define.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Third, this form of art is such a recent development that people have hardly had sufficient time to form a sound judgment of its value. Net art is only less than a decade old, which makes even its most ardent champions unable to acknowledge it as a mature medium.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Section 3: Detailed Reading,The most striking difference between Net art and traditional art lies in the role of the viewer. In some of the works, people are invited to participate in the creation of the work, whose efforts make the final result highly individual. To some extent, the role of a passive appreciator in traditional art has been replaced by the more active role of a user in Net art whose input is often essential to completing the work. The gap of status between the superior artist and the inferior audience has been somewhat bridged. What is reflected in this change is the spirit of democracy, which is the overwhelming character of our modern times and a celebration of individuality so popular among modern people.,XML is a,metalanguage,written in SGML that allows one to design a markup language, used to allow for the easy interchange of documents on the World Wide Web.,Java is an object-oriented programming language that is platform independent (the same Java program runs on all hardware platforms without modification). Developed by Sun, Java is widely used on the Web for both client and server processing.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Uniform Resource Locator, the address that defines the route to a file on an Internet server (Web server, FTP server, mail server, etc.). URLs are typed into a Web browser to access Web pages and files, and URLs are embedded within the pages themselves as hypertext links. The URL contains the protocol prefix, port number, domain name, subdirectory names and file name. If a port number is not stated in the address, port 80 is used as the default for HTTP traffic.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Section 3: Detailed Reading,z,oom,:,v.,to move very quickly,;,if prices or sales zoom, they increase suddenly and quickly,.,e.g.,They got into the car and zoomed off.,In the last few,metres,of the race, she suddenly zoomed ahead.,House prices suddenly zoomed last year.,EKG or ECG is the abbreviation of electrocardiograph or electrocardiogram, a graphical recording of the cardiac cycle produced by an electrocardiograph.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Section 3: Detailed Reading,radiate,:,v.,to spread out in all directions from a central point,e.g.,Flows of lava radiated out from the volcanos crater.,Just before the breeding season, these birds radiate outwards to warmer climates.,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Practice:,Translate the following sentences into Chinese.,1) I was told by servants who saw them together that,around Eare, Eleanor would radiate happiness and carry,herself like a beautiful woman.,(,=,见过他们在一起的仆人们告诉我,，埃莉诺只要有厄尔,在身,边,，就显得特别高兴，,举动就,像,是一个美人,。,),2),Five roads radiate from this roundabout.,( =,有五条道路以这个环状交叉路为中心向各方伸展开,。,),Section 3: Detailed Reading,veneer:,n,.,sth,. that hides,sth,. unpleasant or unwanted,e.g.,She managed to hide her corrupt dealings under a veneer of respectability.,Practice:,Translate the following sentence into Chinese.,The islands consist of oyster reefs covered with a thin veneer,of black mud.,（,=,由牡蛎礁构成的小岛上覆盖着一层薄薄的黑色软泥,。),Section 3: Detailed Reading,algorithm,:,n.,a set of mathematical instructions that must be followed in a fixed order, and that, especially if given to a computer, will help to calculate an answer to a mathematical problem,(,算法，计算程序,),Section 3: Detailed Reading,Jackson Pollock:,a 20th-century American painter, famous for creating abstract paintings by dripping or pouring paint on a canvas in complex swirls and spatters,Section 3: Detailed Reading,Leonardo,da,Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, music