Virtual Typography

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Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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of lights that would otherwise appear as random.

The diffi culty relating to multimedia communication

is to separate signifi cant codes (information) from

random signals. A lot of information escapes people’s

perception because there is not enough time for them

to assess the nature of disorderly structures. If this is

the case, information remains random data – in other

words, meaningless.

Message and the meaning

Contrary to Marshall McLuhan’s claim, the medium is not

identical to the message. Meaning, or the message, lives

exclusively in people’s minds. Information transmitted via

media consists of nothing but codes, which need to be

reassembled and analysed at the other end. However,

information often changes shape when carried from

one medium into another – from print to screen, for

example, or from a moving image into a sequence of still

ones. Information that undergoes such a transformation

is trans-coded. This is part of the reason why

communication often fails. If information is trans-coded,

the formula needs to decode the message changes

too. The defi nition of information that derives from the

relationship between code and formula depends on the

modus operandi of the media involved. This is what

makes multimedia communication so complex.

‘Disorder does not

necessarily mean randomness or

chaos, only that it is not perceived

or not perceivable as order.’

Anthony Wilden

Media

Of course, people often say they

watch television rather than watch

a fi lm or the news. They listen to the

radio rather than to the music on

air. But this is due to the fact that

people have become oblivious to

the true nature of information. The

confusion between the media and

the message is, in other words, the

result of people’s misconception.

Job:01212 Title: Basics typography (AVA)

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