Handmade Digital Artifacts
Do: Open a digital image in a text app and change the text.
Open the image in viewing software. Save the new image.
Instructions:
Complete the process below explaining the algorithm. Follow it carefully, pay particular attention to the "arc of affect" and the "serendipity” as a narrative.
Process:
1) Select pictures to hack, including a self-portrait. You can use other pictures too.
2) Change an image file extension to .txt
3) Open the file in a text editor, such as TextEdit.app for MAC or Notepad++ for PC
4) Copy/paste, or delete, some text.
5) Save & Close the text file.
6) Change file extension back to .jpg
7) Open file in an image editor (or web browser, or other viewer—e.g., Preview; the Finder; Chrome, Bridge, Photoshop).
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This material inquiry was proposed as one of the hardest and most time consuming assignments for the semester. After the lecture there was a deep sigh of relief because it was so much easier than anticipated, at least for me.
I started on the assignment in class on the Mac. I emailed myself a >selfie< from stored photos on my iphone. Leaving the photo on the desktop I quickly made several copies of the picture and labeled them sequentially. Then I changed the file suffix from .jpg to .txt
Thanks to the assistance of a classmate I was encouraged to open the file in the .txt format and then to change it back to .jpg, keeping both the .txt file and .jpg files open at the same time allowing me to see the changes in real time after each edit.
Several times I deleted code and was disappointed because there were no major changes happening, minuscule horizontal lines sporadically placed on the far right vertically down the page. I saved the image and started again. I was able to make another image, but it looked disappointingly similar to the first one. I attempted more drastic changes and broke the code. Open new/change code/break/trash/x3 When it came time to leave the lab I stored my 6 completed images on my flashdrive and moved to the other lab to continue working. With no problems I was able to open all the files and continue with the image hacking. A scanned image was in the trash from the pattern project, I converted it to a .txt file, copied and pasted it into mine. Finally some change.
I am recognizing a pattern; if I manipulate the code at the top of the page, the top of the image changes, near the middle, the middle changes, on the bottom the same pattern is replicated.
I delete, text, copy and paste text. Pasting text multiple times in a row creates a wider imprint of distortion on the image. I can replicate this in multiple places and the varying code copied creates different color and patterns on the picture. I try this multiple times in many different ways. It becomes a game, push the limit until it cracks. Saving often is imperative to not losing the design modification in progression. It is monotonous, but easy. Repeat 10x, complete.
Saturday morning I was excited to show my progress to my family members, but my PC would not recognize the thumbdrive. Chalking it up to a dead usb reader on my computer, I downloaded the two original pictures from my emails and started again from scratch. I had to download Notepad++ for my PC and play with it. The process was different from a MAC. The first several times I was not able to achieve the real-time edits effect as I had practiced on campus, but eventually I got it. The real *EUREKA* moment came when I discovered that with a few "Ctrl Z's" I could reverse a broken code and continue working without having to trash my project. That was serendipity!
I have always loved photography and the capturing of beauty for preservation of all time, I have never considered the code behind an image until now.
As I sat at my desk on this chilly Saturday morning and played with hacking code I listened to Chris Isaak and sang along with the lyrics I've known for a decade. Then it hit me, what would happen if I opened my favorite song in Notepad++? Wow! The colors were amazing. I was so pleased! I tried it again, but this time I opened Dessa's album, "Badly Broken Code" well, it broke. Isn't it ironic (lol-Morissette)
"What is image is text is sound is image. This is remediation. This is remix."
- Sean Justice