NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021)
Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. *Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects> examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you. The book is also available with a 20% discount <https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> for the month of October using the code 4S2021! *Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* *Jacob Gaboury* 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00 Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics Coda: After Objects *“With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies."* - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London *How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects.* Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In *Image Objects*, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium. Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century. The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational. -- Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley jacobgaboury.com/ <http://www.jacobgaboury.com/> *Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* (MIT Press, 2021) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects
Thanks Jacob, I ordered my copy earlier in the week, and am waiting patiently for the overtaxed supply chain to pull it into my mailbox. Checking the 4S 20% discount link, https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S <https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> &utm_content=181406244 I see that other books featured by SIGCIS members include: * Your Computer is On Fire (hot selling anthology with contributions from many SIGCIS stalwarts) * Eric Hintz’s American Independent Inventors In An Era of Corporate R&D * Morgan Ames’s The Charisma Machine (winner of our Computer History Museum book prize) * And, ahem, the rather intriguing new title A History of Modern Computing by Haigh & Ceruzzi Plus several other books related to AI, algorithms, and data that will undoubtedly be of interest to many of our members. Best wishes, Tom From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> On Behalf Of Jacob Gaboury Sent: Friday, October 8, 2021 3:26 PM To: sigcis <members@sigcis.org> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021) Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects> Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you. The book is also available with a 20% discount <https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> for the month of October using the code 4S2021! Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics Jacob Gaboury 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00 Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics Coda: After Objects “With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies." - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects. Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In Image Objects, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium. Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century. The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational. -- Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley <http://www.jacobgaboury.com/> jacobgaboury.com/ Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects
I already posted a little while ago but just wanted to reiterate that I thought the book was phenomenal. https://www.nabeelsiddiqui.net
On Oct 8, 2021, at 7:53 PM, thomas.haigh@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks Jacob,
I ordered my copy earlier in the week, and am waiting patiently for the overtaxed supply chain to pull it into my mailbox.
Checking the 4S 20% discount link, https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244 I see that other books featured by SIGCIS members include:
Your Computer is On Fire (hot selling anthology with contributions from many SIGCIS stalwarts) Eric Hintz’s American Independent Inventors In An Era of Corporate R&D Morgan Ames’s The Charisma Machine (winner of our Computer History Museum book prize) And, ahem, the rather intriguing new title A History of Modern Computing by Haigh & Ceruzzi
Plus several other books related to AI, algorithms, and data that will undoubtedly be of interest to many of our members.
Best wishes,
Tom
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> On Behalf Of Jacob Gaboury Sent: Friday, October 8, 2021 3:26 PM To: sigcis <members@sigcis.org> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021)
Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you.
The book is also available with a 20% discount for the month of October using the code 4S2021!
Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics Jacob Gaboury
312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00
Table of Contents
Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics Coda: After Objects
“With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies." - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London
How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects. Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In Image Objects, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium.
Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century.
The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational.
--
Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley jacobgaboury.com/
Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
Dear Colleagues, Congrats, Jacob, on your fabulous book on computer graphics! I wrote a review of it, that I might dwell on its work a little longer. It’s been published today, here, and I thought I’d share it with the list: https://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/bernard_dionysius_geoghegan_reviews_ima... It’s been harder keeping up on reading during the pandemic, I hope I’ll get a chance to read a few more reviews from colleagues in the coming months, to catch up with what I’ve missed. I hope you’re all safe and well, Bernard From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jacob Gaboury <gaboury@gmail.com> Date: Friday, 8 October 2021 at 21:26 To: sigcis <members@sigcis.org> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021) Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects> examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you. The book is also available with a 20% discount<https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> for the month of October using the code 4S2021! Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics Jacob Gaboury 312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00 Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics Coda: After Objects “With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies." - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects. Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In Image Objects, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium. Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century. The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational. -- Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley jacobgaboury.com/<http://www.jacobgaboury.com/> Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects
Congratulations, Jacob! Nabeel has already written a review for *Information & Culture, *which we will be printing sometime in 2022. On Wed, Nov 3, 2021 at 4:54 PM Bernard Geoghegan < bernardgeoghegan2010@u.northwestern.edu> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
Congrats, Jacob, on your fabulous book on computer graphics! I wrote a review of it, that I might dwell on its work a little longer. It’s been published today, here, and I thought I’d share it with the list:
https://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/bernard_dionysius_geoghegan_reviews_ima...
It’s been harder keeping up on reading during the pandemic, I hope I’ll get a chance to read a few more reviews from colleagues in the coming months, to catch up with what I’ve missed.
I hope you’re all safe and well,
Bernard
*From: *Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jacob Gaboury <gaboury@gmail.com> *Date: *Friday, 8 October 2021 at 21:26 *To: *sigcis <members@sigcis.org> *Subject: *[SIGCIS-Members] NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021)
Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. *Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects> examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you.
The book is also available with a 20% discount <https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> for the month of October using the code 4S2021!
*Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics*
*Jacob Gaboury*
312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates
Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00
Table of Contents
Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility
Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics
Coda: After Objects
*“With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies."* - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London
*How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects.*
Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In *Image Objects*, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium.
Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century.
The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational.
--
Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley
jacobgaboury.com/ <http://www.jacobgaboury.com/>
*Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* (MIT Press, 2021)
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
-- *JAMES A. HODGES, Ph.D.* Bullard Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Texas at Austin School of Information
Thank you so much for this wonderful review Bernie! And I’m excited to read Nabeel’s review in I&C next year. _Jacob _Jacob On Wed, Nov 3, 2021 at 3:55 PM James A Hodges <james.hodges@rutgers.edu> wrote:
Congratulations, Jacob! Nabeel has already written a review for *Information & Culture, *which we will be printing sometime in 2022.
On Wed, Nov 3, 2021 at 4:54 PM Bernard Geoghegan < bernardgeoghegan2010@u.northwestern.edu> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
Congrats, Jacob, on your fabulous book on computer graphics! I wrote a review of it, that I might dwell on its work a little longer. It’s been published today, here, and I thought I’d share it with the list:
https://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/bernard_dionysius_geoghegan_reviews_ima...
It’s been harder keeping up on reading during the pandemic, I hope I’ll get a chance to read a few more reviews from colleagues in the coming months, to catch up with what I’ve missed.
I hope you’re all safe and well,
Bernard
*From: *Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jacob Gaboury <gaboury@gmail.com> *Date: *Friday, 8 October 2021 at 21:26 *To: *sigcis <members@sigcis.org> *Subject: *[SIGCIS-Members] NEW BOOK, Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics (MIT Press, 2021)
Some of you have very generously mentioned the book on the SIGCIS list already, but I thought it would be a good idea to officially announce the release of my book on the history of computer graphics from MIT Press. *Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/image-objects> examines the history of computer graphics from roughly 1950-1980, with a focus on the groundbreaking research program at the University of Utah. The book is based largely on archival holdings at Utah and elsewhere, and follows an "object-oriented" structure, with each chapter unpacking a particular technology that shaped the formation of the field of computer graphics, and which continues to shape the ways we use and interact with computational technologies today. SIGCIS has been a critical community for this project since the very beginning, and I am very excited to share this work with all of you.
The book is also available with a 20% discount <https://go.mitpress.mit.edu/en-us/4s2021?utm_campaign=FY22_Exhibits_4S&utm_content=181406244> for the month of October using the code 4S2021!
*Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics*
*Jacob Gaboury*
312 pages | 6 x 9 | 133 b&w photos, 20 color plates
Hardcover Aug 2021 | ISBN: 9780262045032 | $35.00
Table of Contents
Introduction Chapter 1: Culling Vision: Hidden Surface Algorithms and the Problem of Visibility
Chapter 2: Random-Access Images: Interfacing Memory and the History of the Computer Screen Chapter 3: Model Objects: The Utah Teapot as Standard and Icon Chapter 4: Object Paradigms: On the Origins of Object Orientation Chapter 5: Procedure Crystallized: The Graphics Processing Unit and the Rise of Computer Graphics
Coda: After Objects
*“With Image Objects, Gaboury has established himself as the leading voice among a new generation of visual culture theorists. This is a landmark contribution to the fields of digital culture, media theory, and science and technology studies."* - Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media, King's College London
*How computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium, as seen through the histories of five technical objects.*
Most of us think of computer graphics as a relatively recent invention, enabling the spectacular visual effects and lifelike simulations we see in current films, television shows, and digital games. In fact, computer graphics have been around as long as the modern computer itself, and played a fundamental role in the development of our contemporary culture of computing. In *Image Objects*, Jacob Gaboury offers a prehistory of computer graphics through an examination of five technical objects—an algorithm, an interface, an object standard, a programming paradigm, and a hardware platform—arguing that computer graphics transformed the computer from a calculating machine into an interactive medium.
Gaboury explores early efforts to produce an algorithmic solution for the calculation of object visibility; considers the history of the computer screen and the random-access memory that first made interactive images possible; examines the standardization of graphical objects through the Utah teapot, the most famous graphical model in the history of the field; reviews the graphical origins of the object-oriented programming paradigm; and, finally, considers the development of the graphics processing unit as the catalyst that enabled an explosion in graphical computing at the end of the twentieth century.
The development of computer graphics, Gaboury argues, signals a change not only in the way we make images but also in the way we mediate our world through the computer—and how we have come to reimagine that world as computational.
--
Jacob Gaboury (he/him) Associate Professor of New Media History and Theory Dept. of Film & Media, University of California at Berkeley
jacobgaboury.com/ <http://www.jacobgaboury.com/>
*Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics* (MIT Press, 2021)
_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
--
*JAMES A. HODGES, Ph.D.* Bullard Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Texas at Austin School of Information
participants (5)
-
Bernard Geoghegan -
Jacob Gaboury -
James A Hodges -
Nabeel Siddiqui -
thomas.haigh＠gmail.com