second reading responses

"Database as a Symbolic Form"

This article made me think about how database's play a role in modern art, and how they take an art form in the modern world. The majority of people today are used to experiencing technology and databases every day on the internet, so it is somewhat hard to understand that databases can be symbolic instead of just mundane and necessary for our lives to function. It was interesting reading about floppie disks, cds and dvds because most people these days use a flash drive or just do a direct download from the internet. The mention of video games being a narrative instead of a database made m think about how little databases are made to create a whole database of a video game. The article explains how there are different buttons and functions within a database; some of these are interactive while others just exist for the database to function. It makes me think about how these functions of a database are necessary in order for a narrative to form.


"The Death of the Author"

This essay made me think about how people take possession of writings, artworks, or anything they worked on long enough to make it rightfully theirs. Once an article or an object is given an author that author is then responsible for that, and must accept all criticism or praise for their piece of work. However, in order for one to fully understand or be consumed with a piece of writing or work they must forget about the author and simply accept what is in front of them. By forgetting about the author and not thinking about possible past work from the author or what the author believes, one can then form their own opinion.