Editing 1683: Digital Data
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| title = Digital Data | | title = Digital Data | ||
| image = digital_data.png | | image = digital_data.png | ||
− | | titletext = “If you can read this, congratulations—the archive you’re using still knows about the mouseover textâ€! | + | | titletext = “If you can read this, congratulations—the archive you’re you're using still knows about the mouseover textâ€! |
}} | }} | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | {{w|Digital information}} | + | {{incomplete|Initial draft.}} |
+ | {{w|Digital information}}, strictly speaking, does not degrade. While physical media themselves (such as books, or hard drives) may degrade as the universe continues, information, by itself, does not decay over time, and can be copied indefinitely with no changes. [This could be phrased much better.] | ||
− | However, in this comic, [[Randall]] points out that while | + | However, in this comic, [[Randall]] points out that while information itself doesn't degrade, things that are on the internet are often degraded through copying, because the copy is not 1:1. In addition, as technology advances the method to save or call the information changes and the medium to view it changes, occasionally causing misinterpreted information. (This is also demonstrated with the title text.) As the frames continue, they gain the appearance of images which have been screenshotted repeatedly, with a resulting loss of quality due to compression of the original resolution and jpeg artifacting. In the last frame, this is taken to an extreme, as the frame appears to have been very sloppily screenshotted off of at least two different smartphones (not the same device that uses the bottom frame in the third panel as the top border in panel four), and the final image is covered both with a watermark from an unregistered screenshot program, as well as references to at least two different web site, {{w|9GAG}} (bottom right image) and {{w|tumblr}} in the web address bottom left. |
− | <!-- | + | |
− | [9Gag is well known | + | "9gag" is a humor website often accused of rehosting other sites' funny content without attribution and adding their own watermark to the image or video. |
+ | |||
+ | <!--[9Gag is well known, maybe also provide the example of iFunny. Talk about things like "unregistered HyperCam" and the phenomenon in more detail.] | ||
[You can also see the word tumblr in the last panel. Additionally, the phone frame on the top of panel 4 would not have come from the same device as the bottom of panel 3.] | [You can also see the word tumblr in the last panel. Additionally, the phone frame on the top of panel 4 would not have come from the same device as the bottom of panel 3.] | ||
--> | --> | ||
− | + | The title text contains seemingly garbage characters, which typically result from data being interpreted according to a character encoding different from the one used to encode it. In this case, the characters are the result of encoding the string <tt>“If you can read this, congratulations—the archive you’re you're using still knows about the mouseover text”!</tt> using UTF-8, then interpreting the resulting bytes as Windows-1252, both of which are quite commonly used. This shows that degradation of digital data through conversions isn't restricted to images. Furthermore, as screen navigation moves away from mouses toward touch, voice recognition, and modes still to be implemented, mouseover text will itself become anachronistic. | |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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:Cueball: The great thing about digital data is that it never degrades. | :Cueball: The great thing about digital data is that it never degrades. | ||
− | :[They walk on in the next panel which | + | :[They walk on in the next panel which is slightly pixelated, as if it is a screen shot of the actual image.] |
:Cueball: Hard drives fail, of course, but their bits can be copied forever without loss. | :Cueball: Hard drives fail, of course, but their bits can be copied forever without loss. | ||
− | :[They continue walking in the third panel which is now clearly pixelated, the white is slightly discolored, and it contains part of the interface of some program, probably supposed to be a screen shot from a smartphone. At the bottom there are three blue buttons and one gray. the first is a blue "<" indicating back in a browser. Then a grayed out ">" that is not active. And then three more standard buttons in blue to the right of those two. | + | :[They continue walking in the third panel which is now clearly pixelated, the white is slightly discolored, and it contains part of the interface of some program, probably supposed to be a screen shot from a smartphone. At the bottom there are three blue buttons and one gray. the first is a blue "<" indicating back in a browser. Then a grayed out ">" that is not active. And then three more standard buttons in blue to the right of those two.] |
:Cueball: Film degrades, paint cracks, but a copy of a century-old data file is identical to the original. | :Cueball: Film degrades, paint cracks, but a copy of a century-old data file is identical to the original. | ||
− | :[Still walking, now Cueball holds out both arms to the sides, and finally White Hat replies. This panel is heavily pixelated and discolored and has a distorted aspect ratio. It contains a clear watermark | + | :[Still walking, now Cueball holds out both arms to the sides, and finally White Hat replies. This panel is heavily pixelated and discolored and has a distorted aspect ratio. It contains a clear watermark (although difficult to read all letters in the end of the first word), even more 'frame' elements, and text above the image at the bottom (where the last letter is obscured by the frame of the image). There is also an internet address at the bottom left, but is is not readable except for the .com ending. In this panel it is clear that it is a screen shot from a smart phone. The frame around the image obscure the very top of Cueball's text and the half of the last letter in White Hat's reply.] |
:Cueball: If humanity has a permanent record, we are the first generation in it. | :Cueball: If humanity has a permanent record, we are the first generation in it. | ||
:White Hat: Amazing | :White Hat: Amazing | ||
− | :Watermark: | + | :Watermark: Screenshot r02[?] |
− | :Watermark: | + | :Watermark: Unregistered~ |
:Top border: Verizon LTE '''4:45 PM''' | :Top border: Verizon LTE '''4:45 PM''' | ||
− | :Bottom text | + | :Bottom text: 9GAG |
− | :Internet address at the bottom | + | :Internet address at the bottom: [?????].tumblr.com |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
+ | |||
[[Category:Comics with color]] | [[Category:Comics with color]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] |