layers and meaning: reflections on digitality

Layers and meaningJenny Weight, RMITc. 2012geniwate@gmail.com

2 types of stories• The ones where you already

know the conclusion• The ones where you don’t

You already know the conclusion to this story …

When you already know the conclusion …

It is easy to organise the elements you need

into layers

Regardless of medium /software / genre /style

Each layer is equivalent to a discreet story element

And can therefore be manipulated

Layers are about relationships between elements

Iteration and juxtaposition

Reveal and hide

Layers and frames

Frames consist of layers which change over time. Frames accumulate changing meanings, in which the relationships are not just between layers but between versions of layers in an evolutionary sequence.

But what about the other type of story

the one where you don’t know the conclusion?

Layers become an experiment

in meaning-making

juxtaposition and iteration

hide and reveal

smaller and bigger

incremental change

Have layers changed meaning?

Layers allow us to contain the history of the object (the drafts) within the file

Layers allow us to treat meaning as an experiment

Layers represent to the maker the plasticity and contingency of meaning

So I think meaning making is a different sort of experience in digital production