ABSTRACT
In The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich was at pains to distinguish software studies from media studies. He claimed that the digital media constitutes a significant break in the history of media because it introduces into media culture the phenomenon of transcoding. The programmed systems may be so complex that the programmer can no longer foresee the output, particularly when those systems interact with human participants. Software studies itself seems depend on an essentialist understanding of the digital because of its focus on the essential quality of procedurality. From the perspective of software studies, the digital artifact is realized as the expression of a procedure. The realization takes place in the world, or at least before the eyes of a user or view, but the essence of the artifact remains the code that supports and produces the interface and its perceived output.
