Here's an idea.
Animated GIFs are an important part
of the presidential election.
[THEME MUSIC]
Before we get started, I want to get one thing out of the way.
I say "giff."
Maybe you say "jiff."
That is just fine.
If you want to argue about pronunciation,
you can do it on this other video that we've made.
But here, we have more important things to talk about.
Things like animated fire, under construction signs,
and waving flags, the ancestors to the modern, full frame
GIFs we're used to today.
[MUSIC - CHER, "BELIEVE"]
Much like Cher, the GIF has had many a makeover, many
waxes and wanes in popularity.
It's matured quite a bit to get to where it is today.
As technology has grown up to better accommodate
sharing and making GIFs, we've found more uses for them.
We use them as emotional shorthand,
in blog post banners, as movie posters, wedding photos,
and of course, as tools for making well-informed decisions
about electing the next leader of the free world.
OK, let's rewind a little.
GIFs in the news aren't exactly news.
If they were, we probably would've seen GIFs of it.
If you spend your evenings, lunch breaks, or math class
on the internet-- looking at you, Mr. Monfre's class-- then
you almost certainly saw animated GIFs of the Olympics,
the Mars landing, the NBA finals,
or Felix jumping from space.
Like most animated GIF subject matter,
these things were cool and fun and terrifying and
heartbreaking and dreamy.
Then we started seeing animated GIFs
from a decidedly different kind of event--
from political conventions, events
not usually considered fun or cool, though maybe terrifying.
The animated GIF began edging its way into capital
P, Political, capital N, News, and it edged its way
all the way to the debates.
Tonight on capital P, Political, capital N, News, Political
News.
Animated GIFs are everywhere.
GIFs of just, well, dudes saying things.
No one flipping around or busting a move or anything.
I mean, some of them are funny, but a lot of them
are just these two guys, saying stuff.
The GIF is normally some small piece of visual popcorn.
A debate seems like an awful candidate for GIFing,
Unless Mr. GIF is involved.
We want information from a debate.
I mean, we also want to subject it
to the endless meme-ification of everyday life,
but that is another "Idea Channel" episode entirely.
Is the GIF even capable of delivering information?
I mean, like useful information.
Maybe.
We've come a long way since the first televised
presidential debate in 1960 between Richard Nixon and JFK.
That marked a turning point where presidential candidates
not only had to sound smart but also look smart.
Since then, the importance of these two factors
seems to have shifted.
The focus of debates has moved from politics to performance.
Gaffs, reactions, one-liners.
The news media presents us with quotes and video clips that
are disembodied from the speaker or from context
reduced to sound bites.
And that's exactly what a GIF is,
a thing to be repeated and taken at face value
without a relationship to other ideas.
But a GIF is also more complete than quotes on paper
because the words are again reunited
with the actions and attitude of the person who spoke them.
It's more context than no context
and is infinitely rewatchable in comparison to video,
so it's sort of the cause-of and solution-to a bunch
of really interesting problems.
Being the president is maybe the most complicated job,
one which is certainly not reducible to a set
of lo-fi moving images.
In a way, the GIF is helping to chip away
at context where we need it the most, electing the person who
sits behind the big red button.
Get off my plane.
Now, can you really say that the animated GIF will
have an effect on the election?
You could, but you'd probably be exaggerating a lot.
Every piece of information in an election is important,
and GIFs are clearly not the most important,
unless undecided voters in Ohio said they were, in which case
they would then become the most important.
But you can definitely say this.
We've watched the animated GIF grow up
from this jovial tyke to this young man
to this fellow to this powerful gentleman.
And while GIFs used to be made by the leet haxors in the days
of Usenet, they're now made by employees of "The New York
Times" and "The Atlantic," reported on by "Forbes"
and "The Wall Street Journal."
The time where there is an official campaign GIF-maker
doesn't feel too far off.
This is a decidedly lofty and uncertain turn
for our old pal, the GIF, meant for quick consumption,
easy sharing, and simple messages.
And whether animated GIFs are going
to do politics any favors when it seems to need them the most,
I don't know.
We'll see.
What do you guys think?
Are animated GIFs useful for capital P, Political,
capital N, News?
Let us know in the comments.
And if you haven't rage-quit from my pronunciation of
GIF-- "giff," "giff."
Please subscribe.
I am still trapped in Brooklyn, but that didn't stop me
from reading all your comments.
We'll see what you guys had to say about CSS as [? fashion.
Ben Chong makes a really interesting point about code
not necessarily being an art, but being more of a component
to an art, which makes sense, especially
given his comparison of paints.
We don't call paint an art work.
But some people might take issue with this, because there are so
many different styles and brands of code
that you might be able to call certain kinds of code
more artful.
I don't know.
It's a really interesting distinction to make.
To Salmon Synth.
I actually used to live in Vermont too,
and they were everywhere.
Maybe you live in the town with the "no weird windows"
ordinance.
Noveltyent talks about the fads and fashions of user design
and how a lot of the modern ones are influenced by technology
like mobile phones.
And this actually makes me think, what are websites
going to look like once Google Glass is a thing that everybody
has and we're looking at websites at the same time
as we're looking at the real world?
Who knows.
Besides making the very salient point
that markup does not technically count as code,
mindvise makes a really interesting distinction
between fashion and marketing and kind of wonders
whether or not brands can have fashion.
I'm sure there's some sort of way
that you can spin it through, like, sort of ideas
of adornment and expression.
And now that corporations are people,
I'm sure that complicates the whole thing, but I don't know.
It's an interesting-- it's an interesting thing
to think about.
Give me a second before I answer this one.
I just need to use my GPS system to find
the nearest ATM machine, where I will enter my PIN number.
On a slightly more personal note,
I just want to say thank you to everybody
who has voiced their support and concern for me
and the rest of the Idea Channel team.
It really actually does mean a lot.
You have given me many feels.
So thank you for being awesome.
Idea Channel updates might still be
a little slow over the next week and week and a half.
Hopefully not, but we'll keep you updated
on Twitter and through YouTube.
And of course, if you're on the east coast,
stay safe and good luck.
Thank you.
[THEME MUSIC]