Precise mishandling of the digital image structure

Abstract

In the everyday capturing and sharing of digital images, one is rarely confronted with the notion of this media being any different than its analog counterpart. With the exception of an occasional compressed artifact, the medium remains transparent to the pictorial content it contains-that is until an error or glitch occurs, providing a brief glimpse into the inherent properties of the medium itself. However, through advancements in error detection techniques, these artifacts are seen with less and less frequency, thus further removing the message from its medium. What if the glitch was caused intentionally? What range of innovative visual possibilities might unfold as the digital image is pushed beyond its ideal state? In pursuing these questions, the term precise mishandling was coined to describe a method of carefully and thoroughly manipulating the structural code found within a digital image, meanwhile observing the reaction this had on the pictorial surface. Utilizing the most common file format for digital images, the JPEG, this paper follows the discovery of a technique for generating innovative imagery through the cross-media visualization of text. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.