Thus, while a photo is taken all at once, digital information must, of necessity, be taken a bit at a time. The abstract structure precedes the source and stays independent of it, communicating only through an interface, and never brought into direct contact with an image or its referent. Aloof from the real world, it deals only with numbers that bear no direct analogy to it. It is just this aloofness that enables the fancy to rove free with a computed camera. An interface to some physical device is essential, but no single one is dictated.
Computer art seems like an orphan among media.
Digital creations are not the offspring of any medium and have no home in physical reality.