GIF

Being written by Tina Tang
== Overview Edit ==
GIFs are introduced at the beginning of the course to get students to think about different means of media for expression. This form of media is widely used on the Internet and social media platforms.
== Definition Edit ==
GIF stands for "Graphics Interchange Format". The GIF began as a data format and used as a standard for encoding and decoding a string of 1s and 0s. Nowadays, it is an animated file or an otherwise short, silent, looping, untitled moving image. It has evolved to something that has an ethos, a utility, an evolving context and a set of aesthetics. GIFs can be created, used, posted, collected, copied, modified and performed. It is usually surround by text and other media on the Internet. 
== History Edit ==
GIFs were primarily found on personal webpages where they had a direct relationship with the pages, employed to show how different the Web were from the traditional publishing. Many of them took the similar style of the clip art with rudimentary, shiny and untextured shapes. Most of them had small file sizes and low resolutions so that it would take less time to download them. 
In the early days, web creators hosted the animated GIFs on their own servers for people to download freely. People then share those GIFs and use them on their own without giving the original creators any credits. This kind of "tradition" has been kept until today. A good GIF has become a digital slang, a visual vocabulary "unencumbered" by authorship. 
GIFs began appearing in art institutions such as the 2000 Whitney Biennial and SFMOMA's '010101:Art in Technological Times'. Rhizomes' 2006 'The Gif Show' was one of the first exhibitions to recognize the GIF as an artistic form. 
Around 2011, GIFs started to be posted in response to text online. They are used to express common ideas and emotions. 
In 2012, Oxford American Dictionaries named "GIF" as the 2012 Word of the Year. It can be pronounced as 'jif' or 'gif'. 
With the growing popularity, websites have enabled users to create GIFs from online videos. Many sites have added watermarks to the corners of the images in black or white text. 
== Examples Edit ==
* This is a wobble GIF, which is a kind of GIF that alternates between two more images to produce a stereoscopic effect. This technique dates back to Ken Jacobs' Nervous System film performances of the 1970s. Later Jim Gasperini used GIFs to this effect in his 2002 'Time for Space Jiggle' series 
 
* This is an example of cinemagraph GIF. The terms was invented by fashion photographerJamie Beck and designer Kevin Burg in 2011. It is a kind of GIF that stays still for the most of the time while one element moves in a seamless loop. 
== Resources and Further Readings Edit ==
The GIF Controversy: A Software Developer's Perspective: This article revolves around the controversial announcement made by CompuServe Inc. and Unisys Corporation at the end of December 1994. The announcement suggests that developers would have to pay a license fee in order to continue to use technology patented by Unisys in certain categories of software supporting the GIF format. The author looks back the history of GIF and other related software and also clarifies the context and contents of the announcement.
Animated Gifs: Not Just For Funny Cat Pics Anymore: The article discusses the art exhibition "Moving the Still" at Miami Art Week in Florida in 2012, which featured art made from graphics interchange format (GIF) computer animations, and which was judged by celebrities such as musician Michael Stipe.
Youtube Quietly Rolls Out A Native GIF Creation Tool: The article evaluates an animated GIF-making tool released by YouTube video streaming site that lets users edit video clips from the site. 
Paul, Ian. "Youtube Quietly Rolls Out A Native GIF Creation Tool." Macworld - Digital Edition 32.2 (2015): 125-126.Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Animated Gifs: The article discusses animated gifs (graphics interchange format), a term used to describe animated images created and shared online. Particular attention is given to the gifs designed by artist Yuriy Mironoff, who shares his work under the name MiRon online at mironart.tumblr.com. In addition, the author describes how gifs can be used to engage art students in online media.
Gran, David. "Animated Gifs." School Arts 113.3 (2013): 22. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
An Honor for the Creator of the GIF: This article traces back to the brief history of the formation of GIF and its creator. 
== Keywords Edit ==
# Media
# New Media
# Interactive Media
# "Media, Place and Multiculturalism"
== Citations Edit ==
# Eppink, Jason. "A Brief History Of The GIF (So Far)." Journal Of Visual Culture 13.3 (2014): 298-306. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
# "GIF" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
# Gubbens, Alexander, et al. "The GIF Quantum, A Next Generation Post-Column Imaging Energy Filter." Ultramicroscopy110.8 (2010): 962-970. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
# YARM, MARK. "Animated Gifs: Not Just For Funny Cat Pics Anymore." Rolling Stone 1172/1173 (2012): 22. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
# PAUL, IAN. "Youtube Quietly Rolls Out A Native GIF Creation Tool." Macworld - Digital Edition 32.2 (2015): 125-126.Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Category:Media
Category:GIF
Category:Data format