Practice Tape

Phil Morton starts the conversation by discussing an engineering project at the University of Wisconsin which was developing an early video communication system over satellite. Phil predicts the use of live-transmission of audiovisual elements for jamming purposes; his visionary thought resembles Marshall McLuhan’s prediction about the internet and social media. With the availability of a home terminal that transmits signals in real-time, the “system becomes a radical educational learning experience.” 

Heeding the overly quick development of technologies, Phil sees the urge to understand media at a deeper level. While the mass public attempts to catch up with the media development, he recognizes there is a lack of proper terminology to describe visual communication. He comments, “...talking has to do with sound, what is the equivalent in the visual realm of talking?” He continues, “I'm sending visual information and I don't have any word for it. I need a new word. We don’t even have terms to account for it, it’s too real. It’s going so fast we don't have the time to make up the new terms that are necessary.”

Phil not only narrates his urge and demand to catch up with the media, he also overdubs and manipulates his voice to create various audio effects for the video. The final section features a student—and other students off-camera—experimenting with the audio equipment in front of the camera.

–Gordon Dic-Lun Fung

For more information, visit the Phil Morton Memorial Research Archive page. 

The date for this title is approximate.