AMY E MARTIN // Thesis

Over dinner with friends the subject of notch codes and what the hell they are came up. It took some late night html wrangling for my brain to put our conversation together with my earlier random dream about sorting email with one's hands. (Although I realize that the idea puts another step between the human and the communication and that's possibly not a useful direction to take, I'm still intrigued by the idea... at least I am at 2am.) So, notch codes are cut outs in sheet film that are standardized for different kinds of film and that help one tell which side of the film is the emulsion side. Cutouts are used because you develop film in the dark (of course) and so can't use your eyes. I wonder how fast photographers could sort through their film (although I don't think the system was developed for speed) and if notch code knowledge could possibly be stored in tactile memory (if such a thing exists... I really need to get on those psych research books).

Labels: random ideas, related links