[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPfLZ1B1POU]
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPNspJIWeio]
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned the life of certain obsolete terms taking on new meaning. As the clock runs out on my brief stint as a guest blogger, I’d like to consider this the “demuxing” post. This term probably isn’t familiar to most, but it comes from the term “multiplexing,” and it’s reverse “demultiplexing.” From wikipedia (multiplexing):
multiplexing (known as muxing) is a process where multiple analog message signals or digital data streams are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share an expensive resource. For example, in telecommunications, several phone calls may be transferred using one wire. It originated in telegraphy, and is now widely applied in communications.
In working on some upcoming video screenings, I’ve come across the term “demuxing” in culling together source material, backing up DVDs, and converting video formats. The easiest way to describe what this term means is a separation of the audio from the video information. I suppose we’re demuxing the world all the time as we sort out the visual from the aural. Demuxing implies an undoing, working backwards to find the beginnings.
Likewise, reading a blog is like demuxing. As many bemoan the end of long form writing with the rise of blogs, I suggest that blogging is best appreciated in long form, over time, read from the most recent to the very earliest. As one who blogs, I appreciate that this form of writing allows for some permanence and a few reminders of the very recent events gone by, without an enormous amount of editing or predetermination. I’ll say good bye with two of my favorite articles on blogging, one by Andre Sullivan and why he blogs, the other on something called “Me Feeds.”
Look for more of my posts on Bad at Sports, and see some of my video work in Chicago and in New York.
