Data-bending & Glitches
Databending is the process of manipulating information
from within a media file of a certain format, using software designed
to edit files of another format. Distortions in the medium typically occur as a
result, and the process either falls under a broader category of, or is
frequently employed in glitch art.
The term databending is derived from the process
of circuit bending, in which musical objects such as children's toys,
effects pedals and electronic keyboards are deliberately short
circuited by bending the circuit board to produce erratic and
spontaneous sounds. Like circuit bending, databending involves the (often
unpredictable) alteration of its target's behaviour. Databending achieves this
alteration by manipulating the information within a media file of a certain
format, using software designed to edit files of a different format;
distortions in the medium typically occur as a result.
Many techniques exist, including the use of hex editors to
manipulate certain components of a compression algorithm, to comparatively
simple methods. Michael Betancourt has posed a short set of instructions,
included in the Signal Culture Cookbook, that involves the direct
manipulation of the digital file using a hexadecimal editing program. One such
method involves the addition of audio effects through audio editing
software to distort raw data interpretations of image files.
Some effects were observed by Masuma Ahuja and Denise Lu of The Washington
Post to produce optical analogues: adding an echo filter
duplicated elements of a photo, and inversion contributed to the flipping over
of an image. The similarities result from the waveforms corresponding with the
layers of pixels in a linear fashion, ordered from top to bottom. Another
method, dubbed "the WordPad effect", uses the program WordPad to
manipulate images through converting the raw data to the Rich Text Format.
- Incorrect editing: Files of a certain format are manipulated using software designed to edit files of a different format.
- Reinterpretation: Files are simply converted from one medium to another.
- Forced errors: Known software bugs are exploited to force the program to terminate, usually while writing a file.
(Source: Wikipedia)
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