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"GIFs have become a bit of an enigma \u2014 they are one of the oldest image formats used on the Web, yet if you ask anyone familiar with the old format, they'd likely not associate it with a short clip of a cat in a Godzilla suit knocking over a tower. \nThroughout their 25 years of existence, GIFs have served a variety of purposes, from practicality to purely entertainment. How did such a vast, eclectic medium come to be? \nThe answer is in the newest episode of PBS's web series Off Book, \"Animated GIFs: The Birth of a Medium.\"\nAs technology advanced, using GIFs became an outdated, less fashionable format. According to Patrick Davison of MemeFactory,  the format began to increase in popularity again around 2007 or 2008.\n\"People started to realize that you can use GIFs for tons of different things,\" says Davison. \"And now that we're in 2012 there's more GIFs online, but you also have way more places to put them.\"\nSites such as Reddit, Tumblr, WordPress and even Twitter are all, to some extent, content-curating sites that have created what Davison calls \"post-modern GIFs.\"\n\nSEE ALSO: How Tumblr Rekindled the Art of Animated GIFs\n\"Humans really like repetition \u2014 we feel comfortable with it \u2014 and sometimes just the longer you watch something, the funnier it gets or it will actually change meaning,\" says TopherChris, Tumblr's community manager and editorial director.\n\"I think there's other new artforms waiting to be discovered in there that we just haven't figured out yet.\"\nCombining High-End Fashion With Old-School GIFs\nOne of the most obvious instances of a new art form given birth by the GIF format is the cinemagraph, a series of still photographs with subtle moving elements. \n\"I think there are opportunities with this hybrid medium to show people something they've never seen before, to have these moments that can just exist forever,\" says Kevin Burg, who coined the term cinemagraph and co-created From Me To You with his partner, photographer Jamie Beck. \nThe two created a series of cinemagraphs featuring model Coca Rocha in Oscar de la Renta gowns, which Tumblr fashion director Rich Tong revealed at a conference in Paris. \nPamela Reed and Matthew Rader of Reed+Rader are another duo combining fashion editorial with the quirk of Internet culture. Both found their inspiration through memes and video games.\n\"The idea of art has changed, and we've always seen what we can get away with. It's fun,\" says Rader.\nBONUS: Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg's Cinemagraphs\n\n\nJamie Beck &amp; Kevin Burg's Cinemagraphs\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJamie Beck.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nModel Coca Rocha wearing Oscar de la Renta.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA rainy evening in Savannah, Georgia.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA cappuccino. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFashion designer Oscar de la Renta.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInside the Brooklyn apartment of a couple who designs jewelery. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA row of swaying lights.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA swinging necklace.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA summer concert.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA cinemagraph for Juicy Couture.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA cinemagraph for designer Katie Ermilio's lookbook.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA handbag swings on a Manhattan rooftop.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBackstage at Prabal Gurung.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBackstage at Prabal Gurung.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhotographers Scott Schuman and Garance Dore at Burberry's S/S 2012 collection show.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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