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'''Dead Media Research Studio'''
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'''Media Archaeology'''
  
Fall 2007 syllabus http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/2007fall_DeadMedia_syllabus.pdf
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This course is devoted to media archaeology, that is, historical research into forgotten, obsolete, neglected or otherwise dead media technologies. Depending on our understanding of “media” — one of the questions we’ll discuss — these might include forms as diverse as typewriters, phonographs, Polaroid photography, prison tattoo codes and the Victorian language of floral bouquets, outmoded video game platforms, computing systems, and musical instruments, smoke signals, scent organs, shorthand notation, and rocket mail delivery. Our premise is that understanding these things can help us gain a better sense of the development, meaning and legacy of media technologies, now and in the future; our goal is to introduce students to the skills and resources necessary for producing rigorous research on such obsolete and obscure media. The course will include an exposure to scholarship in media archaeology; an intensive introduction to research methods; finding and exploring word, image, and sound archives; and the restoration of media artifacts to their deep social, cultural and personal context. The course stems from the premise that media archaeology is best undertaken, like any archaeological project, collaboratively: we will follow a hands-on research studio model commonly used in disciplines such as architecture or design.
  
This course is devoted to media archaeology, that is, historical research on forgotten, obsolete, or otherwise “dead” media technologies. Examples range from Athanasius Kircher’s seventeenth-century magic lantern to the common slide projector, discontinued by Kodak in 2004. Our goal is to acquire the skills and resources necessary for producing rigorous and compelling scholarship on such media. The course will include an exposure to recent contributions to the field of media archaeology; an introduction to research methods; instruction on the identification and utilization of word, image, and sound archives; and an emphasis on the need to restore media artifacts to their proper social and cultural context. The course stems from the premise that media archaeology is best undertaken, like any archaeological project, collaboratively. Hence the course follows a research studio model commonly used in disciplines such as architecture.
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[http://finnb.net/a/fall2010syllabus.pdf Fall 2010 syllabus]
  
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= Dossiers--Fall 2010 =
  
= Dead Media Dossiers =  
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<categorytree mode=pages hideroot=on>Fall 2010</categorytree>
  
[[3D Television]]
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= Dossiers--Spring 2010 =
  
[[8-track Tape]]
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<categorytree mode=pages hideroot=on>Spring 2010</categorytree>
  
[[Camera Lucida]]
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= Browse the Archive =
  
[[Camera Obscura]]
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* by [[Special:Categories|category]]
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* by date: [[:Category:Fall 2010|Fall 2010]] / [[:Category:Spring 2010|Spring 2010]]
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* by [[:Category:Dossier|alphabetical list]]
  
[[Chirograph (Cyrograph)]]
 
  
[[Civil Defense Siren]]
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= Start a New Dossier =
  
[[Daguerreotype]]
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* Read how to [[Start a New Dossier]]
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* Browse through a list of [[:Category:Proposed Dossier|proposed dossiers]] that are available to start
  
[[Ear Trumpet]]
 
 
[[Electric Pen]]
 
 
[[Experiential Typewriter]]
 
 
[[Glass Harmonica]]
 
 
[[Homing Pigeons]]
 
 
[[Hotel Annunciator]]
 
 
[[Magic Lantern]]
 
 
[[Mechanical Television]]
 
 
[[Megalethoscope]]
 
 
[[MiniDisc]]
 
 
[[Minitel]]
 
 
[[Movable Type]]
 
 
[[Mystical Writing Pad]]
 
 
[[Newspaper via Radio Facsimile]]
 
 
[[NeXT Step]]
 
 
[[Notificator]]
 
 
[[Panorama]]
 
 
[[Peruvian Quipu]]
 
 
[[Phonograph Doll]]
 
 
[[Photographic Gun]]
 
 
[[Player Piano]]
 
 
[[Pneumatic Tubes]]
 
 
[[Semaphore Telegraph]]
 
 
[[Shorthand]]
 
 
[[Smell Organ]]
 
 
[[Spirit Duplicator]]
 
 
[[Steenbeck]]
 
 
[[Stereoscope]]
 
 
[[Talking Book]]
 
 
[[Telautograph]]
 
 
[[Telharmonium]]
 
 
[[Typewriter]]
 
 
[[Wax Cylinder]]
 
 
[[Zuse palimpsest]]
 
 
= Research Methods =
 
 
[[Media:Research_methods.pdf|Guidelines on Research Methods]] (PDF)
 
  
 
= Critical Techniques =
 
= Critical Techniques =
  
As a group we are developing a series of techniques that help facilitate the analysis of dead media artifacts. These questions are provisional and may not be appropriate for all artifacts. They are meant as tools for critical exploration.  
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As a group we are developing a series of [[Critical Techniques]] that help facilitate the analysis of dead media artifacts.
  
* "Pops and hisses" -- Pops and hisses refers to the background noise often heard on phonograph recordings resulting from inconsistencies in the underlying material. Research Question: What are the unavoidable, obtrusive material qualities of the substrate itself that enter into the medium's overall system of representation?
 
  
* The "click" -- Single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras make a clicking sound when taking a picture. The click results from a mechanical operation: an internal mirror moves aside and the shutter opens, exposing the film to light. Many of today's digital cameras have no shutter and no internal mirror, yet they still simulate the click using a digital audio sample. Why? Research Question: What qualities of the artifact are unnecessary at the material level but are still nevertheless necessary at the semiotic level? Where is the "click"?
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= Background =
  
* Remediation -- Like the "click," remediation refers to the process through which older media formats are simulated, extended, coopted, modified, tamed, or rendered obsolete by new media formats. Research Questions: What came before this artifact? What newer medium came after? What traits are lost or preserved in the historical transformation from one system to another?
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Some entries in the archive are drawn from the [http://www.deadmedia.org Dead Media Project], an email list devoted to the topic started by [http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades Bruce Sterling] and more recently moderated by Tom Jennings. The email list is now dead.
  
* "Functional nonsense" -- Functional nonsense refers to actual material qualities of the medium that are necessary for the medium to function correctly but which have no semantic or semiotic purpose. A good illustration is the [[Chirograph (Cyrograph)|chirograph]] which requires that some word -- by custom it was often the word "chirograph" -- be inscribed across the midsection of a document. The word is then cut in half, certifying and authenticating the two pieces. The word "chirograph" is therefore highly functional, but semantically irrelevant. Research Question: What qualities of the artifact are unnecessary at the semiotic or semantic level but are nevertheless crucial to its functioning correctly?
 
  
* Encoding -- Research Question: What symbolic system is used in the medium to encode and decode messages?
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= Links =
  
* Digital versus analog -- Research Questions: What parts of the artifact conform to a model of representation using discrete sample points, and what parts use a continuously variable input? Are the two hybridized and if so how?
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[http://www.experimentaljetset.nl/lostformats/01.html Lost formats]
 
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* The "obvious" -- In every medium there are techniques and design conventions that result from the prevalent tendencies of the historical situation. For example, the problem of writing and reproduction in the modern period was "solved" using mechanical levers, metal type, presses and inks, while the problem of writing and reproduction in the late twentieth century was solved using an entirely different set of techniques: digital code, microchips, and LCDs. Research Question: What aspects of the medium result from large scale paradigms appropriate to the historical context?
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* The "arbitrary" -- Every medium also contains entirely unmotivated and unexplainable traits. Western writing runs left to right, top to bottom. But this convention is arbitrary. Research Question: What specific aspects of the medium have no material or semiotic reason for being?
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* Formal prohibitions/affordances -- Communications media often put clear limitations on where and how messages can originate and be received. Radio began as a two-way medium, but evolved into a broadcast medium. Research Questions: Who can read in this medium? Who can write in this medium? Is there an asymmetrical relationship between those who can send and those who can receive?
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= Background =
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Some entries in the archive are drawn from the [http://www.deadmedia.org Dead Media Project], an email list devoted to the topic started by [http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades Bruce Sterling] and more recently moderated by Tom Jennings. Ironically their email list is now dead.
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[http://obsoleteskills.com/ Obsolete Skills]
  
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[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/19/magazine/classroom-technology.html/ The Evolution of Classroom Technology]
  
 
= Special Pages =
 
= Special Pages =

Latest revision as of 02:25, 24 November 2010

Media Archaeology

This course is devoted to media archaeology, that is, historical research into forgotten, obsolete, neglected or otherwise dead media technologies. Depending on our understanding of “media” — one of the questions we’ll discuss — these might include forms as diverse as typewriters, phonographs, Polaroid photography, prison tattoo codes and the Victorian language of floral bouquets, outmoded video game platforms, computing systems, and musical instruments, smoke signals, scent organs, shorthand notation, and rocket mail delivery. Our premise is that understanding these things can help us gain a better sense of the development, meaning and legacy of media technologies, now and in the future; our goal is to introduce students to the skills and resources necessary for producing rigorous research on such obsolete and obscure media. The course will include an exposure to scholarship in media archaeology; an intensive introduction to research methods; finding and exploring word, image, and sound archives; and the restoration of media artifacts to their deep social, cultural and personal context. The course stems from the premise that media archaeology is best undertaken, like any archaeological project, collaboratively: we will follow a hands-on research studio model commonly used in disciplines such as architecture or design.

Fall 2010 syllabus

Dossiers--Fall 2010


Dossiers--Spring 2010


Browse the Archive


Start a New Dossier


Critical Techniques

As a group we are developing a series of Critical Techniques that help facilitate the analysis of dead media artifacts.


Background

Some entries in the archive are drawn from the Dead Media Project, an email list devoted to the topic started by Bruce Sterling and more recently moderated by Tom Jennings. The email list is now dead.


Links

Lost formats

Obsolete Skills

The Evolution of Classroom Technology

Special Pages

Upload a File

All Pages

All Uploaded Files