Wednesday 5-8 / NQ 2245
Prof. Finn Brunton / f@finnb.net
Amidst all the excitement of “new media” in 1990s, Bruce Sterling coined the term “dead media” to describe the whole domain of obsolete platforms and formats, unsuccessful experiments, neglected also-rans, and visionary failures whose history was ignored in favor of dot-com boosterism, Whig history and the next big thing. This course brings to light the diversity of means for transmitting, storing and displaying information — from pneumatic tubes to Elcaset and the Telharmonium, Polyvision and panoramas to heliography and Incan quipu. What makes media obsolete? What is lost, as well as gained, in the transitions in platforms and formats? In researching, documenting and preserving dead media, how do we make them technically renderable while retaining their contextual and contemporary meaning? We will explore a large range of media through theory, history, materiality and cultural context, and learn how to preserve their complexity — and how to prepare the media of our time for sustainable use in the future.
After taking this class, students:
Every student will produce two papers. The first is a 2000-2500 word paper (35%) on media theory and history; this can take the form of a comparative study of different theories and historical models discussed in the class, or an in-depth analysis of the work of one media theorist or media historian. The second, 3000-4000 words (40%), is a research paper on a “dead medium” of the student’s choice (following discussion with the instructor) that draws on the critical and theoretical lexicon and analytic tools made available by the readings.
As shown in the syllabus, intermediate documents — a proposal, an outline, an annotated bibliography, and a draft — are due at various dates prior to the papers. These documents will not be graded for content (though the final grade of the paper will be penalized if they are late); they are assigned to give us a chance for feedback and improvements, to help you produce an excellent paper on schedule.
In the last four weeks of the class, students will give informal five minute presentations on the subject of their final research paper (5%). These do not require slides; they are an opportunity for you to concisely summarize your own work, and share your research with the class.
Participation counts toward 20% of your final grade. This includes obvious criteria, like attendance and engagement in the class, as well as being a discussion leader for one session. Discussion leaders will be teams of two or three students who have volunteered to develop questions and discussion topics for the reading, and to take the initiative in class discussion for the day.
Class readings are structured to be lighter when you will be doing research and writing papers. Combined with the proposal and draft deadlines, this should make it clear how to budget time for the class into your schedule.
Introduction of deep media history, media theory, obsolescence and preservation; discussion of syllabus
+ Discussed in class: Bruce Sterling, “The Dead Media Manifesto,” “The Life and Death of Media”
+ Responses on the nettime mailing list, 1995 (instructor will provide)
Media: rongorongo boards, CD-ROM, salt mines, nuclear semiotics, listserv archives
Reading: Tim Ingold, “Knotting and Threading”
+ Gary Urton, “Memory, Writing, and Record Keeping in the Inka Empire”
+ Geoffrey B. Pingree and Lisa Gitelman, “What’s New About New Media?”
Recommended: Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Media: Cave paintings, quipu, string figures, game boards, cairns, genealogy, digital photography
Reading: Adrian Johns, “Ink”
+ Paul Duguid, “Material Matters: The Past and Futurology of the Book”
+ Tom Gunning, “Re-Newing Old Technologies: Astonishment, Second Nature, and the Uncanny in Technology from the Previous Turn-of-the-Century”
Media: Coin punches, movable type, pilgrim mirrors, commonplace books, mnemonic systems, emblem books, marginalia and notation, phonography
Reading: Molly Wright Steenson, “Interfacing With The Subterranean”
+ Walter Benjamin, “1939 Exposé” and “Convolute Y” from The Arcades Project
Media: Pneumatic tubes, Resi telephony, local radio, “farmer’s telephones,” Otlet’s Réseau, Minitel terminal, panoramas, wax figures, early photography
Reading: Friedrich Kittler, “Introduction” from Gramophone, Film, Typewriter
+ Giorgio Agamben, “What is an Apparatus?”
Media: Handwriting, assembly languages, archival boxes and folders, cryptanalysis systems and ciphering media, apparatus
DUE: Outline of first paper with preliminary bibliography
Reading: Siegfried Zielinski, “Vanishing Point - Cinema”
Media: Magic lanterns, Théâtre des Ombres, cathode-ray tube, black mirrors, automata, anamorphosis, masques, movie cameras, time-and-motion studies
Reading: Matt Kirschenbaum, “Extreme Inscription: A Grammatology of the Hard Drive”
Recommended: BBS: The Documentary (especially part 4, on FidoNet)
Media: .dsk, acid-process relief etching, Morse code, heliography, the Polybius square, tape storage, BBS, VAX
DUE: Proposal for final paper
Reading: Nikhil Swaminathan, “Digging into Technology’s Past”
+ Various, “Visual Transistor-level Simulation of the 6502 CPU” (see the FAQ)
+ Chris Fenton, “Digital Archeology with Drive-Independent Data Recovery: Now, With More Drive Dependence!”
Media: MOS 6502, Apple I, schematic prints, ferromagnetic core memory, nanowire memory
Winter break — Feb. 25-March 5
Reading: Alex Galloway, Ben Kafka, and Finn Brunton, “Critical techniques for analyzing dead media artifacts”
+ Paul Atkinson, “The Curious Case of the Kitchen Computer: Products and Non-Products in Design History”
Media: Friden Flexowriter, Malling-Hansen writing ball, Telharmonium, Honeywell H316, expanded cinema, Vortex Concerts, color organs
DUE: First paper (2000-2500 words)
Reading: Lisa Gitelman, “New Media Users”
+ Thomas Y. Levin, “‘Tones From Out of Nowhere’: Rudolf Pfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic Sound”
Media: Phonography, souvenir foils, magnetic tape, Shyvers Multiphone, cassette tape, .mp3, small-press LPs, DJ “battle decks”
DUE: Annotated outline/bibliography of final paper
Reading: Franco Moretti, “Graphs”
+ Kevin Driscoll and Joshua Diaz, “Endless loop: A brief history of chiptunes”
Brief presentations
Media: Penny dreadful, pulp magazine, film serial, faits divers, nickelodeon, keygen music, crack screens
Reading: Stanley Cavell, “The Fact of Television”
+ Lucas Hilderbrand, “Introduction: The Aesthetics of Access” and “Joanie and Jackie and Everyone They Know”
Brief presentations
Media: Panorama, kinetoscope, tachyscope, television and CCTV, stereography, 3-D movies, Nintendo Virtual Boy, VHS
DUE: Draft and progress report for final paper
Reading: Olia Lialina, “Still There”
+ Jason Scott, “Archive Team: A Distributed Preservation of Service Attack”
Brief presentations
Media: GeoCities, MIDI, .gif, roguelike games, meganarratives, MMO, hardware hacks, Flash
Brief presentations
DUE: Final paper (3000-4000 words)