Difference between revisions of "Mediatic Etymology"

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When establishing a cohesive framework within which to understand media, Marshall McLuhan famously posited that the content of every medium is yet another medium.  He explained that the content of film was the screenplay or novel, that the content of printed matter was the alphabet, and that the content of the alphabet was phonetic speech.  The process of remediation is invaluable to the media archaeological project because it allows older forms of
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When establishing a cohesive framework within which to understand media, Marshall McLuhan famously posited that the content of every medium is yet another medium, and the method of "Mediatic Etymology" offers a speculative tool which builds upon McLuhan's notion of remediation and offers a speculative tool with which one might theorize the existence of dead media whose origins remain unknown.
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In contrast to the media archaeology practices pioneered by Friedrich Kittler and others, mediatic etymology does not begin with an extinct material artifact, but rather with content in a living medium which offers no mediatic precedent for its appearance in mediated formExamples of this phenomenon can easily be found throughout the graphic user interfaces of computer operating systems wherein
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  He explained that the content of film was the screenplay or novel, that the content of printed matter was the alphabet, and that the content of the alphabet was phonetic speech.  The process of remediation is invaluable to the media archaeological project because it allows older forms of

Revision as of 19:59, 22 April 2008

When establishing a cohesive framework within which to understand media, Marshall McLuhan famously posited that the content of every medium is yet another medium, and the method of "Mediatic Etymology" offers a speculative tool which builds upon McLuhan's notion of remediation and offers a speculative tool with which one might theorize the existence of dead media whose origins remain unknown.

In contrast to the media archaeology practices pioneered by Friedrich Kittler and others, mediatic etymology does not begin with an extinct material artifact, but rather with content in a living medium which offers no mediatic precedent for its appearance in mediated form. Examples of this phenomenon can easily be found throughout the graphic user interfaces of computer operating systems wherein

 He explained that the content of film was the screenplay or novel, that the content of printed matter was the alphabet, and that the content of the alphabet was phonetic speech.  The process of remediation is invaluable to the media archaeological project because it allows older forms of