Difference between revisions of "Where do media go to die?"

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The bodily metaphor of death cannot account for the curious trajectory of media decline.  Most dossiers are premised on the belief that media don't necessarily die when they just happen to break, and, conversely, that most 'dead' media may still work perfectly [http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/The_Victrola fine].  Are we to understand the persistent availability of dead media for purchase on eBay, or rediscovery in our basements and attics, as grave-robbing?  Or, to push the metaphor to its limit, are our closets full of skeletons or rather fully functional, intact bodies?  There is no clear boundary between the living and dead with media: the failure of component parts (the brain, heart, etc…) does not a media death make.  Instead, media either slowly recede into disuse—rendered obsolete, inoperable, or outmoded by subsequent media or shifting social, political, or cultural imaginaries—or finally go extinct.  Is the problem once again one of [http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Data_Visualization_and_Defunct_Visual_Metaphors metaphor]?  Does [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/MCM/amm/frame_about.html archaeology], to adopt an alternative language, always entail a recovery of the dead, or might it be a return of the irrepressibly alive?  Media never say die.
 
The bodily metaphor of death cannot account for the curious trajectory of media decline.  Most dossiers are premised on the belief that media don't necessarily die when they just happen to break, and, conversely, that most 'dead' media may still work perfectly [http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/The_Victrola fine].  Are we to understand the persistent availability of dead media for purchase on eBay, or rediscovery in our basements and attics, as grave-robbing?  Or, to push the metaphor to its limit, are our closets full of skeletons or rather fully functional, intact bodies?  There is no clear boundary between the living and dead with media: the failure of component parts (the brain, heart, etc…) does not a media death make.  Instead, media either slowly recede into disuse—rendered obsolete, inoperable, or outmoded by subsequent media or shifting social, political, or cultural imaginaries—or finally go extinct.  Is the problem once again one of [http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Data_Visualization_and_Defunct_Visual_Metaphors metaphor]?  Does [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/MCM/amm/frame_about.html archaeology], to adopt an alternative language, always entail a recovery of the dead, or might it be a return of the irrepressibly alive?  Media never say die.
  
== Obsolescence ==
+
And yet history is littered with media that no longer figure in our contemporary lives and practices.  What is the ontological status of these media?  Surely they ''exist''.
 +
 
 +
==Obsolescence==
 +
Obsolescence can take many forms,
 
===Outmoded===
 
===Outmoded===
 
===Inoperable===
 
===Inoperable===
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http://obsoleteskills.com/Skills/Skills
 
http://obsoleteskills.com/Skills/Skills
  
Can no longer be used as originally intended, or no one knows how to use or repair something that might still work.  Institutional memory
 
Media don't die when they break
 
  
== Extinction ==
+
 
 +
==Extinction==
 
Go the way of the dodo
 
Go the way of the dodo
 
Lapsed patent?
 
Lapsed patent?

Revision as of 14:40, 23 April 2008

The bodily metaphor of death cannot account for the curious trajectory of media decline. Most dossiers are premised on the belief that media don't necessarily die when they just happen to break, and, conversely, that most 'dead' media may still work perfectly fine. Are we to understand the persistent availability of dead media for purchase on eBay, or rediscovery in our basements and attics, as grave-robbing? Or, to push the metaphor to its limit, are our closets full of skeletons or rather fully functional, intact bodies? There is no clear boundary between the living and dead with media: the failure of component parts (the brain, heart, etc…) does not a media death make. Instead, media either slowly recede into disuse—rendered obsolete, inoperable, or outmoded by subsequent media or shifting social, political, or cultural imaginaries—or finally go extinct. Is the problem once again one of metaphor? Does archaeology, to adopt an alternative language, always entail a recovery of the dead, or might it be a return of the irrepressibly alive? Media never say die.

And yet history is littered with media that no longer figure in our contemporary lives and practices. What is the ontological status of these media? Surely they exist.

Obsolescence

Obsolescence can take many forms,

Outmoded

Inoperable

http://obsoleteskills.com/Skills/Skills


Extinction

Go the way of the dodo Lapsed patent? Cease manufacturing? The last floppy disk

Not only must all such media no longer be in use, but there must be no remaining physical or working artifact

Can it be brought back to life? Are media technologies simply ideas or technical plans?

http://flickr.com/photos/adubber/sets/72157600179591602/