Assignment

Length: 2500 words.

Media archaeology claims to tell us about the character of "new" media-or about what constitutes the newness of new media. However, it explores historical examples in order to carry out this objective. Scholars of media archaeology argue that this methodology is a productive means of making visible what would otherwise remain invisible in contemporary technology, both in terms of media artifacts (both art and non-art) and the society/culture that produces and uses them. After reading an array of texts all addressing the concept of media archaeology through the lens of different material and theoretical strategies, I would like you to synthesize your thinking about this content. First, select either a) one particular technology (art, non-art, or in-between) or b) two technologies that you will place in dialog, and compose an essay that using media archaeological methods to analyze this technology in its social and historical milieu. For example, you might examine the development of the Portapak video, and consider how it functions in a media-archaeological context. What models or methodologies could you borrow from scholars we have read in this class that might elucidate how this technology or medium became significant for art or social practice, or other applications? You are not required to use external sources for this paper, in terms of texts, but you must choose a technology that has not been discussed in the class. So, for example, you may not write about moving panoramas or the cloud. Make sure you construct a rigorous, well-informed argument that utilizes the texts from the class even as it makes connections to an example that reaches outside the specific boundaries of the technologies addressed in coursework.