reading assignment III

Sorry this is late, I totally forgot about these readings until I was checking blackboard for something.


One thing I found particularly interesting about these articles (and many of the readings we've had so far in this class) is that New Media is so closely intertwined with the theoretical dreams and theories of the past. These technologies and ideas seem so completely contemporary to me that when I read about Licklider predicting computer networks making work more efficient, it's astonishing to me. I never would have thought there was a relationship between a German composer from the 1800s like Wagner and the sort of art I make when I create an online community, although the idea of the Total Artwork is pretty broad.

While finding out there is a historical basis for the principles of new media art, it still worries me to discover that there are certain theoretical ideas we use as the basis for all of this kind of artwork. Besides the fact that many of the people writing about the possibilities of new media were male (at least according to this article), I am worried that this linear historical train sets up a teleological endpoint for all new media....like ultimately we're running faster and faster towards an entirely virtual reality, and that's the only goal that matters?

but i suppose these are only minor quibbles. everything we do is rooted in history and the past; what we try to do now is an attempt to build on something that came before. I'd love to be able to say that using computers and the internet and new media is a way to full break away from all power structures, but since the internet was first fully developed for the army, i'm not sure it's entirely possible to escape the ramifications of history (and politics for that matter).