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A Review of Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovation in Digital Domains

Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovation in Digital DomainsGunnar Liestøl, Andrew Morrison, and Terje Rasmussen, eds.
Boston: MIT P, 2003
ISBN 0-262-12256-1    $42.95    pp. 576

Review by Tiffany Craft Portewig
Texas Tech University

Contributors
The following list of contributors to this volume include "digital media makers, teachers, critics, and scholars" and draw from a variety of fields and disciplines, such as "literary theory, aesthetics, sociology, ethics, philosophy, media studies, semiotics, and education, to construct new positions within which and from digital media may be observed in meaningful and fresh ways" (3). Espen Aarseth, Peter Bøgh Andersen, Maribeth Back, Jay David Bolter, Anders Fagerjord, Mary Flanagan, Stian Grøgaard, George Landow, Jon Lanestedt, John Law, Eva Liestøl, Gunnar Liestøl, Andrew Morrison, Ingunn Moser, Mark Poster, Lars Qvortrup, Terje Rasmussen, Roger Silverstone, Ragnhild Tronstad, Gregory Ulmer.

Overview and Purpose
Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovation in Digital Domains makes a case for revisiting the "first-encounter approach" to digital media, which involves reflecting on the established theoretical and conceptual frameworks that have been applied to new digital media. As the introduction states, many in the human sciences have recently recognized that "digital media are not only objects of analysis,
Table of Contents

Introduction
Gunnar Liestøl, Andrew Morrison and Terje Rasmussen

I. Education and Interdisciplinarity

  1. "Theory and Practice in New Media Studies," Jay David Bolter
  2. "The Paradigm Is More Important Than the Practice: Educational Innovation and Hypertext Theory," George P. Landow
  3. "The Challenge of Digital Learning Environments in Higher Education: The Need for a Merging of Perspectives on Standardization," Jon Lanestedt
  4. "The Internet and Its Double: Voice in Electracy," Gregory L. Ulmer
  5. "From Oracy to Electracies: Hypernarrative, Place, and Multimodal Discourse in Learning," Andrew Morrison
II. Design and Aesthetics
  1. "The Reading Senses: Designing Texts for Multisensory Systems," Maribeth Back
  2. "Acting Mashines," Peter Bøgh Andersen
  3. "Performing the MUD Adventure," Ragnihild Tronstad
  4. "Digital Art and Design Poetics: The Poetical Potentials of Projection and Interaction," Lars Qvortrup
  5. "Low Tech-High Concept: Digital Media, Art, and the State of the Arts," Stian Grøgaard
III. Rhetoric and Interpretation
  1. "Rhetorical Convergence: Studying Web Media," Anders Fagerjord
  2. "Computer Games and the Ludic Structure of Interpretation," Eva Liestøl
  3. "'Next Level': Women's Digital Activism through Gaming," Mary Flanagan
  4. "'Gameplay': From Synthesis to Analysis (and Vice Versa): Topics of Conceptualization and Construction in Digital Media," Gunnar Liestøl
  5. "We All Want to Change the World: The Ideology of Innovation in Digital Media," Espen Aarseth
IV. Social Theory and Ethics
  1. "On Distributed Society: The Internet as a Guide to a Sociological Understanding of Communication," Terje Rasmussen
  2. "Proper Distance: Toward an Ethics for Cyberspace," Roger Silverstone
  3. "'Making Voices': New Media Technologies, Disabilities, and Articulation," Inguun Moser and John Law
  4. "The Good, the Bad, and the Virtual: Ethics in the Age of Information," Mark Poster
but [are] also instruments for the development of innovative perspectives on both media and culture" (2). They reveal much about social change and how we construct meaning in regards to digital media. Innovation, as emphasized in the subtitle of the book, is also central to discussing digital media theory and practice. The editors discuss innovation in terms of deconstruction, which involves "taking things apart and putting them together again in new ways and in different combinations" (2).
          Each of the nineteen chapters overviews the role of digital media as it relates to areas such as education, interdisciplinarity, design, aesthetics, rhetoric, social theory, and ethics, in an effort to better understand how to approach digital media as communication (4). A browse through the Table of Contents reveals the variety and diversity of scholarship in this volume. The authors come from a variety of fields and disciplines such as media, English, communication, film, history, technology, and culture studies, bringing with them their own understanding, knowledge, training, and interests. The contributors present their reflections on digital media as well as question established theory "through interpretations of texts and communicative processes involved in the making, use, and analysis of these media" (1-2).
          The editors, Gunnar Liestøl, Andrew Morrison, and Terje Rasmussen, present the following questions as central to the book:

  • What are the significances of social and cultural transformation related to digital media, and what are the conditions in which such a question may be "answered" by the human sciences?

  • How prepared are we to engage critically within the processes and problematics of change where the shadows of uncertainty, risk, and modulation are always present?

  • To what extent can interpretation and experimentation with digital media inform theory?

As the editors emphasize, Digital Media Revisited is meant to be read as a "lattice of related questions and perspectives arising out of the intersection of theory and practice, as we continue to make and research digital media and communication" (4). Its purpose is to argue for a revisiting of digital media theories and conceptual frameworks and to promote future discussions of such a revisiting.

Key Ideas and Concepts
Essential to this book is the ongoing dialogue about the relationship between theory and practice, particularly in how the chapters inform one another. The authors explore the ways in which established theories are appropriated in developing a more relevant theoretical framework for new digital media. While some argue that these theories are still "highly durable" and allow us to "draw on expertise from a wider range of knowledge," others believe that "we need to modify and adapt older media to the new medium if they are going to be productive." Many of the authors draw from Bolter and Grusin's concept of remediation in an effort to understand the ways in which we develop and respond to new media. The tension between old and the new runs throughout the entire volume, presenting the reader with a variety of standpoints from which to reflect.
          For those interested in recent developments in the study of new digital media, this book is full of terminology and concepts for describing and analyzing digital media, such as electracies, rhetorical convergence, poetics, and virtuality. Many of the chapters borrow from other areas and fields of study, such as theater and art, to illustrate how we can expand the boundaries of digital media. There is also a focus on defining and redefining concepts surrounding digital media, for instance, "How do we define the new in new digital media technology?" Digital Media Revisited also brings in numerous theories and movements such as poststructural theory; structuralists; hermeneutics; cyberfeminism; systems theory; and the media theories of Walter Ong, Marshall McLuhan, Gregory Ulmer, and George Landow to illustrate how they influence new digital media.
          The chapters feature a variety of digital media, particularly in the areas of education, computer games, digital art, and MUDs (multi-user dungeons), as they are related to Web media, the Internet, intermedia, and cyberspace. In particular, the Internet is examined for its role as a social system, a mediating force in communication and society, metaphysical in both definition and practice, and as part of an ethics of cyberspace.
          The way in which our voice is mediated through digital media is also considered, particularly hypernarrative, electracy, subjectivity, agency, and the construction of a person in cyberspace. Specific chapters are also dedicated to digital media as it relates to disability and assistive technologies as well as the portrayal of women in gaming.

Structure of the Book
Digital Media Revisited is divided into the following four sections, or "interrelated themes or parts." They have been ordered in a particular sequence so that readers are able to identify connections in their themes (4):

  1. Education and Interdisciplinarity
  2. Design and Aesthetics
  3. Rhetoric and Interpretation
  4. Social Theory and Ethics

Assessment and Teaching Applications
Digital Media Revisited contains thought-provoking questions and intriguing approaches to digital media. The introduction of the book is very helpful in understanding the underlying purpose and theme of the text – there is also a helpful outline of the book that ties the chapters together. I think the book is an important contribution to the study of digital media, because it attempts to reconcile established and newer approaches to digital media. It promotes a discussion of the influence and role new media has on education, society, and culture.
          The volume consists of nineteen chapters and more than 500 pages, so the book does take some time to get through. The editors claim that this book is to be read as an interlinked series of chapters, related by theme. However, I see the book more as a compilation of separate articles related to new digital media. It's a useful resource tool. There are some loose associations between chapters, and it takes some effort to make these connections.
          As a whole, this book seems more tailored to researchers and educators. Many of the issues related to education are from a more programmatic, pedagogical standpoint for those interested in the theoretical implications of the book. This book might also be a good resource for preparing to teach a course related to media studies, such as discourse and technology, media and cultural theory, an introduction to digital media, or a communications course. A student new to media studies might be overwhelmed by the density of information and the long line of history this book is reacting to. However, the book exposes readers to many theories that they should become familiar with if they want to continue studying digital media and communication. I would recommend having students read selected chapters rather than the book in its entirety; it would be a more manageable project for reflection and discussion.
          Ultimately, Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovation in Digital Domains will impact the way we discuss digital media, both in the classroom and in the academic community. It is sure to generate a discussion of why a revisiting of established theories is necessary and promote further innovation through interpretation and experimentation.

Further Reading