Tantalisingly Close : An Archaeology of Communication Desires in Discourses of Mobile Wireless Media
While studies of mobile wireless communication devices usually focus on their social implications, De Vries proposes to venture into a more historical and comparative direction to shed light on our preoccupation with them in the first place. He constructs an archaeological view of the development of...
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Format: | eBook |
Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
2012
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Online Access: | Get fulltext |
Summary: | While studies of mobile wireless communication devices usually focus on their social implications, De Vries proposes to venture into a more historical and comparative direction to shed light on our preoccupation with them in the first place. He constructs an archaeological view of the development of communication technologies over the past 200 years, providing a comprehensive account of how persistent hopes and beliefs have come to give mobile wireless media such a prominent position today. Our expectations and uses of them are surprisingly similar to those of older media; consequently, they reconfirm the idea that living in an 'anyone, anything, anytime, anywhere' world is both a blessing and a curse, and that the desire for sublime communication is a tragic yet highly powerful regulative principle in our media evolution. Elk medium was ooit nieuw en gaf aanleiding tot de meest fantastische speculaties over de verbetering van communicatie. In de mediageschiedenis treffen we steeds opnieuw verhalen die vertellen dat afstanden verdwijnen, dat we elkaar beter gaan begrijpen en dat alle kennis nu eindelijk echt binnen handbereik is. Ook bij de hedendaagse mobiele draadloze communicatietechnologie zien we deze beelden weer naar boven komen. In Tantalisingly Close toont Imar de Vries nu eens niet de sociale factoren van communicatiemiddelen, waar dergelijke studies zich gewoonlijk op richten. Hij kiest een filosofische, historische en mediavergelijkende aanpak en laat zien wat de invloed van deze geïdealiseerde ideeën over communicatie is op de media-evolutie en ons wereldbeeld. |
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Physical Description: | 1 electronic resource (216 p.) |
ISBN: | OAPEN_410799 |
Access: | Open Access |