[-empyre-] Opening remarks on new media history

[noah wardrip-fruin <noah@queeg.com>]

Dear empyreans,

Thanks for the invitation to this softspace. I'm looking forward to 
our conversation this month.

In creating The New Media Reader, Nick and I were guided by four 
strong assumptions. Since the NMR's publication we've seen a variety 
of reactions to these assumptions, to what might be called the 
project's "unstated arguments." In brief, I would name our guiding 
assumptions as follows: (1) new media is a field, (2) new media has a 
history, (3) this history's record is print and digital, (4) this 
history matters. This month I'd be interested to talk with empyre 
people about these assumption/assertions, both in the context of The 
New Media Reader and more generally. For example, if this history 
matters, how does it matter, and in what context? Does work more than 
ten years old come to mind only when we construct our genealogies 
(e.g., for critical papers, when teaching), or does it also come into 
play in our daily construction and consideration of our current new 
media projects?

Noah