[-empyre-] what is new media?

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

empyre folks -

Wow. I'm only checking email about once a day. There's been quite a 
bit of discussion in the last 30 hours.

I realize, reading over what's been written here, that I mean two 
things by "new media." Sometimes I mean "new media" objects and 
sometimes I mean a "new media" field.

For me, new media objects use computation as an expressive medium. 
The parallel mentioned with film in an earlier post seems 
appropriate. Film can be used as an expressive medium, and it can 
also be used for other things (e.g., microfilm storage). Similarly, 
computation can be used as an expressive medium or it can be used for 
other things (e.g., calculating the position of an anti-aircraft 
gun). Also, to pick up the earlier mention of Final Cut Pro, to me 
that's often an instance of computation being used in the creation of 
non-computational media (film, video, what Adrian Miles calls "video 
hard copy") but QuickTime can also be a new media platform (what 
Miles calls "softvideo").

On the other hand, I think of the new media field in somewhat 
different terms. I see it as a field composed of three elements:
	- The development of media tools that use computation to 
enable interaction and display.
	- The development of media artifacts that employ (and 
inspire) these tools.
	- Critical and historical reflection on these developments.
When I said that Nick and I saw new media as a field, when working on 
The New Media Reader, I meant it as something of a prerequisite. Just 
as no one would make a "Cultural Studies Reader" if they didn't see 
cultural studies as a field. New media may turn out to be an 
evanescent field, it may change names, or it may change composition - 
but for now this is how I see it.

I have to head off now - but I'll try to write more later tonight or tomorrow.

Best,
Noah