[-empyre-] ~~NMR

["Jim Andrews" <jim@vispo.com>]

Changing subject somewhat, in thinking about the achievement of Nick and
Noah's New Media Reader--which is considerable--it seems like what they've
done is try to look at the history from 1940 to 1994 which paved the way for
the Web/Net and, perhaps more broadly, the current computing environment as
it relates to social communications and art (as opposed, say, to industry).
Would that be accurate? I've ordered my copy of the New Media Reader as of a
couple of days ago, so am going on the NMR web site
(http://www.newmediareader.com ) and also on Nick's choice of words
concerning "computation" rather than 'programming', for instance. It's the
computing environment and its paradigms in art and communications that they
seem to be trying to reveal the history of. In such case, sure, there's 'new
media' that doesn't use the computer, but that's not the history they're
trying to reveal (and formulate, as is always the case with histories). It
seems we've gotten somewhat sidetracked in the question of whether there is
'new media' that doesn't involve the computer. Sure there is, but that's not
the variety of new media that they're seeking to reveal the history of. It
would be great to hear about what they've done rather than continue to dwell
on what they haven't done.

I'm interested in hearing about the process Nick and Noah went through to
bring the book to press (and who else was involved in the process?). In
selecting the texts and CD files you selected, you have covered a lot of
ground from 1940 to 1994. Did you come up with a timeline and then address
the issues in the timeline in your selection of texts, or was it the quality
of the text/file you considered...how did you approach finding and selecting
texts and other files for this project that seeks to frame the history of
the development of a field? Do you feel this field already exists and so
you're putting together the history, or is the book also an attempt to help
bring the field into existence?

I note you use the term 'computation' rather than 'programming'. Your notion
of 'new media' seems to be something like 'computing in the social and
artistic spheres'. Is that accurate? So is the book a kind of history of
'computing communication paradigms in the social and artistic spheres'?

ja