Media Archaeology

This book introduces an archaeological approach to the study of media--one that sifts through the evidence to learn how media were written about, used, designed, preserved, and sometimes discarded, and to understand the way people were influenced by media that predate today's interactive, digital forms. Edited by Erkki Huhtamo and Jussi Parikka with contributions from an internationally diverse group of prominent scholars--from Europe, North America, and Japan--the essays in this book do not constitute a unified approach or method. Instead, while providing a broad overview of the emerging field's many historical and theoretical facets, the book presents itself as an open forum to encourage discussion by a full range of different voices and to offer new ways of understanding media and their roles in society and culture.