The Digital Media Handbook

433 Pages·2014·5.655 MB·English

by  Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride

The Digital Media
Handbook
The Digital Media Handbook is an essential guide to the historical and theoretical
development of digital media, emphasising cultural continuity alongside technological
change, and highlighting the emergence of new forms of communication in
contemporary networked culture.
Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride present detailed critical commentary and descript-
ive historical accounts, as well as a series of interviews from a range of digital
media practitioners, including producers, developers, curators and artists.
The Digital Media Handbook highlights key concerns of today’s practitioners,
analysing how they develop projects, interact and solve problems within the context
of networked communication.
This book is a substantially revised edition of The New Media Handbook by the
authors, with new content and entirely new case studies, including:
• new chapters on networks and convergent media
• essays on the history and theory of digital media
• essays on contemporary issues and debates
• interviews with digital media professionals
• a glossary of technical acronyms and key terms.
Andrew Dewdney is a Professor of Educational Development at London South
Bank University, UK, where he teaches about digital media in network culture and
is the Principal Investigator of the Digital Art Gallery Programme. He has a particular
research interest in the impact of digital media upon museums, and his recently
co-authored book, Post Critical Museology: Theory and Practice in the Art Museum,
was published by Routledge in 2013.
Peter Rideis Principal Research Fellow at the University of Westminster, UK, where
he is Course Leader in the MA Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture. He
works in the field of digital and visual culture. He is also a digital media and art curator
and was previously the Artistic Director of The Digital Arts Development Agency (DA2).
MEDIA PRACTICE
Edited by James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of
London
The Media Practice handbooks are comprehensive resource books for students of media and
journalism, and for anyone planning a career as a media professional. Each handbook combines
a clear introduction to understanding how the media work, with practical information about the
structure, processes and skills involved in working in today’s media industries, providing not only
a guide on ‘how to do it’ but also a critical reflection on contemporary media practice.
The Advertising Handbook The Music Industry Handbook
3rd edition Paul Rutter
Helen Powell, Jonathan Hardy, Sarah Hawkin
and Iain MacRury The Newspapers Handbook
4th edition
The Alternative Media Handbook Richard Keeble
Kate Coyer, Tony Dowmunt and Alan Fountain
The Photography Handbook
The Cyberspace Handbook 2nd edition
Jason Whittaker Terence Wright
The Digital Media Handbook The Public Relations Handbook
2nd edition 4th edition
Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride Alison Theaker
The Documentary Handbook The Radio Handbook
Peter Lee-Wright 3rd edition
Carole Fleming
The Fashion Handbook
Tim Jackson and David Shaw The Sound Handbook
Tim Crook
The Film Handbook
Mark de Valk with Sarah Arnold The Television Handbook
4th edition
The Graphic Communication Handbook Jeremy Orlebar
Simon Downs
The Magazines Handbook
3rd edition
Jenny McKay
The Digital Media
Handbook
Second edition
Andrew Dewdney
and Peter Ride
Second edition published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2006, 2014 Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride
The right of Andrew Dewdney and Peter Ride to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition, The New Media Handbook, published by Routledge 2006.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An application for CIP data has been submitted to the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-0-415-69989-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-69991-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-06694-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Helvetica Neue and Avant Garde
by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Notes on interviewees xi
Acknowledgements xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Digital media as a subject 20
PART I Networks 43
3 Networks 45
Illustrated case study 1: social networks and geopolitics 61
4 Case study: professional networks 67
5 Case study: communication and marketing networks 76
6 Case study: networking the art museum 85
Part II Convergent media 99
7 Convergent media 101
8 Case study: audience attention 115
9 Case study: creative convergence 128
vi
CONTENTS
10 Case study: design and digital experience 135
Illustrated case study 2: augmented reality 143
Part III Creative industries 147
11 Creative industries 149
12 Case study: designing a mobile app 165
13 Case study: video games development 176
14 Case study: pervasive gaming 188
Part IV Digital media 201
15 Software as culture 203
Illustrated case study 3: data tagging 216
16 Digital code 222
17 Case study: curating the networked image 230
18 Information 241
Illustrated case study 4: visualising data 249
19 Interface 255
20 Interactivity 263
21 Case study: image as data 277
Illustrated case study 5: 3-D modelling as portraiture 287
Part V Media histories and theories 293
22 Digital media histories 295
Illustrated case study 6: crowdsourcing and the London
2012 Olympic Games 327
23 Digital media theories 336
24 A framework for digital media 358
25 The network and the crisis of culture 373
Glossary 392
Bibliography 402
Index 411
Illustrations
3.1 The three layers of network media 50
3.2 Structure of computer network (seven-layer model of open systems
interconnection, OSI) 52
7.1 What is driving this convergence? 105
7.2 Cultural convergence 108
11.1 User–producer continuum 154
16.1 Diagram of Ferdinand de Saussure’s analysis of the sign
composed of two elements 227
22.1 A simple model of the complex of histories ‘through’ and
‘against’ which digital media emerge 305
23.1 Schematic of Raymond Williams’s distinction between received
and lived culture 352
23.2 Schematic of Stuart Hall’s ‘circuit of culture’ 353
CHAPTER CASE STUDIES
6.1 Screengrab of Tate website (2000) 87
6.2 Screengrab of Tate website (2004) 88
6.3 Screengrab of Tate website (2006) 88
6.4 Screengrab of Tate website (2012) 89
6.5 Screengrab of Tate Kids section of Tate website (2013) 91
6.6 Screengrab of Tate channel on YouTube (2013) 94
6.7 One-to-one with the artist, The Unilever Series: Ai Weiwei,
Sunflower Seeds (2000) 96
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
8.1 Pepys Road, detail from registration page 123
8.2 Pepys Road, detail from second page 124
8.3 Pepys Road, email from the project to the readers 125
12.1 Rendering of a creature in the online version of TechnoSphere
(1997) 166
12.2 Promotional image for the online version of TechnoSphere
(1997) 167
12.3 A museum visitor uses the real-time version of TechnoSphere
at the National Media Museum, Bradford 169
12.4 The design for the interface of the TechnoSphere mobile app 170
14.1 A performer in I’d Hide You by Blast Theory (2012) 190
14.2 Detail from You Get Me (2008) 193
14.3 Detail from You Get Me (2008) 193
14.4 Gamers playing You Get Me (2008) 194
14.5 A participant in Rider Spoke by Blast Theory (2007) 196
17.1 The Digital Wall at The Photographers’ Gallery, London 232
17.2 ‘Born in 1987: The Animated GIF’, The Photographers’
Gallery (2012) 233
17.3 GIF by Wendy McMurdo, exhibited as part of ‘Born in 1987:
The Animated GIF’, The Photographers’ Gallery (2012) 235
17.4 Jon Rafman, Jasper Johns Oval Office (2010) 236
17.5 Shironeko, aka ‘Basket Cat’, The Photographers’ Gallery (2012) 238
ILLUSTRATED CASE STUDIES
1 Social networks and geopolitics: Jon Thomson and
Alison Craighead, October
1 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 62
2 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 62
3 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 63
4 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 63
5 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 64
6 Stills from October showing images from video clips uploaded
to YouTube 64
7 Installation of October showing the projected compass and
projection screen (2012) 65
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
2 Augmented reality: Pure Land: using augmented
reality for museums and heritage
1 Visitors experiencing Pure Land Augmented Reality Edition 143
2 Visitors experiencing Pure Land Augmented Reality Edition 144
3 Visitors experiencing Pure Land Augmented Reality Edition 145
4 Visitors experiencing Pure Land Augmented Reality Edition 146
3 Data tagging: Tales of Things
1 Tales of Things ‘ghost object’ at the National Museum Scotland 218
2 Shoppers in a charity shop in Manchester, UK, using the QR tags
on second-hand objects 218
3 Shoppers in a charity shop in Manchester, UK, using the QR tags
on second-hand objects 219
4 Shoppers in a charity shop in Manchester, UK, using the QR tags
on second-hand objects 220
5 Tales of Things website 221
4 Visualising data: Maurice Benayoun, Mechanics
of Emotions
1 Maurice Benayoun, World Emotional Mapping (2005) 250
2 Maurice Benayoun, Still Moving (2008) 250
3 Maurice Benayoun, Still Moving (2008) 251
4 Maurice Benayoun, Still Moving (2008) 251
5 Maurice Benayoun, Still Moving (2008) 252
6 Maurice Benayoun, Emotion Forecast (2010–11) 253
7 Maurice Benayoun, Emotion Forecast (2010–11) 254
5 3-D modelling as portraiture: Susan Sloan, Studies in
Stillness: Motion Capture Portraits
1 Susan Sloan, Annie: Motion Capture Study (2011) 288
2 Susan Sloan, Susan: Motion Capture Study (2011) 288
3 Susan Sloan, Mary: Motion Capture Study (2011) 289
4 Susan Sloan, Mary: Motion Capture Study (2011) 290
6 Crowdsourcing and the London 2012 Olympic
Games
1 Twitpic of Olympic supporters in London submitted to #citizencurators 328
2 Twitpic of Olympic supporter in London submitted to #citizencurators 328