- DeadMedia
This highly flawed index (in both concept and execution) immediately shows just how stupid it is to try to classify media in any way. Which of course makes the job even more interesting. The only definition for media I can come up with is "a method or artifact for storing or generating or transmiting human sensory stimulus" which is so broad it means nothing. Any less and some damned thing gets left out. There has been some discussion of this, see the meta-historical Notes for some further thoughts. So in this futile attempt to categorize "dead media" I try to stick things in vague categories derived from the human senses. But even this fails as you will see. This is one of those tasks where I discourage suggestions and encourage action; if you can come up with a better scheme (which means: email me an edited copy of this HTML index file!) by all means do so. [Bruce Sterling]
- Early visual media: a history of visual media
Early visual media: a history of visual media is an unconventional website dealing with early visual media archeology, pre-cinema , photography , fairground arts, etc.
Much of the site is concerned with the history of optical illusion and special effects prior to the twentieth century, but does also include the history of television. Early Visual Media is as a contemporary 'raree-show'. It consists of various galleries of weird and wonderful inventions and images, mostly from Western Europe.
All subjects can be discussed via the Media Archeology GOOGLE group after (free) registration.
The six main sections, all of which are well illustrated, cover photography, pre-cinema, early film, television, the 'conjuring arts', and the 'Grande Danse Macabre'.
The photography section looks at stereoscopic images, diableries, ghost images, stereoviewers, and fairground and vaudeville entertainments.
The pre-cinema section looks at many of the technologies used to create optical illusions before the advent of modern film. These include various phantasmagoria devices, optical toys, the Phenakistiscope, the Choreutoscope, and anamorphoses techniques.
The website also features a links section, and pages alerting users to forthcoming publications, lectures and gallery exhibitions.
- IMA :: Institute of Media Archeology
IMA :: is focusing on research and knowledge transfer of artistic manifestations in the field of technical seeing and hearing.
- Media Archeology by Trebor Scholz
Media Archeology is a lecture course that gives you an overview of ideas by artists, writers and scientists who bridge(d) discourses between the arts and computer science. Media Archeology is an emerging field that reflects on today's technologies by linking them to the socio-technical histories out of which they emerged. Media Archeology examines emerging technologies in their historical socio-technological context. The class consists of lectures and discussions of the readings, screenings of films, software, and new media installations, CD-ROMs, web sites, and guest presentations. We focus on historical, sociological, technological and political arguments, but also analyze many digital art works. Introduction to Media Archeology gives you a framework for the interpretation of evolving media forms and themes in digital art.
- Media Art Histories
A very valuable collection of resources on media history.
- Media Art History
MAHArchive connects disciplines which devote research efforts
to Media Art, from art history, through film, theater, media and
cultural studies, to psychology, informatics, and anthropology,
just to name a few.
- Morbid Anatomy
The Morbid Anatomy Library is now open to the public as part of the Proteus Gowanus Interdisciplinary Gallery and Reading Room in Brooklyn, New York. The Library houses the ever-growing collection of books, cataloges, photographs, articles and artifacts used as source material for the ongoing Morbid Anatomy study.
- Pictorial History of Media Technology
This pictorial timeline is an expansion of a presentation originally given in the media technology forum at the PCA/ACA annual conference. That presentation was mainly limited to a history of video technology, whereas here I'm including many other media types dating from the days of the Edison cylinder to the present time. A goal with this timeline is to provide a decent picture of the technology at hand and a brief description of it, with links to more extensive web sites when they are available. This stems from my habit when picking up a book, particularly those that have picture sections in the middle, to look at those pictures and read the captions prior to reading anything else in the book.
- The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology
The Dibner Library is the Smithsonian’s collection of rare books and manuscripts relating to the history of science and technology. Contained in this world-class collection of 35,000 rare books and 2,000 manuscript groups are many of the most important works dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries in the history of science and technology including engineering, transportation, chemistry, mathematics, physics, electricity, and astronomy. The Dibner Library shares this collection with the public through exhibitions in an adjacent gallery, through loans to other institutions’ exhibits, and through public programs.
- The Vasulkas
The famous family runing the Kitchen. They done it all long before we knew it.
- flipbook
a website entirely devoted to an art form half way between book and movie: a collection of 5120 flip books (also called flick books or folioscopes) from 1882 to nowadays with a great diversity of topics.
- raggit
WITH THE CORRECT ALIGNMENT HAMSTERS SINK SHIPS. Right? Right!