Digital Memory and the Archive (Volume 39) (Electronic Mediations)

In the popular imagination, archives are remote, largely obsolete institutions: either antiquated, inevitably dusty libraries or sinister repositories of personal secrets maintained by police states. Yet the archive is now a ubiquitous feature of digital life. Rather than being deleted, e-mails and other computer files are archived. Media software and cloud storage allow for the instantaneous cataloging and preservation of data, from music, photographs, and videos to personal information gathered by social media sites. In this digital landscape, the archival-oriented media theories of Wolfgang Ernst are particularly relevant. __Digital Memory and the Archive__, the first English-language collection of the German media theorist’s work, brings together essays that present Ernst’s controversial materialist approach to media theory and history. His insights are central to the emerging field of media archaeology, which uncovers the role of specific technologies and mechanisms, rather than content, in shaping contemporary culture and society. Ernst’s interrelated ideas on the archive, machine time and microtemporality, and the new regimes of memory offer a new perspective on both current digital culture and the infrastructure of media historical knowledge. For Ernst, different forms of media systems—from library catalogs to sound recordings—have influenced the content and understanding of the archive and other institutions of memory. At the same time, digital archiving has become a contested site that is highly resistant to curation, thus complicating the creation and preservation of cultural memory and history. In the popular imagination, archives are remote, largely obsolete institutions: either antiquated, inevitably dusty libraries or sinister repositories of personal secrets maintained by police states. Yet the archive is now a ubiquitous feature of digital life. Rather than being deleted, e-mails and other computer files are archived. Media software and cloud storage allow for the instantaneous cataloging and preservation of data, from music, photographs, and videos to personal information gathered by social media sites.In this digital landscape, the archival-oriented media theories of Wolfgang Ernst are particularly relevant. Digital Memory and the Archive, the first English-language collection of the German media theorist\u2019s work, brings together essays that present Ernst\u2019s controversial materialist approach to media theory and history. His insights are central to the emerging field of media archaeology, which uncovers the role of specific technologies and mechanisms, rather than content, in shaping contemporary culture and society.Ernst\u2019s interrelated ideas on the archive, machine time and microtemporality, and the new regimes of memory offer a new perspective on both current digital culture and the infrastructure of media historical knowledge. For Ernst, different forms of media systems-from library catalogs to sound recordings-have influenced the content and understanding of the archive and other institutions of memory. At the same time, digital archiving has become a contested site that is highly resistant to curation, thus complicating the creation and preservation of cultural memory and history This Book Brings Together Essays That Present Ernst’s Controversial Materialist Approach To Media Theory And History. His Insights Are Central To The Emerging Field Of Media Archaeology, Which Uncovers The Role Of Specific Technologies And Mechanisms, Rather Than Content, In Shaping Contemporary Culture And Society. The Media-archaeological Method. Let There Be Irony: Cultural History And Media Archaeology In Parallel Lines -- Media Archaeography: Method And Machine Versus The History And Narrative Of Media -- From Temporality To The Multimedial Archive. Underway To The Dual System: Classical Archives And Digital Memory -- Archives In Transition: Dynamic Media Memories -- Between Real Time And Memory On Demand: Reflections On Television -- Discontinuities: Does The Archive Become Metaphorical In Multimedia Space? -- Microtemporal Media. Telling Versus Counting: A Media-archaeological Point Of View -- Distory: One Hundred Years Of Electron Tubes, Media-archaeologically Interpreted, Vis-a-vis One Hundred Years Of Radio -- Toward A Media Archaeology Of Sonic Articulations -- Experimenting With Media Temporality: Pythagoras, Hertz, Turing -- Appendix. Archive Rumblings: An Interview With Wolfgang Ernst / Geert Lovink. Wolfgang Ernst ; Edited And With An Introduction By Jussi Parikka. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.