User:Colm/RW&RS-Review-Essay

Typographical hallucinations and discourse network; review essay.

John Jonston introduction to F. Kittler: Media theory After Poststructuralism

introduction

In Grammophone, Film, Typewriter Kittler proposes the example of the jet airliner as a meeting point of many media types, ranging from radar to microwaved meals, the passengers are encased in a "multimedia embryinic sack". The choice of this example item, while still relevant today, is indicative of the time at which the text was written. One could wonder if Kittler would have chosen a different example, had he written within today's media landscape. As the argument constructs, one of the main points put forwards is one called the dependent variable —would be the end result of our senses perceptions being blinded by the non differenciation of media types, in the scheme of computer technologies— where the media situation and environment would end up being a collection of scenarios resulting from the collaboration between engineers and sales people. Technical and modernist knowledge holders on one end, finance driven careerists on the other, together on the mission of distribution. Kittler's deptiction is some 30 years old now, it is safe to say that today's media environment is quite different to the former's. Is this example still the most illustrative of the industry working today?

body

• Today's media enviroment is not different, but it has advanced.
• The relation of depencency has increased.
• The variaty of examples has grown, but media types have not changed very much.
• An up to date example that also includes laziness, distraction and service providers.
• We've come up with terms that could have helped be more specific, but lines are only more blurred now.

conclusions

Nothing really seemes to have changed, but there may be a set new components in the depencency variable which could end up being destructive.