From Dissemination to Digitality: How to Reflect on Media
J.D. Peters’ communication theory rehabilitates communication in the form of non-reciprocal dissemination as a complement to the dominant position of dialogue, which is usually considered the primary form of close communication. This essay, in turn, now complements Peters’ communication theory with...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Simon Dawes, Centre d’histoire culturelle des sociétés contemporaines (CHCSC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
2022-03-01
|
| Series: | Media Theory |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/927 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | J.D. Peters’ communication theory rehabilitates communication in the form of non-reciprocal dissemination as a complement to the dominant position of dialogue, which is usually considered the primary form of close communication. This essay, in turn, now complements Peters’ communication theory with the cultural-historical phenomenon that we use the stable surfaces of materials to write and to illustrate, starting with cave paintings and skin tattoos and to the invention of writings, diagrams and maps. The ‘cultural technique of flattening’ is conceived as a projection of spatial and non-spatial facts onto two-dimensionality. ‘Artificial’ flatness—there is no empirical flatness—forms a productive potential and power that is essential for the development of sciences, many arts, technology and architecture, and complex administrative technology is unthinkable. What this means is (i) examined in a media theoretical context and (ii) explored in connection to digital technology, which establishes a link to Peters’ reflections on ‘clouds’.
|
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2557-826X |