Review
"The New Media Reader ...is my if-you-can-only-take-one pick for a computer history vacation suitcase-stuffer." -- Michael Swaine, Dr. Dobb's Journal

Book Description
This reader collects the texts, videos, and computer programs--many of them now almost impossible to find--that chronicle the history and form the foundation of the still-emerging field of new media. General introductions by Janet Murray and Lev Manovich, along with short introductions to each of the texts, place the works in their historical context and explain their significance. The texts were originally published between World War II--when digital computing, cybernetic feedback, and early notions of hypertext and the Internet first appeared--and the emergence of the World Wide Web--when they entered the mainstream of public life.

The texts are by computer scientists, artists, architects, literary writers, interface designers, cultural critics, and individuals working across disciplines. The contributors include (chronologically) Jorge Luis Borges, Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, Ivan Sutherland, William S. Burroughs, Ted Nelson, Italo Calvino, Marshall McLuhan, Billy Kl?Jean Baudrillard, Nicholas Negroponte, Alan Kay, Bill Viola, Sherry Turkle, Richard Stallman, Brenda Laurel, Langdon Winner, Robert Coover, and Tim Berners-Lee. The CD accompanying the book contains examples of early games, digital art, independent literary efforts, software created at universities, and home-computer commercial software. Also on the CD is digitized video, documenting new media programs and artwork for which no operational version exists. One example is a video record of Douglas Engelbart's first presentation of the mouse, word processor, hyperlink, computer-supported cooperative work, video conferencing, and the dividing up of the screen we now call non-overlapping windows; another is documentation of Lynn Hershman's Lorna, the first interactive video art installation.

Book Info
Manual includes a collection of texts, videos, and computer programs chronicling the history and forming the foundation of a still-emerging field: new media. Material includes Foundational Writings, Functioning Programs, and Digitized Video. For new media professionals, students, and readers seeking to understand new media. Illustrated. DLC: Telecommunication.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The new media field has been developing for more than 50 years. This reader collects the texts, videos, and computer programs - many of them now almost impossible to find - that chronicle the history and form the foundation of this still-emerging field. General introductions by Janet H. Murray and Lev Manovich, along with short introductions to each of the selections, place the works in their historical context and explain their significance." The texts are from computer scientists, artists, architects, literary writers, interface designers, cultural critics, and individuals working across disciplines. They were originally published between World War II (when digital computing, cybernetic feedback, and early notions leading to hypertext and the Internet first appeared) and the emergence of the World Wide Web (when these concepts entered the mainstream of public life).

SYNOPSIS