Course MCM 0230: Digital Media

Florian Cramer discusses the idiosyncrasies of the term post-digital. Defined as a moment in which digital media is no longer considered new media, post-digital refers to an obsession with nostalgia and old media as well as disenchantment with the status quo. It means that the digital has become fully pervasive throughout and the user must actively try to avoid it. Ironically, to resist the digital presupposes its totality. Cramer also discusses the misconceptions of the terms analog and digital, arguing that even the typewriter fits the definition of digital, although perhaps not in the colloquial sense of the word. He furthers his argument by pointing out that anything we see must be in analog format, as our eyes require the processing of light waves. Post-digital is thus an embrace and a critique of the digital, a complication of its existence which relies upon it to make sense. It reminds me of the Kirshenbaum article which points out the similarities between paper and the hard drive. All new media is based on old media and the two are perhaps inseparable.