Multimedia From Wagner to Virtual Reality

by Jordan, Ken; Packer, Randall

• ISBN13: 9780393323757
• ISBN10: 0393323757
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Tracing the fertile series of collaborations between arts and sciences throughout the twentieth century, Randall Packer and Ken Jordan present the often overlooked history behind multimedia'”the interfaces, links, and interactivity we all take for granted today. "Many of the papers that had profound impact upon my development'”to say nothing of the entire industry'”are here," raves Donald A. Norman, author of The Invisible Computer . In "an evocative whirlwind tour through 100 years of work" ( Wired ), Packer and Jordan bring together an "historically significant" ( Slashdot ) collection of the groundbreaking visions of scientists like Vannevar Bush, Douglas Englebart, and Norbert Wiener, and artists like John Cage, Nam June Paik, and William Gibson. Their insightful explanations of the core concepts behind multimedia provide historical context that "reads like a Western civ of modern media" ( Film/Tape World ).

Author Biography

Randall Packer is a composer, media artist, and leading authority on the history of multimedia. His work has been shown internationally at the ICC (InterCommunication Center) Biennial Exhibition in Tokyo, ZKM (Center for Art and Media) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and Radio France in Paris. He currently serves on the faculty of the Maryland Institute, College of Art, in Baltimore, where he teaches the history, theory, and practice of digital media Ken Jordan is one of the pioneers of Web-based multimedia: as founding editorial director of SonicNet.com, the Web's first multimedia music zine; as creative director for Icon New Media, publisher of the award-winning Word.com and Charged.com; and, most recently, as cofounder of the public-interest portal MediaChannel.org. He lives in New York City

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Overture	p. xv
Integration
"Outlines of the Artwork of the Future"	p. 3
"The Futurist Cinema"	p. 10
"Theater, Circus, Variety"	p. 16
"Intermedia"	p. 27
"The Great Northeastern Power Failure"	p. 33
"Cybernated Art" and "Art and Satellite"	p. 39
Interactivity
"Cybernetics in History"	p. 47
"Man-Computer Symbiosis"	p. 55
"Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework"	p. 64
"Diary: Audience 1966"	p. 91
"Behaviourist Art and the Cybernetic Vision"	p. 95
"Responsive Environments"	p. 104
"User Interface: A Personal View"	p. 121
"Modalities of Interactivity and Virtuality"	p. 132
Hypermedia
"As We May Think"	p. 141
Excerpt from Computer Lib/Dream Machines	p. 160
"Personal Dynamic Media"	p. 173
"Spatial Data-Management"	p. 185
"The New Workstation: CD ROM Authoring Systems"	p. 198
"Information Management: A Proposal"	p. 208
"Hypertext, Hypermedia and Literary Studies: The State of the Art"	p. 225
Immersion
"The Cinema of the Future"	p. 239
"The Ultimate Display"	p. 252
"Virtual Interface Environments"	p. 257
"Academy Leader"	p. 267
"Liquid Architectures in Cyberspace"	p. 272
"A Room with a View"	p. 286
"Changing Space: Virtual Reality as an Arena of Embodied Being"	p. 293
Narrativity
"The Future of the Novel"	p. 303
"Untitled Guidelines for Happenings"	p. 307
"Will There Be Condominjums in Data Space?"	p. 315
"The Fantasy Beyond Control"	p. 327
"Is There Love in the Telematic Embrace?"	p. 333
"Welcome to 'Electronic Cafe International': A Nice Place for Hot Coffee, Iced Tea, & Virtual Space"	p. 345
"Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities"	p. 352
"The Art and Architecture of Cyberspace"	p. 370
"Agency"	p. 380
Coda: Laurie Anderson, "The Language of the Future"	p. 399
Notes and References	p. 403
A Note on the Web Site	p. 422
Acknowledgments	p. 423
Permissions	p. 425
Index	p. 430
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