The Routledge companion to media technology and obsolescence / edited by Mark J.P. Wolf.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wolf, Mark J. P., editor.

Series:

Routledge handbooks

Routledge media and cultural studies companions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Analog electronic systems--History.

Analog electronic systems.

Mathematical instruments--History.

Mathematical instruments.

Information retrieval--Equipment and supplies--History.

Information retrieval.

Product obsolescence.

Equipment and supplies.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"While so many books on technology look at new advances and digital technologies, The Routledge Companion to Media Technology and Obsolescence looks back at analog technologies that are disappearing, considering their demise and what it says about media history, pop culture, and the nature of nostalgia. From card catalogs and typewriters to stock tickers and cathode ray tubes, contributors examine the legacy of analog technologies, including those, like vinyl records, that may be experiencing a resurgency. Each essay includes a brief history of the technology leading up to its peak, an analysis of the reasons for its decline, and a discussion of its influence on newer technologies"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover; Half Tilte; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; About the Contributors; Preface; Analog Sunset; Types of Obsolescence; Notes; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Paper Slips: The Long Reign of the Index Card and Card Catalog; From Library Catalogs to Accounting and Business; From the Scholarly to the Literary Card Index; From Individual Collections to Art Installations; Notes; Chapter 2: From Hero to Zero: The Rise and Fall of the Slide Rule as the Calculating Tool of Choice; Genesis; Evolution; Development; Demise; Slide Rule Mathematics; Conclusion; References

Chapter 3: The History of Punched Cards: Using Paper to Store InformationHeading toward Computers; Punched Paper Tape; What Need Did They Fill?; Importance; Different Types of Cards; Two Parts Needed; Why Did Punched Cards Fall Out of Use?; Current and Future Uses; Notes; Chapter 4: A History of the Electrical Signal: From the Atlantic Telegraph Cable to the Quest for Artificial Intelligence; Submarine Telegraph Cables and the Dawn of Signal Processing; Telephone Network Engineering, Early Electronics, and Information Theory; The Digital Turn; Conclusion; Notes

Chapter 5: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the TypewriterA Brief History of Typewriters; The Technological Legacy of the Typewriter; Typewriting in the 21st Century; Notes; Chapter 6: The Lure of the Ticker; A Brief History of the Stock Ticker; Modernity and the Ticker; The Speculative Subject; The Ticker Tape Parade and the Materiality of Information; The Tapering of the Ticker Tape; Notes; References; Chapter 7: The Overhead Projector: Visuality and Materiality; Mechanism; Why Projection?; Early Days; The Development Years; Riding High; Two Pathways to Decline

Cause of Obsolescence #1: The Digital ProjectorCause of Obsolescence #2: The Document Camera; Materiality; Notes; References; Chapter 8: Flammable Workhorse: A History of Nitrate Film from the Screen to the Vault; The Celluloid Boom; Developing Celluloid as a Photographic Base; Celluloid Goes to the Movies; Regulating the Dangerous Cinematograph; Non-Flam Film; Nitrate in the Archives; Conclusion; Notes; Chapter 9: Farewell to the Phosphorescent Glow: The Long Life of the Cathode-Ray Tube; CRTs for the Lab and Home: Oscilloscopes and "Magic Eye Tubes"; More CRTs for the Home: Television

CRTs for Information Display: Military and Medical ImagingCRTs as Computer Memory: The First Random-Access Digital Storage Device; CRTs for Interaction: Computers, Art, Video Games,and Beyond; LCD Screen Technology Eclipses the CRT; The Decline (and Death?) of the CRT; Notes; Chapter 10: The Moviola and Other Analog Film Editing Machines; What Is the Moviola? The Flatbed? What Is the Purpose?; Working on the Moviola Made Editing Physical and Social; Inventing the Moviola; Editing Machines, Rhythm, and Thought; The Three-Headed Monster and Television Editing; Moviolas and Flatbeds

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781315442686

OCLC:

1076271019

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.