Invitation

Media studies tend to have a blind spot, and paradoxically it is the influence of the media themselves. We want to focus on the media as media, that is; the materiality and technology of mediated communication. We are predominantly interested in the cultural and social meanings of material and technological changes. The emergence of new media in our perspective "means" not only new technologies, but also new configurations of the cultural and social landscape.

When we invite to a conference on this theme in 2004, we are subject to an historical irony. The traditions we want to introduce have already existed for decades. We have called upon contributors who have been a part of these traditions for a long time, and who have gone further since. Thus our subtitle "Introductions and reconfigurations" is meant to capture the dilemma of delayed attention to these theories.