Remediation: Understanding New Media

by Jay David Bolter, Richard Grusin

A new framework for considering how all media constantly borrow from and refashion other media.

Media critics remain captivated by the modernist myth of the new: they assume that digital technologies such as the World Wide Web, virtual reality, and computer graphics must divorce themselves from earlier media for a new set of aesthetic and cultural principles. In this richly illustrated study, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin offer a theory of mediation for our digital age that challenges this assumption. They argue that new visual media achieve their cultural significance precisely by paying homage to, rivaling, and refashioning such earlier media as perspective painting, photography, film, and television. They call this process of refashioning "remediation," and they note that earlier media have also refashioned one another: photography remediated painting, film remediated stage production and photography, and television remediated film, vaudeville, and radio.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theory, Art, Research, Technology, Academic, College

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jay David Bolter is Wesley Chair of New Media and Codirector of the Augmented Media Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the author of Remediation: Understanding New Media (with Richard Grusin), Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art and the Myth of Transparency (with Diane Gromala), both published by the MIT Press, and other books.

Reviews

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars.
very interesting to read about the early days of remediation, especially when i kept comparing it to the current day. read for uni.

[The Awdude · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't a bad book, and it tries to say some interesting things (at which it sometimes succeeds) but the problem is that it doesn't try very hard. The theory is old (and often misrepresented, especially B&G's (mis)readings of Foucault and Baudrillard) and cited haphazardly, frequently, and much too randomly. It's as if they shuffled a deck of citation cards and occasionally dealt one into the bibliography in an attempt to legitimize whatever they happened to be talking about. Remediation claims, among other things, to be a Foucaultian genealogy of contemporary media. Which it isn't, not really. The only element of Foucault in the book is the fact that it opposes the popular belief in the novelty of today's technology, from cyberspace and VR to telepresence and ubiquitous computing. Remediation succeeds, more or less, in convincing us of this, but this is mostly because anyone who is familiar with the genealogical methodology will have already assumed that such is the case. B&G also spend far too much time describing the new technologies, and thus new possibilities, to be found in contemporary mediation. Sometimes it even feels like they're arguing against themselves. Not once do they examine the conditions of knowledge that have incited the novelty hypothesis (which is what Foucault would have done, and did with the repressive hypothesis and the humanist hypothesis of progress) because they can't seem to tame their own fascination with the "new" media whose newness they want to refute. Also, some of their arguments about transparency and the inherent desire for immediacy have plenty of holes. Not to mention their cursory deployments of Lacan, Zizek, Derrida, etc., which at some points make us feel like B&G don't really understand anything about postructuralism and psychoanalysis. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in technology, Remediation is an excellent survey of today's technologies, which, admittedly, are fascinating. I recommend this book, but with reservations. Enjoy the tour of media, but don't buy into the theories therein.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Remediation: Understanding New Media, authors Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin argue that new media is only new in the way it presents old media. They use the terms immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation often throughout the book, and despite their claim that you don't have to read the book front to back, you absolutely have to read the chapter that defines said terms or you'll be very lost.

The authors take a good section of the book examining various forms of remediation and demonstrating how all "new" media "are doing exactly what their predecessors have done: presenting themselves as refashioned and improved versions of other media" (14-15). As I read the book, I came to realize that all media is just that: mediation. A painting mediates between reality and the viewer; the viewer sees a market or a beach or a dog, etc., and the painting is merely trying to represent the truth. It is trying to be immediate. However, this does not change the fact that the viewer is not really seeing a market or beach or dog. The media is mediating the experience for them.

Therefore, because media has only ever been mediation, digital media should not make us feel that we are becoming less connected to reality just because digital media seeks to represent that very reality. That is all media has ever tried to do. Digital media just does it better than any previous kind, whether through immediacy or hypermediacy.

Bolter and Grusin take a very objective voice in the book, which I like. They don't seek to convince that digital media is good or bad, immoral or not. They only argue that digital media is doing the same thing that previous media have done, which is to represent old media in a new, improved way. Despite their objective view, however, I came away feeling much better about my digital culture.

[tiz]

pov you're me writing my thesis

[Jasmin Ozolins · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for an essay

really easy and interesting dip into the world of comms and media and how speculative tech begins to probe philosophy

what is space? what is time? how are they experienced and remediated through technology?........ (aka my essay lol)

"as there is nothing prior to the act of mediation, there is also a sense in which all mediation remediates the real. Mediation is the remediation of reality because media themselves are real and because the experience of media is the subject of remediation"

[Bobbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some very interesting ideas presented throughout; however, some of terminology muddled my initial understanding of the nuanced differences between the three main terms of immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation.

[Gerard · Rating 3 out of 5]

First three chapters and last three chapters for a seminar. Solid, but somewhat outdated and incomplete theories of the dual logic of immediacy and hypermediacy that makes up the concept of remediation.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remediation is a blend of immediacy and hypermediacy: this is the double logic of remediation. The book is a good introduction to how media transforms itself over time. Nothing groundbreaking, but no unrealistic expectations either.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran libro para entender la forma en la que se compone aquello que observamos en las pantallas.

[Yokusun Basi]

Remediation: Understanding New Media by Jay David Bolter (2000)

[Elisa Salamini]

Libro ormai datato, ma interessante il concetto di rimediazione.

[Tom Quast · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes an academic approach at understanding new media. Overall it does do a good job, however it can be at times hard to follow the thoughts of the authors.

The Good
- Clear chapter structure


The Bad
- Sometimes hard to follow

Conclusion
The book is a good introduction to how media transforms itself over time. Nothing groundbreaking, but filled with interesting examples. Sometimes the reader gets lost in the detail.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book is over a decade old now, it still does a nice job of situating new media in an historical landscape where the tropes and logic of old media continue to hold sway. Bolter & Grusin articulate what they call the "double logic" of remediation: that new media at once strives to achieve a sense of transparency or immediacy with regard to its interpolation of users (think of virtual reality as the quintessential example of an immersive world, wherein you forget the interface of the media altogether) and performs the opposite function though the logic of hypermediacy (think of how the structure of a website calls your attention to the medium of the screen/computer/etc.). As B&G point out, remediation -- the way that new media construct themselves out of the conventions of "old media" -- depends on both the simultaneous presence of these seemingly contradictory (though actually complementary) factors. In this way, B&G succeed in demonstrating what might be truly different about the world of new media (that is, the way we interact with it -- demanding an experience that satisfies both our desire for immersiveness as well as our desire to see ourselves as existing outside of the media), while also calling attention to the historical and cyclical trajectories of this development. At times, they may seem to be putting forth a more deterministic argument than is necessary, but their book really shines at the moments that it provides examples of how media reflect one another across platforms and time periods. Further, their final section, which focuses on how "the self" is constructed in relation to new media nicely articulates how all media exists in relationship to the social world.

[Aimée · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this classic Bolter and Richard Grusin develop a theory of mediation for the digital age that challenges the assumption that new media needs a new set of aesthetic and cultural principles. They argue instead that new (visual) media achieve their cultural significance by reusing and refashioning earlier “new” media, such as perspectival painting, photography, cinema, and television. Their theory of remediaton recalls that earlier media have also refashioned one another: photography remediated painting, film remediated stage production and photography, etc.

The authors define medium as “that which remediates” (19) and claim that all media work by remediating–or translating, reshaping, refashioning and reforming other media in both form and content. The authors claim that new media will never be new, that we will not invent a new set of aesthetic and cultural principles to negotiate it. Instead, like its precursors, “digital media can never reach this state of transcendence, but will instead function in a constant dialectic with earlier media, precisely as each earlier medium functioned when it was introduced” (50). Here the authors claim that what is new about new media lies in their particular strategies for remediating television, film, photography, and painting” (Bolter 50). Bolter and Grusin state “In collage and photomontage as in hypermedia, to create is to rearrange existing forms” (p. 39). Consequently, to bring something new into existence–to create–is to rearrange forms/media which already exist. Notably, Lev Manovich takes up Bolter and Grusin’s idea of remediation but also extends their notions of what the aesthetic is to new media.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Remediation (1999), Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin theorize remediation, what they call "a defining characteristic of the new digital media" (45). Remediation is "the representation of one medium in another" (45) and works under the double logic of "contradictory imperatives for immediacy and hypermediacy" (5). That is, media works to efface its mediated nature while simultaneously becoming hypermediated. For Bolter and Grusin, the two are mutually dependent (6). Immediacy is "a family of beliefs and practices that express themselves differently at various times among various gropes" that depends on "the belief in some necessary contact point between the medium and what it represents" (30).

[Theryn Fleming]

Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin argue that all mediation is remediation. The book is divided into three parts. Part I looks at remediation with respect to literary and cultural theory. Part II consists of illustrative chapters showing remediation in various media (including the World Wide Web). Part III considers the part digital media play in "our culture's redefinition of self" (p.14). The key to Bolter and Grusin's argument is that the promise of immediacy (that is, an authentic experience) leads to an awareness of the new medium and thus to hypermediacy (acknowledgment of the medium as a medium). Of all the new media, they suggest that the Internet is the most influential expression of hypermediacy. Useful for the concepts of immediacy/hypermediacy/remediation.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the late 1990s, this book is little worse for wear. It lays out a highly useful and understandable framework for how media borrow from each other and situate themselves in relation to other media. It is not difficult to fill in the blanks regarding more recent developments, and the authors' theories are not less useful for being dated. On the negative side, the book is a bit overlong; I'd agree with the below reviewer that the connections to critical theory can be superficial or dubious, and the ending chapters are not as strong as the rest of the book. However, this book addresses in detail a field of inquiry that is only touched upon by most of other sources I have read. I highly recommend it to anyone taking a theoretical approach to new media.

[Chris Friend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bolter and Grusin provide interesting and specific examples of remediation through an array of cultural aspects, and they do so only after discussing the nature and essence of that remediation. The text is helpful, yet it seems more exploratory than definitive. Bolter's Writing Spaces seemed more concrete and solid in its conclusions and thinking.

Among helpful perspectives on terms like "hypermediacy" and "transparency", I do recall this little gem: "Remediation is the mediation of mediation." Thanks for that, Bolter. Couldn't have done it without you.

[Malte · Rating 5 out of 5]

En fin gennemgang af nye mediers betydning for både sig selv og tidligere medier, ligesom hele den model der opstilles er god at blive klog med. Jeg kunne dog godt savne at man havde valgt lidt færre medier i gennemgangen og så var kommet mere i dybden med dem der blev gennemgået...

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much dichotomy between different technologies - camera and programming are techniques just like using oil and brush. However, a needed corrective to the modern tech crazy, and a new way of looking at things for me. Great wealth of examples too.

[Natalie Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is an excellent grounding in theory for any SEO/SEM professional.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

i remember liking this when it came out. went back and skimmed it a few days ago. i was totally amazed how insanely outdated it is now after 8 years. still interesting.

[Nova Scribe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found it because of my studies at the time. If you want to understand how the writing dynamic changes online, this is a great book to read.

[Teddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the first 60 pages or so for one of my classes. Very interesting.