RECORDING AND TRANSMISSION
AS CULTURAL PRACTICES
Ideas inspired by Harold InnisCanadian Media Theorist
And James Carey
Cultures requireExtension in Space
andEndurance through Time
Recording media are Time-Binding
Transmission media are Space-Binding
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recording
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photography
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photography
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photographyo Video Recording
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photographyo Video Recordingo Archives of All Kinds
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photographyo Video Recordingo Archives of All Kindso Monuments, Statues, Graves,
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photographyo Video Recordingo Archives of All Kindso Monuments, Statues, Graves,o Rituals, Ceremonies, Stories
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Time?
o Sound Recordingo Photographyo Video Recordingo Archives of All Kindso Monuments, Statues, Graves,o Rituals, Ceremonies, Stories o Ultimately, Recording is an
extension of the MEMORY
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone Telegraph
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone Telegraph Television
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone Telegraph Television Paper messages, Email, Txt
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone Telegraph Television Paper messages, Email, Txt Smoke Signals, Pigeons, Human
Messengers
What Media Do We Use toLink Experiences in Space?
Telephone Telegraph Television Paper messages, Email, Txt Smoke Signals, Pigeons, Human
Messengers Ultimately, transmission is an
extension of transportation (the foot)
The Distinctions Blur Zip a Transmission and Get a
Recording
Unzip a Recording and Get a Transmission
The Balance
A viable culture must balance the need to extend through space with the need to endure in time.
Modern Bias Innis and Carey suggest that we
have invested too much into space-binding and not enough in time-binding media.
What is the consequence?
WITNESSING MEDIA
WITNESSING MEDIA“Witnesses serve as the surrogate sense-
organs of the absent…the means by which experience is supplied to others who lack the original.” (Peters, 709)
Three Media Questions
How does the medium create ontological uncertainty?
How does the medium create epistemological uncertainty?
How does the medium create ethical uncertainty?
ONTOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY
Ontology deals with questions about what is
ONTOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY
When you witness a mediated event, what is it you are seeing?
EPISTEMOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY
Epistemology deals with questions about what can be known (and
how)
EPISTEMOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY
When you witness a mediated event, how do you know what is
really happening?
ETHICAL UNCERTAINTYEthics deals with questions about
right conduct
ETHICAL UNCERTAINTYWhen you witness a mediated
event, how should you respond?
Space and Time Coordinates
Being there: Presence in
time and space:
Historicity Presence in space but
absent in time
“Live” broadcast: Presence in
time but absent in space
Recording: Absent in Time
and space
The key questions If our experiences are becoming
increasingly mediated, can we deal with the ontological, epistemological, and ethical uncertainties entailed by this kind of witnessing?
The key questions If our experiences are becoming
increasingly mediated, can we deal with the ontological, epistemological, and ethical uncertainties entailed by this kind of witnessing?
Does “being there” still matter?
The key questions If our experiences are becoming
increasingly mediated, can we deal with the ontological, epistemological, and ethical uncertainties entailed by this kind of witnessing?
Does “being there” still matter?
Are there media forms that can create “presence” needed for real participation?