Doing Experimental Media Archaeology - by Tim Van Der Heijden & Aleksander Kolkowski (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of experimental approaches to the study of media histories and their cultures. Doing media archaeological experiments, such as historical re-enactments and hands-on simulations with media historical objects, helps us to explore and better understand the workings of past media technologies and their practices of use. By systematically refl ecting on the methodological underpinnings of experimental media archaeology as a relatively new approach in media historical research and teaching, this book aims to serve as a practical handbook for doing media archaeological experiments.

Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice is the twin volume to Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Theory, authored by Andreas Fickers and Annie van den Oever.

From the Back Cover

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of experimental approaches to the study of media histories and their cultures. Doing media archaeological experiments, such as historical re-enactments and hands-on simulations with media historical objects, helps us to explore and better understand the workings of past media technologies and their practices of use. By systematically reflecting on the methodological underpinnings of experimental media archaeology as a relatively new approach in media historical research and teaching, this book aims to serve as a practical handbook for doing media archaeological experiments.

Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice is the twin volume to Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Theory, authored by Andreas Fickers and Annie van den Oever.

Tim van der Heijden is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the Open University of the Netherlands.

Aleksander Kolkowski is a musician, composer, and independent researcher, whose work has focused on the early pioneering era of sound recording and reproduction.

They both worked as postdoctoral researchers within the FNR-funded project "Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice & Theory" (DEMA), hosted by the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) at the University of Luxembourg.

Review Quotes

"Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice is an unprecedented to how exactly we put to work certain key principles of media archaeology. By meticulously laying out a fl exible, medium-specifi c range of methods and modes of experimentation along with a diverse array of ways to document and disseminate the results of these experiments with technological media, Tim van der Heijden and Aleksander Kolkowski have produced a book that every lab and institute involved in media history needs to have." - Lori Emerson, Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Media Archaeology Lab, University of Colorado Boulder

About the Author

Tim van der Heijden, Open University of the Netherlands; Aleksander Kolkowski, Science Museum, London.