Book Review: Digital Roots – Historicizing Media and Communication Concepts of the Digital Age
Gabriel Balbi, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer and Christian Schwarzenegger (eds). (Berlin/ Boston: De Gruyter, 2021), pp. 318. ISBN: 978-3-11-073988-6.
This review was published in Rundfunk & Geschichte, 2022(1-2): 115-117.
This ambitious volume goes through sixteen concepts in order to outline a “conceptual media and communication history”. In doing this, the book also seeks to avoid ‘presentism’ (i.e. it confronts the alleged newness of certain concepts), and scrutinize how concepts both persist and develop over time. The concepts, with each one covered in one dedicated chapter, are: networks; convergence; multimedia; interactivity; artificial intelligence; global governance; datafication; fake news; echo chambers; activism; amateurism; digital loneliness; telepresence; user-generated content; fandom; and authenticity.
The main argument of the book is that digital media concepts have roots and far reaching complex historical connections, which are today often overlooked. The editors of the books also aim to set a new trend in research by opposing the often told teleological stories of digital media innovation. Thereby, the book shows kinship to media archeological ambitions. Nevertheless, many of the included chapters also retain a certain linear historication and chronology of ‘classic works’ (both in terms of previous theoretical work and empirical examples). This goes back to the overall aim of the book, which includes to “identify the origins, sources, lineage and heritage of some of the most mental images of the digital world” (p. 2). The ambition of several chapters thus becomes more a question of showing that concepts in fact have a pre-digital history, rather than to identify potentially overseen empirical phenomena, or to effectively illustrate the concepts’ usefulness today.
Indeed, the recurring emphasis on the argument that the pre-digital roots of these concepts are overlooked arguably comes across a straw-man argument (i.e. the idea that there is a need to convey that concepts we use today are not unprecedented and entirely novel), at least to scholars who have been researching computer-mediated communication since the early days of the Internet (and even before). To them, many chapters will recount familiar (while materially focused) historical descriptions, rather than analyses or developments of new analytical nuances or entry points. At times, this is due to the fact that the book has such a clear focus on media studies. The relation between disciplines such as HCI and media and communication science comes across as one where media and comms are only now discovering many of the issues that have been pondered by (the more philosophical parts of) computer science (including the many humanities and social science scholars who have been part of it) for decades (and presenting them as new, albeit for a new audience). The ambition is thus set high, but several chapters in fact fail to meet these expectations.
This means that many of the concepts have much more widespread theoretical and multidisciplinary roots than they are given credit for. That is, several of the concepts covered in this volume have been integral to other sciences for a long time (discussions which are at times ignored). So, in order to not “reinvent the wheel”, such previous efforts could also have been acknowledged and incorporated. As mentioned, the book as a whole may have a too stringent focus on (certain) media classics, which is great for media students (although some would argue that too many concepts are missing for this book to be really useful as an introductory to media studies), but for others it will come across as unnecessarily delimited. Works from Science and Technology Studies could easily have been included, and potentially also helped to argue against a teleological media perspective. One could thereby argue that the book displays a kind of active amnesia which could be interpreted as a way to retain disciplinary boundaries. As such, the book may provide potential readers with very little new knowledge about digital roots, and run the risk of cementing a history of important events and persons, rather than challenge teleology, or make clear parallels to our contemporary media ecology. The result is, contrary to its ambitious purpose, often a chronological description that repeats a, to many, well-known history. Arguably, there is both a familiarity to, as well as an arbitrariness in, the examples – caused by the fact that few authors explain why they highlight the examples they do (and not others). This, again, makes us wonder who the imaginary reader is; who needs to be convinced that these media concepts are not new, or that they lack complex historical roots?
Having said that, there are certainly chapters in the book that are particularly strong. These six chapters go beyond just showing that concepts have a pre-digital history, and dives deeper into specific historical data and/or contribute with a new theoretical facet of a specific concept.
One such chapter is Day Good’s chapter on multimedia, which provides one of the more empirically driven, and most interesting, chapters of the book. Good’s concept of ‘media litanies’ gives the reader not only an interesting “sidetrack” (much in the line of media archeological research), but also a rich insight into early multimedial combinations and imaginaries (e.g. “illustrated radio”). It does not stop there however, but also considers the broader societal consequences of these technologies, as well as discusses how they intermingle with political ideologies. The chapter contains a stringent analysis of how visions about media and pedagogy overlap and influence what media technologies that are actually deployed in schools. Day Good effectively shows how schooling and ed-tech are always already entangled, and what such entanglements have meant at different points in time.
Another chapter, warranting the purchase of the book, is Digital Media Activism (by Treré and Kaun). Here, the authors eloquently show that the border between digital and non-digital is always permeable (i.e. all activism is hybrid). This chapter provides a knowledgeable and thorough overview of the field. Treré and Kaun make sure to theorize and problematize, and not just describe, effectively demonstrating how a reconsideration of history can provide new perspectives.
The chapter on datafication further contributes with useful analytical terms. This chapter fruitfully considers ‘what is at stake’ when we talk about datafication. Again, it goes beyond being descriptive and just showing that the concept has a history. Koenen, Schwarzenegger and Kittler politicize the concept, and thereby demonstrate an interesting analysis of “[p]ersistent questions and changing answers through the ages” (p.152). We would happily read a longer exposition of how, not only ‘dark data’ emerge, but also how it could be complemented by ‘light data’. That is, data has undoubtedly been important for the construction of the welfare state (i.e. a redistribution of resources requires some data as a ground for decisions and policies). For example, one could also have noted how the idea of ‘nurturing’ the population (and not just exploit it) through the use of data (e.g. health data, nativity data, mortality data, social stratification data, and education data) gave birth to progressive changes in legislation, and became an incredibly important tool to govern populations in other directions as well. A nuanced discussion on how light and dark data can converge into new forms of biopolitical governance would have strengthened the contribution even further.
Further, Bourdon’s chapter on telepresence is a pleasant read and presents original insights into how the concept addresses affective and emotional relations through, and with, media. For readers of this journal, this chapter has the most clear emphasis on broadcasting. There is also a certain overlap with the following chapter on digital loneliness, where author Brennan also provides thoughtful ideas on how we live in an individualized and capitalist system that practically promotes loneliness: “Loneliness might then be driven, not by technology, but by the commercial colonization of everyday life.” (p.240). As such, people are pushed into a ubiquitous competitive mode, where just enough individuality (but not too much) is rewarded. Constant demands for authenticity and conformity brush up against constant comparison and adaptability. As Brennan puts it: “There is an absence of any kind of personal quality that cannot be changed in response to the market” (p. 241). In this paradoxical and anxious reality, Brennan interestingly proposes that scripted technological relations might in fact be perceived as less risky compared to commercially driven and competitive human relations.
Finally, the chapter on fandom by Benecchi and Wang is also one of the book’s best chapters. It provides concrete, and seldom discussed, empirical examples, providing useful insights into broadened contexts (social, cultural, economic). The reader is now (at the end of the book) also faced with how many of the previous chapters (and much of research in general) has been focused on a western context. This is a vital contribution as it makes the reader rethink and hopefully revisit the other chapters once more. In this way, and in line with the aims of the authors, the chapter helps to destabilize the anglophone focus that media studies has had, and continues to have.
In summary, the book takes on an important task in untangling the roots of central concepts used in media science. We do agree that there is a continuous need to be reminded of the non-newness and roots of theoretical concepts, and in this way the book clearly shows that these concepts are not novel, and have a long(er) history. At the same time, we would have liked to have seen an elaboration and motivation on which concepts that were included (and why) and which were discarded. As it stands now, the book has a certain skew towards concepts that are currently outdated (or at least out of fashion). One way to follow the book’s ambitions more thoroughly could have been to deliberately address more modern concepts, and make even more use of the term roots, and focus on, for example, rhizomes or from where these concepts receive their ongoing nutrition (from various sources)? How have deeper and broader structures provided preconditions that allow for certain concepts (or media technologies) to grow, and others to whither? Why do certain technologies emerge when and where they do? Or even asking how a digital and conceptual photo-synthesis works? In this respect, we find that a number of chapters (the ones mentioned above) stand out and warrant a purchase of the book. These six chapters in particular offer new and deeper insights into conceptual roots both for media scholars as well as researchers in other fields.