It was not until the emergence, in the 19th century, of new technical devices – such as the telegraph and the phonograph – that the term medius came to serve as a collective noun (media) for advanced communication technologies. Although mediation is extensively theorized in philosophy and sociology, and is approached by medium theory and media studies, the concept remains undertheorized in the field of communication theory. By exploring the problem of mediation and by challenging its representationalist and transmissive accounts, this paper posits mediation beyond the medium. It traces mediation as a relational principle which can be best understood as modulation involving inherent translation, inflection and movement. Mediation is not a simple transportation of meaning through a passive intermediary. It is not just something which stands or comes between things otherwise separated or opposed. Mediation is neither a middle-thing linking separate entities, nor do things get mediated: They are already forms of mediation. Mediation is, foremost, a connecting mean that generates modified experiences and relations, a modulating process that re-connects at the moment it separates.

中文翻译：

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在媒体资源中–调解难题

直到19世纪出现了诸如电报和留声机之类的新技术设备之后，medius一词才成为先进通信技术的统称（媒体）。尽管调解在哲学和社会学中被广泛地理论化，并被媒介理论和媒介研究所采用，但在传播理论领域中，这一概念仍未得到充分的理论化。通过探讨调解问题，并挑战其代表性和传递性观点，本文提出了调解超越媒介的观点。它将调解作为一种关系原理进行追溯，可以最好地理解为涉及内在平移，变形和运动的调制。调解不是通过被动中介简单地传达意义。它不只是站立或介于事物之间的东西，否则它们之间就会分离或对立。调解既不是链接单独实体的中间事物，也不是事物得到调解：它们已经是调解的形式。最重要的是，调解是一种连接的方式，可以产生改进的经验和关系，而调节过程则在分离时重新连接。