ABSTRACT

This article is a contribution to the historiography of media archaeology, and therefore to its self-understanding as a scholarly approach. It starts from a simple observation: the use of the words ‘archaeology’ or ‘media archaeology’ within media studies has exploded in recent years, but so far no one has clarified when, how and where these naming practices developed. This is the task the article is meant to explore. It argues that media archaeology does not have a single origin, just like it does not have a single identity. For example, between Anglo-American and German uses and applications of the word ‘archaeology’ within media studies there are significant differences. The article pinpoints the 1990s as the decade when significant merging of ideas from different scholarly contexts happened, contributing to the consolidation of archaeological approaches. The 1990s was an era when new media forms such as virtual reality were emerging asking for explanations and genealogies. Media archaeology was inspired by the challenge, beginning to position the ‘newcomers’ into broader contexts.

摘要

本文是对媒体考古学史学的贡献，因此也是对它作为一种学术方法的自我理解的贡献。它从一个简单的观察开始：近年来，媒体研究中“考古学”或“媒体考古学”一词的使用呈爆炸式增长，但到目前为止，没有人澄清这些命名实践是在何时、如何以及在何处发展起来的。这是本文旨在探索的任务。它认为媒体考古学没有单一的起源，就像它没有单一的身份一样。例如，在媒体研究中，英美和德国对“考古”一词的使用和应用存在显着差异。这篇文章指出，1990 年代是来自不同学术背景的思想发生重大融合的十年，有助于巩固考古方法。1990 年代是虚拟现实等新媒体形式兴起的时代，需要解释和谱系。媒体考古学受到挑战的启发，开始将“新来者”定位到更广泛的背景中。