Tantalisingly Close
Title
Tantalisingly Close
Subtitle
An Archaeology of Communication Desires in Discourses of Mobile Wireless Media
ISBN
9789048514915
Format
eBook PDF
Number of pages
216
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Table of Contents
Show Table of ContentsHide Table of Contents
Tantalisingly Close - 2 Contents - 6 Preface and acknowledgements - 8 Introduction - 12 Part I Venturing into the Familiar Unknown - 26 1. Discourses of progress and utopia - 28 2. Communication ideals,communication woes - 58 Part II Where Angels Speak - 86 3. The rise… and rise of mediatechnology - 88 4. Mobile communication dreams - 126 Epilogue - 164 Notes - 170 References - 188 Index - 208

Reviews and Features

‘Tantalisingly Close shows how the mobile telephone is a device saturated with the dreams, hopes, and fears that make us human. De Vries demonstrates that mobile communication is a key to understanding the human condition in the early 21st century.’ Prof. Dr. John Durham Peters, author of Speaking into the Air|‘De Vries provides us with an urbane and discerning tour of the imaginarium of mobile media. Equally adept at exploring ancient classical myths as contemporary media-driven ones, he sure-footedly guides us through this complex terrain. His analysis will not soon be superseded.’ Prof. Dr. James E. Katz, co-editor of Perpetual Contact

Imar de Vries

Tantalisingly Close

An Archaeology of Communication Desires in Discourses of Mobile Wireless Media

While studies of mobile wireless communication devices usually focus on their social implications, De Vries proposes to venture into a more historical and comparative direction to shed light on our preoccupation with them in the first place. He constructs an archaeological view of the development of communication technologies over the past 200 years, providing a comprehensive account of how persistent hopes and beliefs have come to give mobile wireless media such a prominent position today. Our expectations and uses of them are surprisingly similar to those of older media; consequently, they reconfirm the idea that living in an ‘anyone, anything, anytime, anywhere’ world is both a blessing and a curse, and that the desire for sublime communication is a tragic yet highly powerful regulative principle in our media evolution.
Author

Imar de Vries

Imar de Vries is Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture in the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University. His work primarily focuses on studying innovation discourses of wireless technologies, social media, and augmented reality. De Vries is a member of the board of Media Lab IMPAKT and affiliated with Media Lab SETUP.