Abstract

This introduction accounts for three main elements characterizing digital media and the recent history of their interpretation and understanding. The authors label these three elements: “interaction”; “recording”; and “autonomy.” First, digital media somehow subvert the traditional notion of mass media. In digital media, the masses do not passively receive information; rather, they contribute to its creation and diffusion. Second, digital media involve a complete overlapping between communication, on the one hand, and recording, registration and keeping track, on the other. For sure, information production and communication remain important aspects of digital media. And yet, for a few years now, recording, registration and keeping track have taken the upper hand. The third element characterizing digital media is that a crucial role is assigned to software, which is not only able to transmit and store information, but also to manipulate it. Digital media do not limit themselves to help our minds or to interconnect us with other human subjects. In digital media, recording often involves the autonomous manipulation, combination, and recombination of what is recorded.