Recently just grabbed this book out of storage for a re-read- I'd picked it up at random in the art section of a bookshop & read years ago & it was fascinating to me then - the writing's been long-percolating in my mind.
The writer somehow manages to convincingly weave together
threads of avant garde art, music, punk rock, reggae, sci fi, computer technology, the Cold War, gaming, counter culture, etc..
Some of it up on Google:
http://books.google.nl/books?id=VLrQ6bcwlwUC&printsec=fr ontcover&dq=digital+culture+charlie+gere&source=bl&a mp;ots=_jWdpBvOBl&sig=SmUbm32NFMxalPEuKZVUN9txV6k&hl =nl&ei=xcffTK6iIJHsOaPDnOUO&sa=X&oi=book_result& amp;ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage& ;q&f=false
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Culture-Charlie-Gere/dp/1861 891431
Review
'This is an excellent book. It gives an almost complete overview of the main trends and views of what is generally called digital culture through the whole post-war period as well as a thorough exposition of the history of the computer and its predecessors and the origins of the modern division of labour.' --Journal of Visual Culture
Product Description
During the last 20 years digital technology has begun to touch upon almost every aspect of our lives. Most forms of mass media, television, recorded music and film are produced and even distributed digitally. These media are beginning to converge with digital forms, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, and video games, to produce a seamless digital mediascape. At work we are now surrounded by technology, whether in offices or in supermarkets and factories, where almost every aspect of planning, design, marketing, production and distribution is monitored or controlled digitally. In "Digital Culture", Charlie Gere articulates the degree to which our everyday lives are becoming dominated by digital technology, whether in terms of leisure, work or bureaucracy. This dominance of digital technology is reflected in other areas, including the worlds of finance, technology, scientific research, media and telecommunications. Out of this situation a particular set of cultural responses has emerged, for example, in art, music, design, film, literature and elsewhere. This book offers a new perspective on digital culture, by examining its development and showing that, despite appearances, it is neither radically new, nor ultimately technologically driven. The author trace its roots to the late 18th century, and shows how it sprang from a number of impulses, including the informational needs of industrial capitalism and contemporary warfare, avant-garde artistic practice, counter-cultural experimentation, radical philosophy and sub-cultural style. It is these conditions that produced both digital technology and digital culture and that determined how they have developed.
A stimulating read, 2 July 2003
By Tessa Meijer (Brighton, Sussex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Digital Culture (Paperback)
This is a highly recommended book and a pretty important one. Other books in this field give a history of the technology or a survey of what is going on at the moment. This book offers a history of the thinking and the concepts that have made the technology possible.
The introduction makes the point eloquently by describing the threat of the Millennium bug. Although it turned out to be a damp squib, the fact that so much panic was caused by the absence of two digits showed how dependent modern life has become on technology.
What follows is a story of how digital culture developed to the point it’s at now. The trail starts in the nineteenth century with Charles Babbage and concludes firmly in the twenty first century with The Matrix. In between, the book reads a like a wild surf of the Internet, segueing from subject to subject with an exhilaration that smacks of Greil Marcus.
Behind the pacey, almost breathless style lies an engaging and unique alternative history. This is definitely not a retelling of a familiar story, of the growth of technology; rather it is a book about the cultural references, the sociological events and the thinking that produces the technology, told as a series of strands, coherently woven together. It embraces a heady mix of art, music, literature, politics and alternative culture, which inform and enrich the subject matter to create a captivating read.
Gere has produced a stimulating and thought- provoking book. He has managed to narrate an important story in a most engaging style, showing by referencing the familiar how digital technology has been shaped, not just by scientists in white coats, but by an eclectic mix; and uniquely illustrates our own involvement in the development of digital culture, making this a book that should appeal to all.
Charlie Gere
Digital Culture
240 pages,
From our bank accounts to supermarket checkouts to the movies we watch, strings of ones and zeroes suffuse our world. Digital technology has defined modern society in numerous ways, and the vibrant digital culture that has now resulted is the subject of Charlie Gere’s engaging volume.
In this revised and expanded second edition, taking account of new developments such as Facebook and the iPhone, Charlie Gere charts in detail the history of digital culture, as marked by responses to digital technology in art, music, design, film, literature and other areas. After tracing the historical development of digital culture, Gere argues that it is actually neither radically new nor technologically driven: digital culture has its roots in the eighteenth century and the digital mediascape we swim in today was originally inspired by informational needs arising from industrial capitalism, contemporary warfare and counter-cultural experimentation, among other social changes.
A timely and cutting-edge investigation of our contemporary social infrastructures, Digital Culture is essential reading for all those concerned about the ever-changing future of our Digital Age.
“This is an excellent book. It gives an almost complete overview of the main trends and view of what is generally called digital culture through the whole post-war period, as well as a thorough exposition of the history of the computer and its predecessors and the origins of the modern division of labor.”—Journal of Visual Culture
