媒介考古:与小人儿捉迷藏?——读《媒介考古学:方法、路径与意涵》

Media archeology: Playing hide-and-seek with kids? Reviewing “Media archeology: approaches, applications and implications”

媒介与考古,是媒介考古学的两个关键词;如何理解这两个概念,直接关系到"媒介考古学"的路径、方法及其意义。基于此,本文对《媒介考古学》做了分析和解读。该书将"考古"解释为一种多元的历史书写,在"媒介"的处理上,则是听任自然,不做必要的诠释。正是因此,全书缺少统一的概念框架,给人的总体印象不是在"媒介考古",而是在"考古媒介",发掘出各种不同的"媒介"——好比"与小人儿捉迷藏"。

Media and archeology make the two key concepts of"media archeology".How to understand these two concepts shapes the approaches,applications and implications of"media archeology".Therefore,this article analyzes and reviews the book Media Archeology.This book regards"archeology"as a diverse writing of histories.Yet,it glosses over the conceptualization of media as if this concept could be taken for granted.As a result,this book lacks a consistent conceptual framework.Rather than"media archeology",it impresses readers more as"an archeology of media":different media are discovered—as if playing hide-andseek with naughty kids.