New media from a historical point of view

This project contributes to the construction of a theory which enables us to explain the introduction, the development and the disappearance of new media. The initial perspective is historic in nature. The evolution of new media is mirrored to other major revolutions in the field of communication and information (writing, book printing etc). An initial explanatory model distinguished four stages in the development of new media: Amazement, Resistance, Imitation, Authenticity (ARIA). These phases, however, need further exploration. Observational behavioral data will be collected with respect to a number of typical instances of new communication behavior. These data will be used to describe the life cycle of new media in more detail.