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Facsimile

A forgotten ‘new medium’ from the 20th century

Northwestern University, USA, light{at}northwestern.edu

Scholars have expressed increasing interest in understanding the conceptual and technological roots of contemporary new media. Yet, to date, accounts of the history of media technologies have ignored the rise, fall, and transformation of one innovation whose applications in the first half of the 20th century parallel recent developments in WiFi internet, mobile telephony, telework, telemedicine, online publishing, and video-on-demand. This article introduces scholars to the history of the fax machine, and suggests how the technology provides an important comparison point for analyzing technological developments, past and present. The conclusion explores how positioning this innovation more prominently within the common disciplinary wisdom about the rise of new media opens a door for scholars to deliberate about the historiographical boundaries of the ‘old media studies’ in the era of new media: what technological systems have received disproportionate attention, and what new histories of old media might be written.

Key Words: facsimile • fax machine • history • ICTs • new media

New Media & Society, Vol. 8, No. 3, 355-378 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444806059920


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