{"product_id":"vital-media-isbn-9780262544580","title":"Vital Media","description":"\u003cb\u003eA proposal for a new media design to balance the contributions of humans and materials in the world they share.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow can media design support a balance between our needs for self-expression and the material needs of the world we are part of? What criteria define a sustainable media ecology? In \u003ci\u003eVital Media\u003c\/i\u003e, Michael Nitsche argues that the current human-centric view is not sustainable and that media are best viewed as dynamic networks where cognitive and noncognitive participants co-create. What we need, according to Nitsche, is a media design that balances the needs of all partners involved: \u003ci\u003evital media\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTracing this ideal through two domains of expression and making, performance and craft, Nitsche calls on us to embrace material co-existence and to design for self-expression as well as material evolution. We must recognize that the living body and its dependencies on the world around it are at the heart of what media are about. Vital media exist to not only help individuals fulfill their potential through expression but to also realize the agencies of materials in the equally active surrounding world. Throughout the book, Nitsche interweaves theory with close readings of actual artifacts that encompass predigital, nondigital, and hybrid examples. Nitsche’s approach counters the current tendency to pit the virtual media world against the reality in which we live.Acknowledgments vii\u003cbr\u003e1 Troubles and Necessities 1\u003cbr\u003e2 Mapping Vital Media 17\u003cbr\u003e3 Performance Makers 53\u003cbr\u003e4 Recentering 109\u003cbr\u003e5 Digital Folk 167\u003cbr\u003eReferences 205\u003cbr\u003eIndex 217“Nitsche offers a much-needed relational and material perspective that is of central importance for anyone who wants to study, understand, and develop media. An important and timely contribution that we greatly need.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Mikael Wiberg, Professor of Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology, and Professor of Informatics, Umeå university, Sweden; author of \u003ci\u003eThe Materiality of Interaction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Without downplaying the role of the human designer, Nitsche beautifully illustrates how careful attention to specific qualities of digital materials leads to more satisfying, and sustainable, designs.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Bo Reimer, Professor of Media and Communication Studies and Director of Medea Media Lab, Malmö University; co-author of \u003ci\u003eCollaborative Media. Production, Consumption, and Design Interventions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“From earthbound performance to space-age photography, Nitsche enlivens the interlocking worlds of material and digital encounters—not by falling back on their divisions, but by weaving new multivalent connections within and across their mediated lives.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Daniela K. Rosner, Associate Professor, University of Washington; author of \u003ci\u003eCritical Fabulations: Reworking the Methods and Margins of Design\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Nitsche draws together perspectives on contemporary hybrid media ranging from more-than-human agency to performance, craft, and community. As an interaction designer, I find the book highly inspirational and rich in potentially generative concepts.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Professor Jonas Löwgren, Linköping University; author of \u003ci\u003eThoughtful Interaction Design\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCollaborative Media\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMichael Nitsche is Associate Professor of Digital Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the author \u003ci\u003eVideo Game Spaces \u003c\/i\u003e(MIT Press).","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305411268837,"sku":"NP9780262544580","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262544580.jpg?v=1767743495","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/vital-media-isbn-9780262544580","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}