Guest lecture given at the University of Melbourne for the "History of Networked Media" subject.

1. HISTORY OF NETWORK MEDIA #7
NETWORKS OF
TELEVISION
L U K E VA N R Y N
P H D C A N D I D AT E
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
@ M Y S PA C E G H O S T
U N I M E L B . A C A D E M I A . E D U / L U K E VA N R Y N

2. DECEMBER 10, 2013

3. W H AT I S T V ?
Technology
(Kittler)
Text
(Buffy Studies)
Device
(Morley)
Protocol
(Cubitt)
Industry
(Mayer)

4. NODES
origins of television
the box in the corner
it’s not TV, it’s HBO
streams, torrents and clouds
researching network(ed) television

5. ONE
ORIGINS OF
TELEVISION

6. “Just as water, gas and electricity are brought into our
houses … so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory
images, which will appear and disappear at a simple
movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.”
– PA U L V A L E R Y

7. WILLIAMS ON TELEVISION
supply precedes demand
medium precedes content
“mobile privatisation”

8. FRIEDRICH
KITTLER
Optical Media (2010/2002)
Gramophone, Film,
Typewriter (1999/1986)
Discourse Networks
1800/1900 (1990/1985)
PA U L A R M I N : P O R T R A I T O F
FRIEDRICH KITTLER, 2005,
PENCIL, 190 CM X 90 CM

9. DAVID FOSTER WALLACE: “THIS IS WATER”
A JOKE

10. specific messages
to specific people
!
then
!
variety of messages
to a general public

11. “Television was and is not a desire of so-called
humans, but rather it is largely a civilian byproduct
of military electronics”
–FRIEDRICH KITTLER

12. “This instrument can teach … but it can do so only
to the extent that humans are determined to use it
to those ends. Otherwise it's nothing but wires and
lights in a box.”
–EDWARD R. MURROW

13. TWO
THE (BLACK)
BOX IN THE
CORNER

14. TELEVISION (SET) STUDIES
materiality of television at the foreground (Morley)
television as public-private threshold (Spigel)
architectures of television (Cromley)
“ambient television” (McCarthy)
inner workings remain opaque (cf. Cubitt)

15. “not so much a visual medium,
more a visual object”
– D AV I D M O R L E Y

16. MAKE ROOM
F O R T. V.
LY N N S P I G E L , 1 9 9 2
Suburbs
Leisure time
Entertainment technology

17. AMBIENT
TELEVISION
A N N A M C C A R T H Y, 2 0 0 1
Public space
Waiting
Spectacle

18. THREE
I T ’ S N O T T. V. ,
IT’S H.B.O.

19. CABLES
content: niche, ‘quality’
economy: subscription, DVD
audience: elite

20. EMMY NOMINATIONS BY CHANNEL
QUALITY TELEVISION

21. ECONOMIES OF TELEVISION
DVD BOX SETS

22. FOUR
STREAMS,
TORRENTS,
CLOUDS

23. STREAMS
ON DEMAND

24. TORRENTS
TELEVISION
AFTER TV

25. CLOUDS
A LT E R N AT I V E
ECONOMIES

26. CHANGING
PROTOCOLS
Codecs
Bandwidth
Latency

27. BINGING BREAKING BAD
CHANGING
PRACTICES

28. COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE
CHANGING TEXTS

29. FIVE
RESEARCHING
NETWORKED
TELEVISION

30. ENTERING THE
G R A V E YA R D S H I F T
MEESE, WILKEN, NANSEN,
ARNOLD (2013)
Tracing:
Humans
Devices
Institutions
Enrolments

31. IN SEARCH OF AUDIENCES
SOCIAL
METRICS

32. TELEMETRICS
DARRYL WOODFORD
Q . U . T.
DPWOODFORD.NET

33. W H AT I S T V ?
Distributed Technology
Fractured Texts
Myriad Devices
Changing Protocols
Evolving Industry

34. HISTORY OF NETWORKED MEDIA #7
NETWORKS OF TELEVISION
L U K E VA N R Y N
P H D C A N D I D AT E
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
@ M Y S PA C E G H O S T
U N I M E L B . A C A D E M I A . E D U / L U K E VA N R Y N