The purpose of the book, as described by the authors, is to articulate the history of a field that has often gone unheard. They put in extra effort to include illustrations that were often neglected in subsequent printings of the book. The New Media Reader hopes to "assemble a representative collection of critical thoughts, events, and developments... as a new medium, or enabling a new media." By "new media", the editors are not referring to new media at this given moment in time, but rather media that was new and original at the time of its introduction. They mention that many times these ideas seemed radical and unorthodox at the time, but have paved the way from many modern ideas and the authors hope to "provide understanding and offer fuel for inspiration".[7]
The CD-ROM was not included in later editions, but some of the digital material is available on the book's website.[8]
Reception
The book was reviewed in many scholarly journals.[9] Reviewers remarked on the heft of the book, with its 800 pages and the CD-ROM - the editors were at pains to demonstrate that the field of new media studies has a long history, despite appearing to many to be completely new.[10] One reviewer noted that the editors had taken great care to design the anthology in a way that mirrors its contents, so it is organised like files in a computer, and includes a "User's manual".[2] Another reviewer praised the detailed annotation of each text provided by the editors.[11]
Online content for The New Media Reader, with the table of contents, excerpts and some of the material from the CD that accompanied the original book.[1]
