ABSTRACT
In his recent book, The Language of New Media, perhaps the most intelligent yet written on the subject, Lev 11anovich attempts to provide a genealogy for the language of the computer and therefore of new media in general. 11anovich defines "language" in somewhat formal terms--"the emergent conventions, recurrent design patterns, and key forms of new media" --even while he is concerned to locate these conventions, patterns and forms within a relevant cultural and conceptual history. And as with all histories, this concern periodically touches on questions of origin and essence. As he puts it, "if we construct an archaeology connecting new computer-based techniques of media creation with previous techniques of representation and simulation, where should we locate the essential historical breaks?"
