Walkthrough: videogames and technocultural form - Seth Giddings

New Media: a critical introduction
Books and PhD theses, like any artefacts, are black boxes, their discrete form and nature belying their
heterogeneous elements and the contingencies of their production. The development of this thesis is
interwoven with the writing of Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant and Kelly (2003) New Media: a critical
introduction. Presented to its readers as fully co-authored, it is necessary here to open its lid as well as its
pages. Though some sections are collaborative, and the whole volume developed through discussion and
shared concerns, others can be identified as solely the work of one of the authors. For the purposes of this
thesis, Section 4 ‘New Media in Everyday Life’ was written by myself and as such sections of it have been
more or less reworked into this thesis (mainly in Part 1). These passages are not identified as originating in
the book. However, given that this book is a key text in the development of the study of new media, sections
not authored by myself are cited and quoted throughout this thesis. See the Appendix for a statement of
authorship signed by the other authors of the book.
Circuits
The microethnographic study detailed in Parts 2 and 4 was originally developed as a video essay, and has
been screened at a number of conferences and events on new media, education and play (Giddings 2003).
Excerpts from this essay are referred to – as illustrations – in the text of this thesis. The full video essay has
also been included on a CD-ROM.
an instruction
I would recommend that the reader of this thesis watches the video essay now, before reading any further.
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