The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media ed. by Marie-Laure Ryan, Lori Emerson, and Benjamin J. Robertson (review)

The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media is an eclectic but useful reference work with entries on topics digital media scholars study and theorize. Though the editors make no claim to having produced a comprehensive reference work, the entries in the volume cover a range of emerging, current, and historical fields and objects of study. This variety reflects the editors’ broad understanding of “the cultural and artistic practices made possible by digital technology,” from “word-processing abilities” to “a manipulation of symbols of all kinds capable of delivering radically new forms of art, entertainment, communication, and social experiences” (xi). Thus, the entries provided include topics with ties to more traditional media, such as digital fiction or holopoetry, but also broadly sample from topics in the emerging fields of digital art, video games, and computer science.

Many leading digital media scholars who contributed entries to the volume wrote on their fields of current research or expertise. For example, Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost, editors of the Platform Studies series, penned the article on platform. The most robust entries on complex topics such as virtuality or aesthetics offer focused definitions, historical and developmental background, a nuanced discussion of categories within the field, areas of further research and theoretical questions, and some current critical debate. The attention to detail and distinctions within these entries make them valuable starting points for research. Particularly fine examples of these longer entries are David Elson’s “Artificial Intelligence,” Astrid Ensslin’s “Hypertextuality” and Marco Caracciolo’s “Virtual Bodies,” which present finely honed content in a clear, balanced tone.

In addition to the longer entries on complex ideas, the volume features numerous brief entries on terms in digital media scholarship that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The strongest entries provide a definition or example of the term, describe its origin, and briefly engage with some theory or criticism. Readers across the spectrum of familiarity with digital media concepts will find these shorter entries useful and fascinating. Examples of such entries are Laine Nooney’s “Easter Eggs,” Darren Wershler’s “Flarf,” and Ragnhild Tronstad’s “Turing Test.” In both long and short entries, authors include lists of works cited and/or works suggested for further investigation of the topic. Though their fullness varies, these lists generally afford valuable information on digital media works and related criticism and theory.

Although readers can locate entries by searching the alphabetically organized volume and its table of contents, the book suffers as a print reference work through its lack of an index. The entries include cross-references to various topics where relevant, but scholars looking to collect information on foundational works or events, like William Gibson’s Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) or Michael Joyce’s afternoon: a story, will only with some difficulty find information about them scattered across various entries.

Though humanities scholars are not the only intended audience for The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, they may find the volume particularly helpful. Many of the entries address concerns in literary studies, aesthetics, and cultural theory. More generally, this volume fulfills its ambition to serve as a reference work for anyone who works with digital media, and scholars in digital media and other fields will benefit from the expertise of the book’s contributors and from its nuanced and clear entries.