William Vaughan - History of Art in the Digital Age: Problems and Possibilities

William Vaughan
History of Art in the Digital Age: Problems and
Possibilities



Abstract
This paper [1] aims to provide a broad overview on the impact of computers on the
study of the history of art. It begins by considering the nature of the information
technology revolution, exploring the often-made analogy between it and the
'Gutenberg' revolution brought about by the development of the printing press. Like
Gutenberg, the IT development is technologically driven. However it is driven to a
different end, one that emphasizes flexibility as well as dissemination. This flexibility
can be a two edged sword. While it enables many new possibilities, it also seems to
encourage a more fragmentary and iterative approach to study; to the preference of
information over knowledge. It remains, however, something of an open question
whether this new approach is a necessary consequence of the structure of the new
technology being made available or whether it is more a product of that wider
intellectual change that has grown with the emergence of Post-modernist discourses.
I would argue that the latter is the case, and that the fragmentary tendencies that can
be accommodated by the new technology can also be countered by those who wish
to do so. The computer has developed in the way it has as a result of consumer
demand. It is up to those who wish to make different demands to feed these into the
technological processes as they are expanded and modified.
The paper also looks more specifically at issues that particularly affect the study of
images, considering both the potential provided by the digital image for new forms of
exploration and analysis, and the new opportunities that are emerging via the World
Wide Web.

http://www.zeitenblicke.de/2003/01/vaughan/vaughan.pdf


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