Media Bodies

A critical appraisal of e-readers and e-books in the context of the history of our media.

At first glance, digital publications appear to have huge advantages over printed texts. We are used to seeing new developments as the promise of a better future, and tend to equate technical innovations with progress. In addition, e­readers are impressive because of their enormous storage capacity and access speed, and we hope that, with their help, we will succeed in gaining control over the vast amounts of information available in our civilisation.
However, the literary specialist Uwe Jochum shows that a fundamental aspect is lacking in all forms of digital media: in contrast to the printed book, they are decontextualised media that do not require individual authors to be made responsible for the text or mentioned by name.
In tracing the history of media, Uwe Jochum points out the importance of context in the cave drawings of Stone Age man (wall media), the papyrus scrolls of the ancient world (hand me­dia), and up to the present day. In his plea for the printed book, he defends two cornerstones of our civilisation: the efforts involved in studying and the authority of the author.


Uwe Jochum, born in 1959, studied German and political science in Heidelberg and did a PhD at the University of Düsseldorf. Since 1988 he has worked as a scientific librarian. He has published numerous works on the subject of library and media history, the most recent of which is »Geschichte der abendländischen Bibliotheken« (The History of Western Libraries, 2nd edition, 2012)