Bolter, Jay David
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Jay David Bolter is employed at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he is chair of the James and Mary Wesley Center for New Media Education and Research. Bolter became known for his first book, Turing’s Man: Western Culture in the Computer Age, which studied the impact that computers have had on our current culture and compared it to the culture of technology in the past. His research focuses on comparing current digital media to the media in the late twentieth century, as well as creating new digital media experiences.
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[edit] Important Works
- Bolter and Richard Grusin argue that digital media derives from older media, and demonstrate that you can find aspects of older media in all new media.
- Bolter studies how the digital text may be replacing the written and printed text.
- Bolter compares present computer technology to earlier technologies that have previously had a strong impact on cultures.
[edit] Education
- Ph.D. - Classics – University of North Carolina (1977)
- M.S. - Computer Science – University of North Carolina (1978)
- B.A. - Greek – Trinity College (1973)
[edit] Career
Bolter is currently employed at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he has been a professor since 1991. He teaches undergraduate courses in computational media, and graduate courses in Digital media. At GIT, he maintains his position as The James and Mary Wesley Chair in New Media. His past employment includes being a visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of North Carolina in 1978, and from 1979-1980. He became an Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of North Carolina in 1980, and held the position until 1991.
[edit] Research
Bolter’s research works to study the affect that digital media has on our culture. At the Georgia Institute of Technology, he works alongside computer scientists and designers. His personal interest lies in comparing today’s digital media to the media of the twentieth century.
[edit] History and Theory of Digital Media
Bolter’s interest lies in the history of digital media, and how the media we use today compares to the media of the twentieth century. He specifically focuses on how modern technology derives form older technology. In the second edition of Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext and the Remediation of Print (2001), Bolter makes the argument that digital hypertext is the modern technological rendition of a printed book. In his book Remediation: Understanding New Media, Bolter explores how modern visual digital media both takes from and advances older media forms.
[edit] Augmented Reality
Bolter has been researching innovative ways to implement technology into our daily lives. His most recent project was “The Voices of Oakland.” In this project, participants are given a portable piece of technology and headphones while they walk through the Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery. This allows visitors to learn more about the historic people that are buried there, and hear their voices by listening to their speeches as they walk through the cemetery. They can skip around in the program to follow their interest and make it a personalized experience.
