Digital Humanities Commons^™

The Half-Life & After-Life Of New Media, Nancy Austin

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

It is fitting to think of the half-life of new media using the time-based metaphor of radioactive decay. As a metaphor, an object’s half-life can be a useful way to talk about the potent technological modernity of new media and, like Walter Benjamin’s well-known notion of the aura, call attention to an object’s performativity. However, Benjamin’s aura remains a constant reminder of irrevocable originality whereas remarking on half-life references a quality that changes over time. But what happens after the rhetorical impact of being new has run its course? What is the life expectancy of once-new media and what of …

Cabinet Photograph Of Millie [And] Christine, "The Two Headed Nightingale," N.D., Ollivier

Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection

Cabinet card is 6.5in (16.5cm) tall and 4.5in (11cm) wide. Millie and Christine are photographed in full portrait, each in fine clothes and shoes, each grasping the curtains that frame them in the photographer's studio. Christine, presumably the figure on the right, hold a fan in her right hand.

Carte De Visite, Confederate Generals Sterling Price, John Magruder, William Hardeman, Henry Allen, And Thomas C. Hindman In Mexico, In Civilian Dress, Ca. 1866; Print From Negative By Matthew Brady., Matthew B. Brady

Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection

These Confederate Generals left the United States for Mexico at the close of the Civil War. Standing in the rear (left to right) are John Bankhead Magruder and William P. Hardeman. Seated (left to right) are Henry W. Allen, Sterling Price, and Thomas C. Hindman. Verso indicates original negative by Matthew Brady. Verso annotations do not appear to be completely correct in identification of subjects.

Source: "http://ozarkscivilwar.org/photographs/confederate-generals-sterling-price-john-magruder-william-hardeman-henry-allen-and-thomas-c-hindman/"