Assistive Media

An investigation of technologies in Digital Cultures that are intended to assist but oftentimes create new barriers in their function as »assistive media«.

Technologies designed to »assist« users with and without disabilities, such as computer interfaces, act as mediators of barriers in Digital Cultures. At the same time, these technologies, as »assistive media«, emerge into a pre-existing technological environment and add an additional level of mediation to human-machine interaction. Drawing on examples rooted in a diverse range of fields - from engineering to medical research to gaming culture - the contributors to this volume each provide a unique perspective on assistance, situated at the intersection of media studies and disability studies.