The materiality of digital media: The hard disk drive, phonograph, magnetic tape and optical media in technical close-up

Popular discourses surrounding contemporary digital media often misrepresent it as immaterial and ephemeral, overlooking the material devices that store and generate our media objects. This article materially ‘descends’ into a selection of prior media forms that make up the genealogy of the hard disk drive (HDD) to challenge our reliance on conceptual misrepresentations. This material analysis is used to situate digital media in a genealogy of prior media forms, to enrich our understanding of how media’s affordances arise from the interplay of both formal and forensic materiality and to demonstrate the value of reintegrating materiality back into the study of media

The Basic Dream of the PC, or “Did You Ever Play Tic-Tac-Toe”?

Part 1: History of Computing: ‘This Changed Everything’International audienceIn the late Seventies-early Eighties of the 20th century, the diffusion of the PC marked a watershed between the strictly professional use of computers, and their diffusion to a huge public. It represented the democratization of a powerful and remarkable technology, a first stage in a never-ending and pervasive process of independence and freedom of the individuals. This revolution, however, placed in the historical perspective of the last century, proves to be a fundamental step (but still a single step) in the evolution of the users’ digital skills and in the transformation of their experience and life

Malicious Software Threats

Malicious software, or malware for short, is software designed with a nefarious intent of harming the computer user. There are many types of malware, depending on how they are spread and the nature of harm they intend. Some examples of malware include – viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, keyloggers, botnets, rootkits, ransomware, scareware, and drive-by downloads. To date, over a million different viruses and other malware have been detected. Some have caused significant damage to individuals and organizations, sometimes in the order of billions of US dollars. Some notable viruses, in chronological order, include the Morris worm in 1988, the Melissa virus in 1999, the ILOVEYOU virus in 2000, the Anna Kournikova virus in 2001, The code Red worm in 2001, the Slammer virus in 2003, the Mydoom worm in 2004, the Sasser and Netsky worms in 2004, the Storm worm in 2007, the Mirai malware in 2016, and the WannaCry ransomware in 2017. The malware with the most damage known to date have been the Sasser and Netsky worms with an estimated damage of $31 billion. Sometimes, even governments tend to use malware for espionage and other political motives. Malware can be prevented by using appropriate security software such as firewalls, antivirus software, and antispyware. In addition, researchers have employed criminological theories, in particular, self-control and routine activity theories, to determine factors that may increase the risks of malware infection victimization. The extant evidence indicates that irresponsible use of the Internet, such as failing to use a security software or clicking on questionable websites, can also lead to malware infection victimization. Accordingly, to effectively address malware, the technical aspects of the problem as well as the human side of the issue must be jointly considered and targeted. Malware developers are getting smarter in terms of their ability to develop malware that goes undetected by antimalware software, and antimalware developers need to constantly remain innovative to combat smarter malware