媒介考古學旨在考掘歷史上那些失落已久、轉瞬即逝、止于想象的媒介物,其理論資源包括電影考古學與德國媒介理論(基特勒與齊林斯基),其問題意識在于它挑戰了媒介研究的非物質性偏向、媒介正史的連續性敘事,以及媒介未來的總體性構想。研究者們重返舊技術的年輕時代,力圖恢復媒介的物質性、尋訪媒介的異質性、捕捉媒介的復現性,從而為別樣的未來構想提供豐富資源。媒介考古學并非一個獨立的學科或一套系統的方法論,而是一個開放的后現代學術場域。媒介考古學亦有必要對自身路徑的限度予以反思:對"失敗媒介"宜持審慎樂觀態度,需注重考掘歷史裂縫處的另類媒介,并將其置于歷史縱深處予以理解。

Media archaeology( MA) intends to dig out the forgotten,fleeting,and imaginary media of the past. Its theoretical resources include the archaeology of cinema and German media theories,mainly Kittler and Zielinski. MA ’s awareness of problems lies in its challenging the immateriality of media studies,the narrative continuity of canonical media history,and the conception of the future totality of media.Researchers intend to retrieve the materiality,explore the heterogeneity,and catch the recurrence of media from the time when old technologies were new,and thus provide rich resources for alternative futures. MA is not an independent discipline or a systematic methodology but a postmodern academic field,which embraces scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. It is also necessary for MA to reflect upon its limitation—we should be cautiously optimistic on ‘failed media’,focus on excavating alternative media in historical ruptures,and interpret them in in-depth historical contexts.