Two Types of Media Transformation

Abstract

The basis of this chapter is the distinction between mediation and representation. Whereas mediation is a presemiotic notion that captures the material process of media realization, representation is a semiotic notion designed to explain the process of meaning making. On the basis of this distinction, I launch a fundamental distinction between two types of media transformation: transmediation of media characteristics and representation of media. Whereas transmediation is repeated mediation by another type of medium (exemplified by adaptation), media representation involves the notion of one medium that represents another type of medium (exemplified by ekphrasis). Both types of media transformation may be present in simple and complex forms. This chapter includes investigations into both specific media products and qualified media: historically and culturally formed media types.