Op de USENIX Conferentie in 2011 sprak Finn Brunton, nu een assistent professor Media, Culture & Communication de keynote uit over: “Dead Media: What the Obsolete, Unsuccessful, Experimental, and Avant-Garde Can Teach Us About the Future of Media”. Ik heb deze keynote hieronder opgenomen. Het duurt ongeveer een uur, dus het is een hele zit, maar het is wel zeer de moeite waard. Of, zoals de keynotr werd aangekondigd: “The Telharmonium. Scopitone. The Euphonia. Bone music, Oramics, rocket mail, the Multiphone, optical telegraphs, scent organs, mechanical televisions, breath printing, calculating machines, magic lanterns . . . What does it mean for a communication or information storage medium to die? What can old media formats—dead, obsolete, experimental, or ahead of their time—tell us about the future of technological communication now? This talk will go back to Cambrian explosions in media types and the visionaries, hucksters, and lunatics who staked knowledge, fame, fortune, and sometimes their lives on the success of their technologies, and tell stories from the vast population of amazing projects that never made it.”