Contributors explore the complex relations among Pacific artists, patrons, collectors, and museums over time, as well as the different meanings given to art objects by each.

"This book looks at the combination of art, creativity and expression through the use and combination of computer science, and how technology can be used creatively for self expression using different approaches"--Provided by publisher.

Media Anthropology is an interdisciplinary reader that represents a convergence of issues and interests on anthropological approaches to the study of media. While other books on this topic examine traditional anthropology and push that field toward the media, in this book, editors Eric W. Rothenbuhler and Mihai Coman take a novel approach by analyzing media studies and guiding that field toward anthropological thinking. This anthology charts media anthropology as a field of study and provides examples of current research that identify its major concepts and methods in chapters written by leading scholars from several countries and academic disciplines. Key Features: Offers original articles, and a few selected reprints, from leading worldwide scholars in a variety of academic disciplines to provide the most integrated treatment of this interdisciplinary topic Contains introductions that set the context for articles written from varying points of view Includes a "Theory into Practice" section that shows how anthropological concepts and methods can improve the teaching and practice of media studies Makes the relevant literature accessible in an up-to-date and even-handed organization, offering students a broader understanding than they could obtain from other books, which are primarily anthropological in disciplinary orientation Media Anthropology is an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying media anthropology in communication and media studies, journalism, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies programs.

The Internet is changing the way we communicate. As a cross between letter-writing and conversation, email has altered traditional letter-writing conventions. Websites and chat rooms have made visual aspects of written communication of greater importance, arguably, than ever before. New communication codes continue to evolve with unprecedented speed. This book explores playfulness and artfulness in digital writing and communication and anwers penetrating questions about this new medium. Under what conditions do old letter-writing norms continue to be important, even in email? Digital greetings are changing the way we celebrate special occasions and public holidays, but will they take the place of paper postcards and greeting cards? The author also looks at how new art forms, such as virtual theatre, ASCII art, and digital folk art on IRC, are flourishing, and how many people collect and display digital fonts on handsome Websites, or even design their own. Intended as a time capsule documenting developments online in the mid- to late 1990s, when the Internet became a mass medium, this book treats the computer as an expressive instrument fostering new forms of creativity and popular culture.

The fascinating origin story of Wilson Duff, the pioneering BC anthropologist and museologist remembered for his contributions to research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast. Wilson Duff was born in 1925 in the city of Vancouver and his turbulent early years were shaped by the Great Depression and the Second World War. An intelligent child, he quickly progressed in school. After one year at the University of British Columbia, he signed up for the Air Force. An analytic thinker, Duff excelled as a navigator on a Liberator bomber based in India. However, these years carried their own traumas—the omnipresent terror of war and the specter of death. On his return from India, Duff recommenced his studies at UBC. There he began a love affair with anthropology and museum studies. As provincial anthropologist at the BC Provincial Museum from 1950 to 1965 and then at the University of British Columbia, he helped to shape Canadian and British Columbian understanding of First Nations’ cultures. Forging relationships with Indigenous Peoples during field work, Duff was particularly interested in the Northwest Coast cultures and art, and authored important books including Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian and Images Stone B.C.: Thirty Centuries of Northwest Coast Indian Sculpture. Hundreds of students left his classes with a greater understanding of Indigenous cultures and the consequences of settler colonialism in British Columbia. He devoted his life to understanding Indigenous people and cultures and communicating that understanding to newcomers, a subject of continued relevance today. Duff struggled with depression for much of his life and died by suicide at age 51. In the end, he claimed he did not fear death because “the end is the beginning.” He believed in reincarnation: that he would be coming back. In tracing the story of Wilson Duff, biographer Robin Fisher reveals the evolution of anthropological studies, the history of a time and place—Vancouver during the Great Depression and war years—and the more recent changes taking place in museum and anthropology studies. Told with insight, and attention to the controversies and complexities of Duff’s life, this story will fascinate anyone engaged in BC history.