A history of the genesis of electronic screenness and its media language: sociocultural constitution and media rhetoric systems

Abstract

The article explores the history of the development and cultural scaling of electronic screenness as the main information and communication medium which is shaping new media and language forms today. The article singles out four major formats of electronic screenness, providing a comparative analysis of their characteristic features in a dialogue connection with the wide socio-cultural space of their explication. The research identifies causes of the mass popularization of various screen formats revealing the dynamics of their evolution from the publicity of “big screens” to their integration into home-based social spaces and an individual’s personal life. The semiotics of screenness, features of its media language and the main rhetorical tools are reconstructed.