Announcement for the latest issue of SWITCH: "Institutions"
v6n1(volume 6 number 1). This new issue is located at:
http://switch.sjsu.edu

Editor's Notes:

In the year 2000 New Media is not so new. The embracement of
technology has resulted in the complete legitimizing of new media as an
art form in a world that was not so ready 20 years ago to accept it.

This global acceptance, appreciation, and acceleration of new media
today is the concern of many contributors in this issue of Switch. You
will find evidence of this global "warming" through the embracement of
new media as a field of study, of research and of expertise.

In "New Media in Academia," edited by Brett Stalbaum, universities and
institutions describe the myriad of programs and degrees available today
to the digital student of the 21st century. This is a modest look at
some of the diverse programs around the world.

The concern of museums in preserving digital art clearly reveals the
acceptance of new media in the mainstream. Richard Rinehart explores
these problems and concerns of preserving digital art in "The Straw That
Broke The Camel's Back."

Josephine Bosma's "Between Moderation and Extremes: The Tensions between
Net Art Theory and Popular Art Discourse" examines the impact of the
internet and the world wide web on popular art discourse. Bosma
historicizes Net Art in a critical review of net art's place in the art
world and the changes that have already happened to the net in its brief
temporal existence.

Reports from the "Web 3D/VRML, The Fifth International Conference",
Monterey, California and "Sins of Change: Media Arts in
Transition,again" The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota further
the argument that New Media is everywhere. Angel's and Malone's reports
expose the global impact of new media on the non-profit and for-profit
world.

And finally, Gary Lee's interview with international artist Lee MingWei,
"The First Human Male Pregnancy Interview" blurs the global boundaries
between east and west, male and female, and artist and non-artist.

The new millennium brings new interpretations to what is new media, and
what is old media, and to where new media is today. The pioneering
efforts of the "original" net artists and the new media artists of
yesterday have paved the road we are all traveling in this
interconnected digitally literate world of the 21st century.