The New Media: A query

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have posted on the Creative Industries Initiative that is being launched
in several centres around the world. There is a fierce amount of hype
involved and I suspect not a little of the cargo cult mentality.  I myself
have claimed that many of the prophets of the new media, post-Fordism, the
New Economy, the Third Way have really erected magical structures and they
are hoping the gods will come.

I keep saying to myself 'The Emperor's got no clothes' every time one of
the enthusiasts for the New begin their spiel.  However is there anything
in it?  Could a new art form emerge from the computer industries?  What
about the possibilities of interactivity?  Is the CD rom a defunct
technology as some have claimed?   Apart from Heartfield's book is there
anything else that I should be reading?

regards

Gary