Container-less Content? Not in This Digital Age.

(To be clear, the language of frames and framing isn't new. The sociologist Erving Goffman speaks of frames; the MIT artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky likewise developed a theory of frames, as have cognitive linguists, book historians, cultural theorists, and media analysts.)

First, how do frames encompass the transition to digital? It's easy to imagine that ideas of containers are irrelevant in digital technology. However, digital technology itself comprises a delivery mechanism for content still subject to certain constraints -- that is, forms of delivery -- that comprise a large portion of its frame. Think of the screen. Digital content cannot be accessed 'directly', but is displayed on a screen. Whether E Ink, touchscreens, a projection on a wall, or simply a PC monitor, just as books typically have pages so digital technology has the screen as the primary unit of delivery and display. Screens frame content.