Term / Phrase	Concise explanation	Principal source
Dromology	Dromology—from the Greek dromos, “racecourse”—is the study of speed and its effects on society. Virilio insisted that speed is never just a neutral ratio of distance to time; it is a form of power that reorganises perception, authority and even identity.	Virilio 1977
Technological re-enchantment	The reversal of Enlightenment dis-enchantment whereby digital technology becomes a new generator of wonder. It operates on two intertwined planes: (1) Everyday UX–platform magic — friction-free interfaces, push-notification affect and algorithmic efficiency cocoon the user in a seamless, seemingly benevolent world, masking the disciplining power of the apparatus (Virilio 1995; Manovich 2001). (2) Techno-theological imagination — transhumanist discourses, mind-upload promises and AI “singularity” narratives recast data and code as salvific forces, supplying fresh metaphysics after the collapse of older faiths (Antosca 2022). In both registers, speed itself becomes the new aura: screens turn into altars, users into believers.	Derived from Virilio 1995; Manovich 2001; Antosca 2022
Apparatus(Foucault)	A network of discourses, institutions and technologies that disciplines bodies and perceptions beneath a human-centred façade.	Foucault 1977 mention
Medium as Cognition	The idea that media are not neutral conduits but environments that co-produce subjectivity and meaning.	Author’s framing (Medium as Cognition)
Digitization	Converting continuous, uncertain reality into discrete, measurable data.	Manovich 2001, p. 52
Algorithmic manipulation	Infinite copying, editing and recombination of digital data via software procedures.	Manovich 2001
Algorithmic / Rational factory	Metaphor for a socio-technical system where algorithm = reason and efficiency = ultimate telos.	Author’s synthesis (Medium as Cognition)
Social Acceleration	Rosa’s three-fold speed-up of technology, social change and life-pace underpinning modernity.	Rosa 2013
Chronometric / Abstract time	Time fragmented into quantifiable units that can be priced and traded like battery charge.	Rosa 2013; Virilio 1986
Temporal Sovereignty	Rosa’s call for individuals & institutions to reclaim control over their own rhythms.	Rosa 2013
Resonance	A relational mode—touchable, answerable, transformable—countering the drive for total control.	Rosa 2020
Integral Accident	Virilio’s thesis that each technological leap creates a new, systemic form of catastrophe.	Virilio 1995
Grey Ecology / Speed-pollution	Treating velocity itself as an environmental contaminant that degrades perception and social fabric.	Virilio 2009
Constructive Glitch	Menkman’s notion of purposeful malfunction that exposes hidden power and code, provoking critical awareness.	Menkman 2011
Data stress test	Ikeda’s term for bombarding the senses with maximised binary patterns and sound to reveal human–machine thresholds.	Ikeda 2013
Presenting the Unpresentable	Lyotard’s postmodern sublime: evoking the infinite through forms that signal their own limits.	Lyotard 1991
Configurational / Recognitional seeing	Wollheim’s dual account: a painting is apprehended both as material surface and representational image.	Wollheim 1987
Binary re-encoding	Converting words into UTF-8 0/1 sequences and materialising them via 3-D-printed brushes.	Artist’s method (Medium as Matter)
Chain of deceleration	The series of material frictions that slows digital code into tactile time traces.	Author’s conclusion (Medium as Matter)
Dynamic stabilisation (modern society)	Hartmut Rosa’s definition of modernity: “A modern society … can stabilise itself only dynamically; it requires constant economic growth, technological acceleration and cultural innovation in order to maintain its institutional status quo.”The system must keep moving faster just to stay structurally unchanged.	Rosa 2020
Experience machine	Robert Nozick’s thought-experiment: a perfect simulator offering limitless pleasure. Most people, he argues, would refuse to plug in—showing we value authenticity, agency and connection over manufactured happiness. Frequently invoked in media theory to critique friction-free UX and “happiness-machine” culture.	Nozick 1974
Glitch	A perceptible malfunction—data drop-outs, pixel bleed, audio stutter—that momentarily exposes the material substrate of a digital system. It interrupts the “seamless” user flow and opens a window onto hidden code, protocols and power relations.	Menkam 2011

Reference

Foucault, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. London: Penguin.

Hsieh, T. (1981) One Year Performance 1980–1981 (Time Clock Piece) [artwork]. New York: Artist’s archive.

Ikeda, R. (2013) test pattern [installation]. Tokyo: Studio Ryoji Ikeda.

Lyotard, J.-F. (1982). PRESENTING THE UNPRESENTABLE: THE SUBLIME. [online] Artforum. Available at: https://www.artforum.com/features/presenting-the-unpresentable-the-sublime-208373/.

Manovich, L. (2001) The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Marclay, C. (2010) The Clock . London: White Cube.

Menkman, R. (2011) The Glitch Moment(um). Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.

Nozick, R. (1974) Anarchy, State and Utopia. Basic Books, pp. 42-45.

Rosa, H. (2013) Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity. New York: Columbia University Press.

Rosa, H. (2020) The Uncontrollability of the World. Cambridge: Polity.

Virilio, P. (1997) Open Sky. London: Verso.

Virilio, P. (2009) Grey Ecology. New York: Atropos.

Virilio, P. (1986) ‘The Overexposed City’, in Solomon, D. (ed.) Zone 1/2: The Contemporary City. New York: Urzone, pp. 14‑31.

Wollheim, R. (1987) Painting as an Art. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Renwu Magazine (2020) ‘Delivery Riders, Trapped in the System’, People, 8 September.

Antosca, A. R. (2019) ‘Technological Re-Enchantment: Transhumanism, Techno-Religion, and Post‑Secular Transcendence’, Humanities and Technology Review, 38(2), pp. 1–28.