With contributions from Karl Ernst von Baer, Peter Berz, Annette Bitsch, Maarten Bullynck, Wolfgang Ernst, Alexander Firyn, Sebastian Giessmann, Götz Grossklaus, Philipp von Hilgers, Kilian Hirt, Friedrich Kittler, Shintaro Miyazaki, Ana Ofak, Jens Gerrit Papenburg, Claus Pias, Stefan Rieger, Julian Rohrhuber, Christoph Rosol, Jens Schröter, Christina Vagt, Axel Volmar, and Christof Windgätter. Digital media technologies today primarily serve as time machines that process ever-increasing amounts of data in ever-shorter intervals. However, throughout the evolution of media, the concepts of time and the operational handling of media processes have also become increasingly complex. In the line-by-line and column-by-column construction of digital imagery, the factor of time plays a critical role, just as it does in the realization of email communication, compression algorithms, global positioning, RFID, or real-time systems. Therefore, the question of the chronology of media forms an essential key to understanding digital culture. The volume "Time-Critical Media" brings together contributions that analyze the micro-temporality of media through historical and contemporary case studies in the context of perception, communication, and media aesthetics.