It's pretty clear that ideally one would make art that is both "first word" and "last word," but that this is not a practical goal. My artwork tends to fall on the first word side of things, although I haven't been quick enough (yet) to consider myself among the very first to adopt any technique, and I don't have any strong allegiance with new techniques versus old. As a career goal, I definitely want to make something that stands the test of time, and if I can do that I don't care so much if it's with new media or not. Granted, I find that working with newer media is more exciting, so I'm more likely to be making that sort of work.
The first word/last word classification is not as simple as Naimark makes it out to be. For example, Pixar movies are visually first word, but do not use particularly new storytelling strategies. In theory they are developing technology for the sake of making stories that last, which seems like an honorable goal. Of course, it is still difficult to consistently make quality work of any kind, and sticking with a formula can lead to stale art.