MIT OPEN COURSEWARE: Introduction to Media Studies

 

As taught in: Fall 2010

A Second Life® character merges references to the Space Invaders™ videogame and iTunes® advertisements. (Image courtesy of yhancik on Flickr.)

Instructors:

Prof. Mia Consalvo

MIT Course Number:

CMS.100

Level:

Undergraduate

Course Features

• Selected lecture notes
• Assignments and solutions

Course Description

This course offers an overview of the social, cultural, political, and economic impact of mediated communication on modern culture. Combines critical discussions with experiments working with different media. Media covered include radio, television, film, the printed word, and digital technologies. Topics include the nature and function of media, core media institutions, and media in transition.

Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Description

Introduction to Media Studies is designed for students who have grown up in a rapidly changing global multimedia environment and want to become more literate and critical consumers and producers of culture. Through an interdisciplinary comparative and historical lens, the course defines "media" broadly as including oral, print, theatrical, photographic, broadcast, cinematic, and digital cultural forms and practices. The course looks at the nature of mediated communication, the functions of media, the history of transformations in media and the institutions that help define media's place in society. Over the course of the semester we will explore theoretical debates about the role and power of media in society in influencing our social and cultural values and political beliefs. Students will also have the opportunity to analyze media texts, such as films, television shows, and videogames, and explore the changes that occur when a particular narrative is adapted into different media forms. Through the readings, lectures, and discussions as well as their own writing, students will have the opportunity to engage with critical debates in the field as well as explore the role of media in their own lives.

Course Objectives

After taking this class, students will be able to:

1. Articulate major shifts in the development of media and how they have played a role in everyday life.
2. Better understand the media production process and how it constrains content in variable ways.
3. Perform a critical analysis of media content.
4. Explain some of the multiple reasons individuals and groups engage with and understand media.

Required Readings

There is no required textbook for the course. Readings from a variety of sources are assigned for each class session.

Course Assignments and Grading

Below is a list of course assignments and their grading weights.

Course assignments and grading.

ASSIGNMENTS	GRADE WEIGHTS
24 Hours	20%
Media Artifacts	10%
Media Analysis Paper 1.0	20%
Media Analysis Paper 2.0	10%
3 Interview Transcripts Posted	15%
Media Studies Project	25%

Course Schedule

Course schedule.

LEC #	TOPICS	ASSIGNMENTS
1	Welcome
2-7	From Old Media to New Media to Banal Media	24 Hours without the Internet
8-9	Methods matter	Decide on interview questions
10-11	Seeing more clearly: the visual	Media analysis paper 1.0
12-15	Hearing and sound	Conducting interviews
16-17	Convergence	Media analysis paper 2.0
18-19	Transmedia	Interview transcripts posted
20	Games and social media
21-23	Transnational/global media
24-25	Summing things up	Final project presentations

 

Readings, Media & Lectures

The following table lists the media viewed and discussed in class, readings assigned for each session, and provides selected lecture notes.

Course readings, media and lecture files.

LEC #	TOPICS and MEDIA (In-class)	LECTURE SLIDES	READINGS
1	Welcome: Introduction to the course; explanation of assignments		None
I. From Old Media to New Media to Banal Media
2	Media The Guild FilmCow. "Charlie the Unicorn." January 10, 2008. YouTube. Accessed May 20, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY Hitler Takedown Videos		Gitlin, T. "Supersaturation, or, the Media Torrent and Disposable Feeling." In Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelms Our Lives. Metropolitan Books, 2001. ISBN: 9780805048988. [Preview with Google Books]
3	Media technology apart from content: McLuhan and Lundemo	(PDF)	Lundemo, T. "Why Things Don't Work. Imagining New Technologies From The Electric Life to the Digital." In Experiencing the Media: Assemblages and Cross-overs. Edited by T. Sihvonen, and P. Väliaho. University of Turku, 2003, pp. 13-28. McLuhan, M. "The Medium is the Message." In Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks. Edited by M. G. Durham, and D. M. Kellner. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. ISBN: 9781405132589.
4	Technologies have biases Media Lumière Brothers. "Arrival of a train at La Ciotat (1895)." YouTube. Accessed May 20, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk "Hindenberg disaster." YouTube. Accessed May 20, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA [Herb Morrison's radio report synchronized with newsreel footage] "CNN: Challenger Disaster Live on CNN." January 28, 1986. YouTube. Accessed May 20, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnvFnzs91s	(PDF)	Ong, W. Chapters 1 and 2 in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Methuen, 1982. ISBN: 9780416713800. Bush, V. "As We May Think." The Atlantic Monthly. July 1945. Carey, J. "Technology and Ideology: The Case of the Telegraph." Chapter 8 in Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Routledge, 1992. ISBN: 9780415907255. [Preview with Google Books]
5	Discussion		None
6	Media Various editions of Metropolis		Gustafson, S. "The Emerging Media of Early America." Chapter 17 in Cultural Narratives: Textuality and Performance in American Culture before 1900. Edited by S. Gustafon, and C. Sloat. University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780268029760.
7	Cinema	(PDF)	Manovich, L. "Old Media as New Media: Cinema." In The New Media Book. Edited by Dan Harries. BFI Pubublications, 2008. ISBN: 9780851709253. Simons, J. "New Media as Old Media: Cinema." In The New Media Book. Edited by Dan Harries. BFI Publications, 2008. ISBN: 9780851709253.
II. Methods matter
8	Media South Park. "You Have 0 Friends." Season 14, episode 4 (airdate April 7, 2010).		Newcomb, H. "Narrative and Genre." In The SAGE Handbook of Media Studies. Edited by J. Downing, D. McQuail, P. Schlesinger, and E. Wartella. Sage Publications, Inc, 2004. ISBN: 9780761921691. Nardi, B. Chapters 1 and 2 in My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. University of Michigan Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780472050987. [Preview with Google Books]
9	Textual analysis		McKee, Alan. Selections in Textual analysis: A Beginner's Guide. SAGE Publications Inc, 2003. ISBN: 9780761949930. - Chapter 1, "What is Textual Analysis?" [Preview with Google Books] - Chapter 4, "How Do I Know What's a Likely Interpretation?" [Preview with Google Books] Baym, N. "Finding the Quality in Qualitative Research." In Critical Cyberculture Studies. Edited by D. Silver, and A. Massanari. New York University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780814740231.
III. Seeing more clearly: the visual
10	John Berger's Ways of Seeing. Four 30 minute episodes, BBC Television, 1972. [View all episodes at UbuWeb]		Berger, John. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series. Penguin, 1972. ISBN: 9780140135152.
11	Field trip to Powered Up 2010 Boston Expo		Sontag, Susan. "In Plato's Cave." In On Photography. Picador, 2001. ISBN: 9780312420093. [Preview with Google Books] Dyer, R. "The Light of the World." Chapter 3 in White. Routledge, 1997. ISBN: 9780415095372.
IV. Hearing and sound
12	Audio: various in-class listening		Gura, P. "Straddling the Color Line: The Print Revolution and the Transmission, Performance, and Reception of American Vernacular Music." Chapter 12 in Cultural Narratives: Textuality and Performance in American Culture before 1900. Edited by S. Gustafon, and C. Sloat. University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780268029760. Sterne, J. "The MP3 as Cultural Artifact." New Media Society 8, no. 5 (2006). Gitelman, L. "Media, Materiality, and the Measure of the Digital; or, the Case of Sheet Music and the Problem of Piano Rolls." In Memory Bytes: History, Technology, and Digital Culture. Edited by L. Rabinovitz, and A. Geil. Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780822332411. [Preview with Google Books]
13	Peer review of analysis paper/workshop		None
14	Conducting interviews		None
15	Conducting interviews (cont.)		None
V. Convergence
16	Media Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog		Jenkins, H. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York University Press, 2006, pp. 1-19. ISBN: 9780814742815. [Preview with Google Books]
17	Discussion		Papper, R., M. Holmes, and M. Popovich. "Middletown Media Studies II: Observing Consumer Interactions with Media." Chapter 3 in Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field. Edited by A. Grant, and J. Wilkinson. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780195327779. Kornegay, V. "Media Convergence and the Neo-Dark Age." Chapter 5 in Understanding Media Convergence: The State of the Field. Edited by A. Grant, and J. Wilkinson. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780195327779.
VI. Transmedia
18	Read and discuss Henry Jenkins blog excerpts		Jenkins, Henry. Selections from Confessions of an Aca-Fan. "Transmedia Storytelling 101." March 22, 2007. "Transmedia Generation." March 31, 2010.
19	Media Animatrix Excerpts from The Matrix	(PDF)	Williams, S. "Authentic Revisions: James Redpath and the Promotion of Social Reform in America, 1850-90." Chapter 15 in Cultural Narratives: Textuality and Performance in American Culture before 1900. Edited by S. Gustafon, and C. Sloat. University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780268029760.
VII. Games and social media
20	The game industry and gamification	(PDF)	Radner, J. "The Speaking Eye and the Listening Ear: Orality, Literacy, and Manuscript Traditions in Northern New England Villages." Chapter 9 in Cultural Narratives: Textuality and Performance in American Culture before 1900. Edited by S. Gustafon, and C. Sloat. University of Notre Dame Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780268029760. Schell, J. "Design Outside the Box." Presentation in the D.I.C.E. (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) 2010 Summit, February, 2010. Video. Hecker, C. "Achievements Considered Harmful?" Lecture in the 2010 Game Developers Conference, March, 2010. Text, video.
VIII. Transnational/global media
21	Media Ugly Betty (2006-2010)		Medina, C. "Illegal Immigration in the Melting Pot: A Textual Analysis of 'Ugly Betty.'" In "Understanding the ABC's of Ugly Betty: A Rhizomatic Analysis of the Illegal Immigrant Narrative in Ugly Betty, the Political Economy of Latino(a) Television Audiences, and Fan Engagement with Television Texts." Ohio University, 2011. Doctoral dissertation.
22	Media Yo Soy Betty La Fea (1999-2001)		See prior session
23	Discussion		Aksoy, A., and K. Robins. "Banal Transnationalism: The Difference that Television Makes." Transnational Communities Programme, paper WPTC-02-08, 2008. (PDF) Tunstall, J. "Television Soap Operas, Telenovelas, Brazil." In The Media Were American: U.S. Mass Media in Decline. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780195181470.
IX. Summing things up
24	Final project presentations		None
25	Final project presentations (cont.)		None

Assignments

Sample work is presented courtesy of the students and used with permission.

24 Hours

Due: Lec #5
This assignment has two parts: for the first part, you must endure 24 hours without the Internet (this means on computers, via mobile phones, and via other smart devices). The second part asks you to write a four page paper about the experiment, exploring what you did during the day, how you felt about the change, and how you feel the Internet has integrated itself into your life. You are welcome to also go without other forms of media for an even purer experience, but that is not required for the paper.
Assignment guidelines (PDF)

Sample Student Work

"A Day Without Internet" by Phillip Seo (PDF)

Media Artifacts

Due: Throughout the class
You will be assigned three class sessions for which to find media artifacts related to the day's readings. The kinds of artifacts that are most helpful for this class include: news articles, critical analyses, podcasts, pedagogical materials, and interesting visual/graphical materials. Artifacts should be posted on the class blog with an accompanying short description. Please also print out examples and bring them to class.

Media Analysis

At the beginning of the semester you need to choose a media text (television show; film; videogame; album; magazine) for analysis. For the analysis you'll need to draw on genre theory or discussions of transmedia to determine what the text offers the viewer/reader/listener, and how it was designed to do so. You should also offer your analysis of how the text fulfills (or fails) its generic structures. The paper should draw from class readings as well as other readings you have found that explain your genre, and analyze your text accordingly. The paper should be at least six pages in length.
Assignment guidelines (PDF)

Sample Student Work

"Words and Images: The Narrative Techniques of Kabuki: Circle of Blood" by Phillip Seo (PDF - 2.4MB)
"Top Gear's Target Audience" by Josh Seigel (PDF)

Media Studies Interviews and Final Project

Other assignments have asked you to apply genre frameworks to media artifacts and their design, as well as your own experiences with the Internet (or its lack). This assignment has you focus on other media consumers, and the ways that they think about their relationship with the media. As a class we'll be developing guidelines for interviewing individuals about this topic, we'll decide on interview questions, and each member of the class is then responsible for conducting and transcribing three in-depth interviews.
Transcribed interviews will be shared among the class, and each individual will then choose a particular question to write about, and draw from the results of all available interviews to draft their paper, which should be at least 10 pages in length. Finally, we'll hear the results of those analyses in our final class, where we see how a larger group of media consumers thinks about their relationships with media.
Assignment guidelines (PDF)

Sample Student Work

Interview transcripts by MIT student (PDF)
Final project: "Analysis of Addiction: Technological Media Pervasion in Academia" by Josh Seigel (PDF)

 

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MIT NOTICE

 

Consalvo, Mia. CMS.100 Introduction to Media Studies, Fall 2010. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu/ (Accessed 06 Dec, 2011). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

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