?We know the discipline, the texts, ideas and
arguments but many of our students surpass us in
their knowledge, use and navigation of the contemporary media world?
? William Merrin, Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture
What is the future for Media Studies when
students often know more about media than their
lecturers? Is it necessary to upgrade the
discipline to Media Studies 2.0, and is the
traditional idea of Media Studies obsolete? Does
the revolution in new media really give power to
the people, or does it simply give greater power
than ever to those who would control us?
The inaugural issue of Interactions: Studies in
Communication & Culture explores these and other
questions relating to the study, teaching and
impact of Media Studies and the media. Examining
the case for and against Media Studies 2.0,
Interactions includes articles by William Merrin
and David Gauntlett, the chief instigators of
the original debate about the need to upgrade
the discipline. Arguing that Media Studies is
grounded in the study of outdated broadcast
media, and is increasingly out of touch with
students? own experiences of media, Merrin
highlights ?the absurdity of being a Media
Studies lecturer when your students know more about media than you do?.
Meanwhile, in their article ?Straw men or
cyborgs??, Jonathan Dovey and Martin Lister
challenge Merrin?s assumption that current
teaching of Media Studies is outdated, while
David Gauntlett?s response to the articles
expands on the ideas in his original 2007 piece
?Media Studies 2.0? that sparked the whole debate.
Other articles explore further aspects of how
new media and technologies have impacted on
Media Studies, from Joke Hermes? analysis of how
Media Studies 2.0 impacts on Audience Studies to
Mark Andrejevic?s examination of the extent to
which new technologies, as much as they appear
to democratize the access to, and participation
in, the media, actually serve to maintain
current power relations, as users feed ever more
detailed information about themselves to the
corporations who hold this data, and thus collude in their own surveillance.
Join the debate ? explore the first issue FREE online:
<http://www.atypon-link.com/INT/toc/iscc/1/1>http://www.atypon-link.com/INT/toc/iscc/1/1
List of contents, issue 1:
· Editorial
· Editorial introduction ? Optimism,
pessimism and the myth of technological neutrality
- Paul A. Taylor
· Media Studies 2.0: upgrading and open-sourcing the discipline
- William Merrin
· Critical Media Studies 2.0: an interactive upgrade
- Mark Andrejevic
· Beyond mediation: thinking the computer otherwise
- David J. Gunkel
· Sounds like teen spirit: iTunes U, podcasting and a sonic education
- Tara Brabazon
· Critical theory 2.0 and im/materiality: the bug in the machinic flows
- Paul A. Taylor
· Audience Studies 2.0. On the theory,
politics and method of qualitative audience research
- Joke Hermes
· Straw men or cyborgs?
- Jonathan Dovey and Martin Lister
· Media Studies 2.0: a response
- David Gauntlett
· Review
- Tero Karppi
Editor: Anthony McNicholas, University of Westminster
Associate Editor: Tarik Sabry, University of Westminster
ISSN: 1757-2681
Online ISSN: 1757-269X
Published by Intellect, October 2009
Subscriptions: £33 (Personal)/ £180
(Institutional)/ £147 (Online only) (3 issues per year)
More information is available on the following link:
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=165/>http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=165/
or email: <(nicola /at/ intellectbooks.htm)>(nicola /at/ intellectbooks.com)
---
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