Introduction to Media Studies

Video game biofeedback system.

This unique interactive system developed by NASA trains people to change their brainwave activity or other physiological functions while playing popular off-the-shelf video games. (Image courtesy of NASA.)

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

21L.015

As Taught In

Fall 2005

Level

Undergraduate

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Course Description

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 media. Through an interdisciplinary comparative and historical lens, the course defines "media" broadly as including oral, print, performance, 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. This year’s course will focus on issues of network culture and media convergence, addressing such subjects as Intellectual Property, peer2peer authoring, blogging, and game modification.

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Related Content

Beth Coleman. 21L.015 Introduction to Media Studies. Fall 2005. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


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