You need not purchase any materials for this class. You’ll find everything you need on this open-access class website. Here you’ll find our most up-to-date schedule; all course reading / screening material (most of which is freely available on the web, available through PennLibraries in a Google Drive folder you can access with your Penn Google login!); and daily agendas with links to the various platforms we’ll use during our synchronous meetings and (occasional) asynchronous interactions. Those platforms include:
- Google Drive, Docs, and Slides: I’ll be sharing my presentations via Google Slides. We’ll occasionally collaborate in class on Google Docs and Slides, and you’ll be submitting assignments via Google Docs.
- An Optional Space for Asynchronous Communication?: If we decide we need it, we can create a class Slack or Discord, or use Canvas, to stay in contact and share resources asynchronously?
- Others: we might use Mural, Hypothesis, Perusall, Voicethread, or other tools if opportunities present themselves. You’re also welcome to encourage the class to experiment with additional platforms.
ABOUT THE READINGS, SCREENINGS, AND LISTENING EXERCISES
- I could’ve assigned a Media Studies Methods textbook or handbook for this class, but they tend to be expensive, less-than-riveting, and, in the case of most textbooks, frustratingly prescriptive, scattered, and partial in their approach. We can better appreciate the breadth of the field — and its methods and modalities — through an assemblage of texts that approach research from a range of theoretical, historical, practical and creative directions. This range of sources also helps to familiarize you with a variety of publishers and platforms that could prove useful in your future research — or which might be appropriate venues for your own future contributions! Each text on our weekly lists is there because it has the potential to add a distinctive voice or dimension to your understanding and our conversation. I like to think of it as bouquet of flowers 💐 🙂
- Sometimes those reading lists might look frighteningly long, but you’ll find that engaging with each week’s texts shouldn’t take you more than five hours. On occasion, I’ll encourage you simply to skim or browse some resources; in those cases, I mostly want you to know those resources exist, and to appreciate the breadth of what they have to offer so you can potentially return to them later. I’m hoping these materials prove useful for your own research – or inspire a new interest, or introduce you to some cool new stuff, or connect you to a new community! Also, I sometimes recommend videos or podcasts in lieu of written texts. I invite you to walk or lie on your chaise lounge or sit in a park or ride your Peloton or row a boat while you watch and listen to these materials.
- I should also say: If you’re accustomed to syllabi that consist of little more than a weekly schedule and a list of readings, our website might look a bit – or a lot! – intimidating. Fear not! Most of what you see here is my attempt to provide context and intellectual framing. I explain why I’ve chosen particular texts, and what I hope you’ll gain from reading, watching, or listening to them. I offer tips regarding what to focus on. I pose questions that I hope you’ll keep in mind as you engage. In short, the voluminous text you’ll see below is meant to serve as a friendly guide to your weekly preparations. It’ll ideally make your reading more efficient and meaningful 🙂
- The inclusion of a particular text does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of it. Sometimes I choose provocative or “problematic” texts because they’re widely cited and it’s good for us to be aware of them, because I want you to exercise your own judgment, and/or because I’m pretty sure they’ll make for good conversation. In short: you’re not compelled to agree with everything you read!
- We won’t address all the readings in our in-class discussions. Some readings provide background, some are self-explanatory, some present interesting illustrations or case studies; we needn’t discuss these sorts of texts in-depth — but they’re still worth your time! They can still inform our discussions, shape your own understanding, and perhaps inspire ideas for your own projects!