"A balanced yet biting critique . . . Gitlin is a savvy guide to our increasingly kinetic times."--San Francisco Chronicle In this original look at our electronically glutted, speed-addicted world, Todd Gitlin evokes a reality of relentless sensation, instant transition, and nonstop stimulus, which he argues is anything but progress. He shows how all media, all the time fuels celebrity worship, paranoia, and irony, and how attempts to ward off the onrush become occasion for yet more media. Far from bringing about a "new information age," Gitlin argues, the digital torrent has fostered a society of disposable emotions and casual commitments, and threatens to make democracy a sideshow. In a new afterword, Gitlin takes measure of the most recent wave of inundation in the form of iPods, blogs, and YouTube. Both a startling analysis and a charged polemic, Media Unlimited reveals the unending stream of manufactured images and sounds as a defining feature of our civilization and a perverse culmination of Western hopes for freedom.
Examines our media-dominated world through the vast array of manufactured images and sounds that define our civilization, from video games to elevator music, action movies to reality shows, and punditry to Internet exhibitionists.
All My Friends Live in my Computer combines personal stories, media studies, and interdisciplinary theories to examine case studies from three unique parts of society. From illness narratives among breast cancer patients to political upheaval among Iranian-Americans, this book examines what people do when they go online after they have suffered a trauma. It offers in-depth academic analysis alongside deeply personal stories and case studies to take the reader on a journey through rapidly changing digital/social worlds. When people are traumatized, their worlds stop making sense, and All My Friends Live in My Computer explores how everyday people use social media to try and make a new world for themselves and others who are suffering. Through its attention to personal stories and application of media theory to new contexts, this book highlights how, when given the tools, people will make meaning in creative, novel, and healing ways.
This volume examines what and how the media teach, to and by whom, and for what purpose, in a rapidly shifting milieu of media content, platforms, and relations. While intimately concerned with education, authors move the discussion beyond the setting of formal schooling to uncover the ways in which the media contribute to individual and collective understandings of self and other, and their relations to society and communities in which they move. In doing so, the text encourages readers to transcend exclusionary discussions of citizenship to consider participation in local and global geographies against a neoliberal backdrop that marginalizes those unable to, unwilling to, and excluded from competing in the free market. Contributors extend their deliberations back to formal school settings to reaffirm pedagogies that rediscover the reading of texts—broadly defined—in the world through multimodalities. In this sense, the text strives to be transdisciplinary, and is appropriate for use in multiple disciplines and fields of study.
Making News at The New York Times is the first in-depth portrait of the nation’s, if not the world's, premier newspaper in the digital age. It presents a lively chronicle of months spent in the newsroom observing daily conversations, meetings, and journalists at work. We see Page One meetings, articles developed for online and print from start to finish, the creation of ambitious multimedia projects, and the ethical dilemmas posed by social media in the newsroom. Here, the reality of creating news in a 24/7 instant information environment clashes with the storied history of print journalism, and the tensions present a dramatic portrait of news in the online world. This news ethnography brings to bear the overarching value clashes at play in a digital news world. The book argues that emergent news values are reordering the fundamental processes of news production. Immediacy, interactivity, and participation now play a role unlike any time before, creating clashes between old and new. These values emerge from the social practices, pressures, and norms at play inside the newsroom as journalists attempt to negotiate the new demands of their work. Immediacy forces journalists to work in a constant deadline environment, an ASAP world, but one where the vaunted traditions of yesterday's news still appear in the next day's print paper. Interactivity, inspired by the new user-computer directed capacities online and the immersive Web environment, brings new kinds of specialists into the newsroom, but exacts new demands upon the already taxed workflow of traditional journalists. And at time where social media presents the opportunity for new kinds of engagement between the audience and media, business executives hope for branding opportunities while journalists fail to truly interact with their readers.
Slow Journalism has emerged in recent years to enact a critique of the limitations and dangers of the speed of much mainstream contemporary journalistic practice. There have been types of journalism produced and consumed slowly for centuries, of course. What is new is the context of hyper-acceleration and over-production of journalism, where quality has suffered, ethics are compromised and user attention has eroded. Many have been asking if there is another way to practice journalism. The emergence of Slow Journalism suggests that there is. Many international scholars and practitioners have been thinking critically about the problems wrought by speed, and are utilising the concept of "slow" to describe a new way of thinking about and producing journalism. This edited collection offers theoretical perspectives and case studies on the practice of slow journalism around the globe. Slow Journalism is a new practice for new times. This book was originally published as two special issues of Journalism Practice and Digital Journalism.
This book provides an engaging historical survey of the vampire in American popular culture over 100 years, ranging from Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula to HBO's television series True Blood. Vampires in the New World surveys vampire films and literature from both national and historical perspectives since the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula, providing an overview of the changing figure of the vampire in America. It focuses on such essential popular culture topics as pulp fiction, classic horror films, film noir, science fiction, horror fiction, blaxploitation, and the recent Twilight and True Blood series in order to demonstrate how cultural, scientific, and ideological trends are reflected and refracted through the figure of the vampire. The book will fascinate anyone with an interest in vampires as they are found in literature, film, television, and popular culture, as well as readers who appreciate horror and supernatural fiction, crime fiction, science fiction, and the gothic. It will also appeal to those who are interested in the interplay between society and film, television, and popular culture, and to readers who want to understand why the figure of the vampire has remained compelling to us across different eras and generations.
"This book provides vital insights into the elements of strategy and their application to media firms. Solidly grounded in theory but not pedantic, it is essential reading for those who make or wish to comprehend choices of media companies." - Robert Picard, University of Jönköping "Insightful, contextually analytical, yet easy to comprehend, Strategic Management in the Media successfully applies the adaptive and interpretative areas of strategic theory in the media sectors. It provides a unique perspective in which common themes linking media strategy and industry environment are thoughtfully discussed." - Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida "...an invaluable asset for students of media management. The use of pertinent examples and case studies throughout brings the analysis to life and contributes to a highly readable introduction." - Gillian Doyle, University of Glasgow This book is a comprehensive, accessible and expert introduction to strategy within a media management context. It is divided into two parts - part one providess an introduction to and overview of the media industry from a strategic management perspective, looking in detail at the sectors that together comprise the industry - newspaper, book and magazine publishing, music, radio and television - and the strategic forces at work in each. This provides the foundation for part two, which analyses a number of strategic topics central to the media sector, such as technological change, organisational structure, leadership, and creativity and innovation. The chapters follow the same structure: the relevant theory is outlined, its application to the media industry is discussed, and case studies from the media industry are used to illustrate the theory and illuminate its relevance for the media field. The cases and examples used come from all sectors of the industry and a range of geographic regions and include News Corporation, Endemol, BBC, Bertelsmann, CNN, MTV, Disney and Pixar.
"When it comes to leaders in the social media pedagogy space, Matt Kushin is a pioneer. Not only is Matt an exceptional researcher, but a leading voice in the field with his through and innovative assignments. His new book Teach Social Media: A Plan for Creating a Course Your Students Will Love is a must have book for educators who want to create an amazing social media class for their students. Matt is not only able to discuss these ideas for these assignments, but has actually implemented them, allowing him to show he walks the walk as a social media professor. If you're looking to have a book that integrates various assignments from all aspects of social media, make sure to buy this book immediately!" - Karen Freberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Strategic Communications at University of Louisville and author of Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications. "This is a must-read book for any educators in social media! Dr. Kushin provides a clear and practical roadmap for professors to craft an exceptional social media class. A top concern among faculty who teach social media is the tension between staying relevant and applying the information, while creating a structured course that can run effectively semester to semester. This text is exactly what is needed. It helps faculty understand how to gain a rigorous learning environment that gives students the hands-on experience so necessary in social media education." - Carolyn Mae Kim, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Public Relations and Director of the Public Relations Program in the Department of Media, Journalism and Public Relations at Biola University and author of Social Media Campaigns: Strategies for Public Relations and Marketing. About Save time with this 15-week social media course plan. Engage your students with project-based learning. Prepare your students for an ever-changing social media environment with a course that focuses on adaptable knowledge, skills and abilities. Designed around a semester-long social media project, this book provides an end-to-end plan for building and executing a social media class from the ground up. It includes a 15-week syllabus with integrated assignments and activities. By providing lecture ideas and guidance in a how-to style, this book coaches you on how to build a class that is uniquely yours. Turn your class into a hands-on, engaged learning environment where your students will take on a client and build and execute a social media plan. This is not a 'it's on the test' type of class. Your students will learn by doing. The social media environment is transforming at lightning speed. Students must learn more than software skills. That's why this book follows the What, Why, How, Do, Reflect framework which aims to teach students adaptable knowledge and skills and ever-lasting abilities such as critical thinking, problem solving, creative thinking, and ethical decision-making. The economic realities of higher education present challenges to social media professors. Many departments lack access to software and resources. This book shows you how to deliver a high quality, experiential class on a shoe-string budget. Both new and experienced professors can use this book to #TeachConfident in the hyper-evolving social media space. This book is uniquely crafted for educators preparing students for careers as professional communicators in fields such as public relations, marketing, and related specialties. Includes Syllabus Sample Assignments Activities Information about software tools and resources