| source MIT (X) |
level |
department Comparative Media Studies (X) |
CMS.100 Introduction to Media Studies ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.100 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: M1-2.30 ( 3-133 ) Lab: W EVE (7-10 PM) ( 4-270 ) Recitation: F12 ( 2-131 ) or F1 ( 2-131 ) 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. more information ... M. Marks
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.300 Introduction to Videogame Studies ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.841 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: MW3.30-5 ( NE25-373 ) Lab: W EVE (7-10 PM) ( NE25-373 ) Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of commercial videogames as texts through an examination of their cultural, educational, and social functions in contemporary settings. Students play and analyze videogames while reading current research and theory from a variety of sources in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and industry. The expectation is that students will play through to completion a contemporary commercial videogame chosen in consultation with the instructor. Regular reading, writing, and presentation exercises; open to students from all disciplines and levels of experience. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. D. Rusch
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.309J Transmedia Storytelling: Modern Science Fiction ( ) (Same subject as 21W.763J) (Subject meets with CMS.809 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.309 Lecture: M EVE (7-10 PM) ( 2-147 ) Students investigate the genre of science fiction across different media that include the short story, the screenplay, moving image, and games. Students write critical essays and their own works of science fiction, and submit critical analyses of each other's efforts in a roundtable workshop environment. B. Coleman
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.336J The Social Documentary: Analysis and Production ( ) (Same subject as 21W.786J ) (Subject meets with CMS.836 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) ( 1-379 ) An introduction to the history of the social documentary from the 1960s through the 1980s. Explores how social upheaval and the shift to smaller, more portable film cameras, and ultimately hand-held video, converged to bring about an upsurge of socially engaged documentary film production. Students screen and analyze a series of key films from the period and work in groups to produce their own short documentary using digital video and computer-based editing. Enrollment limited to 18. V. Bald
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.376 History of Media and Technology ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.876 ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.376 Lecture: MW1-2.30 ( 1-375 ) Mutually influential histories of communications media and technological development, focusing on the shift from analog to digital cultures that began mid-century and continues to the present. Theoretical and philosophical works, canonical and minority histories, literature and art, as well as production issues leading toward the advancement of student projects and research papers. Each topic in the series reflects a particular theme in the history of media and technology. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. B. Coleman, J. Paradis
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.400 Media Systems and Texts ( ) Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Explores theoretical, historical and critical approaches to the comparative study of media. Examines media from three perspectives: the historical evolution of particular media forms (media in transition); the migration of particular narratives across different media forms (trans-media texts); and the ways in which media texts and systems cross cultural and national boundaries (global crossings). Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.403J Media and Methods: Performing ( ) (Same subject as 21M.703J ) Prereq: CMS.100 , 21L.011 , or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Seminar examines an array of performance disciplines from the perspective of the performer. Explores what it means to read the human body as a dynamic medium of expression; how fundamental techniques of the performer shift across cultural borders and in step with changing social contexts and historical traditions; and how the expressive tactics of one media platform adapt to the demands of another. Students engage in close analysis of performance practices, acquiring a theoretical and historical framework for thinking about performance across disciplines. Complemented by outside readings, video viewings, short essays, and studio performances, this course is intended to provide students with an introduction to core concepts in performance studies as they relate more generally to the study of media. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Enrollment limited to 20. J. Scheib
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.405 Media and Methods: Seeing and Expression ( ) Prereq: 21L.011 or CMS.100 Units: 3-3-6 Examines the process of making and sharing visual artifacts using a trans-cultural, trans-historical, constructionist approach. Explores the relationship between perceived reality and the narrative imagination, how an author?s choice of medium and method constrains the work, how desire is integrated into the structure of a work, and how the cultural/economic opportunity for exhibition/distribution affects the realization of a work. Students submit three papers and three visual projects. Final projects are displayed and critiqued in an exhibition at the end of term. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Enrollment limited to 20. G. Davenport
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.407 Media and Methods: Sound (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Credit cannot also be received for 21A.360 URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.407 Lecture: W1-4 ( 16-220 ) Explores the ways in which humans experience the realm of sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. Examines how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally. Describes the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, and sound recording, and the globalized travel of these technologies. Addresses questions of ownership, property, authorship, and copyright in the age of digital file sharing. Particular focus on how the sound/noise boundary is imagined, created and modeled across diverse sociocultural and scientific contexts. Auditory examples--sound art, environmental recordings, music--will be provided and invited. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Meets with 21A.360J during Fall 2009. Limited to 20. S. Helmreich
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.590J Computer Games and Simulations for Investigation and Education ( ) (Same subject as 11.127J ) (Subject meets with 11.252J , CMS.863J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-6-3 Explores how we learn from computer games and simulations, and delves into the process of building and testing interactive educational media. First, students investigate the design and use of games and simulations in the classroom (including commercial off-the-shelf games), as well as the research and development issues associated with desktop computer-based, mobile, and non-computer based media. Students then develop their own simulations and games, study what and how others learn from them (including field testing of products), and how games and simulations can be implemented in educational settings. All levels of computer experience welcome. Graduate students are expected to complete additional assignments. E. Klopfer
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.600 Topics in Comparative Media Studies ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged Open to qualified students who wish to pursue special projects with members of the CMS faculty. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.601 Topics in Comparative Media Studies ( ) Prereq: None Units arranged Open to qualified students who wish to pursue special projects with members of the CMS faculty. Usually limited to 12 units of credit. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.602 Topics in Comparative Media ( , ) Prereq: None Units arranged URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.602 Lecture: TR9.30-11 ( 4-149 ) Discussion of current interest special topics not otherwise included in the curriculum. Fall: S. Osterweil Spring: Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.603 Topics in Comparative Media Studies ( , , , ) Prereq: None Units arranged TBA. Supplementary work on individual or group basis. Registration subject to prior arrangement for subject matter and supervision by staff. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.604 Topics in Comparative Media Studies ( , , , ) Prereq: None Units arranged [P/D/F] TBA. Supplementary work on individual or group basis. Registration subject to prior arrangement for subject matter and supervision by staff. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.607 The Role of the Gamer: Theory, Criticism, and Practice ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.843 ) Prereq: One introductory CMS subject or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Overview of scholarship in the emerging field of game studies examines gamers and their relationships with digital content as well as with other gamers in virtual and online spaces. Draws on current commercial practices in relation to underlying humanistic and social scientific theory and criticism to better understand player-game interactions, processes of identity formation, and participation in online communities. Historically situated analytic perspectives include effects, uses and gratifications, reader-response, and reception theories. Examines case studies of new computer interface design methodologies, usability testing, market research, and production issues related to contemporary game design and platforms. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Enrollment limited to 30. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.608 Game Design ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.864 ) Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: TR3-4.30 ( NE25-373 ) Lab: M EVE (7-10 PM) ( NE25-373 ) An historical examination and analysis of the evolution and development of games and game mechanics. Topics include a large breadth of genres and types of games, including sports, game shows, games of chance, schoolyard games, board games, roleplaying games, and digital games. Students submit essays documenting research and analysis of a variety of traditional and eclectic games. Project teams required to design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games. Enrollment limited to 20. P. Tan
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.609J The Word Made Digital ( ) (Same subject as 21W.764J ) (Subject meets with CMS.846 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR9.30-11 ( 1-132 ) Video games, digital art and literature, online texts, and source code are analyzed in the contexts of history, culture, and computing platforms. Approaches from poetics and computer science are used to understand the non-narrative digital uses of text. Students undertake critical writing and creative computer projects to encounter digital writing through practice. This involves reading and modifying computer programs; therefore previous programming experience, although not required, will be helpful. The graduate section includes additional assignments. Enrollment limited to 18. N. Montfort
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.610 Media Industries and Systems ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.922 ) Prereq: Two CMS subjects or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 URL: http://cms.mit.edu/academics/courseInfo.php?courseID=CMS.610 Introduces the Creative Industries as a paradigm to understand developments in the media and content industries. Explores the significance of creativity and creative entrepreneurship, positioning the creative industries as key sectors of the knowledge economy. Considers the importance for the media and content industries of technological convergence, intellectual property laws, globalization and the rise of the creative class. C. Weaver
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.THT Comparative Media Studies Pre-Thesis Tutorial ( , ) Prereq: Permission of advisor Units: 1-0-5 Student works with an advisor to define his/her thesis. By the end of the term, student must have a substantial outline and bibilography for thesis and must have selected a three-person thesis committee. Advisor must approve outline and bibliography. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.THU Undergraduate Thesis in Comparative Media Studies ( , ) Prereq: CMS.ThT Units arranged The CMS Undergraduate Thesis is a substantial research project or comparable exercise. A written thesis ranges in length from 35 to 50 pages. Digital projects are assessed on the quality of research and argumentation, as well as presentation, and must include a substantial written component. Student gives an oral presentation of his/her thesis at the end of the term. Thesis is not required for CMS majors. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.UR Research in Comparative Media Studies ( , , , ) Prereq: None Units arranged [P/D/F] TBA. CMS.URG Research in Comparative Media Studies ( , , , ) Prereq: None Units arranged TBA. Individual participation in an ongoing research project. For students in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.790 Media Theories and Methods I ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 An advanced introduction to core theoretical and methodological issues in comparative media studies. Topics covered typically include the nature of theory, the gathering and evaluation of evidence, the relationship of media to reality, formal approaches to media analysis, the ethnographic documentation of media audiences, cultural hierarchy and taste, modes of production, models of readership and spectatorship. W. Uricchio
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.791 Media Theories and Methods II ( ) Prereq: CMS.790 Units: 3-3-6 An advanced introduction to core theoretical and methodological issues in comparative media studies. Topics covered typically include globalization, propaganda and persuasion, social and political effects of media change, political economy and the institutional analysis of media ownership, online communities, privacy and intellectual property, and the role of news and information within democratic cultures. Staff
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page
CMS.796 Major Media Texts ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Intensive close study and analysis of historically significant media "texts" that have been considered landmarks or have sustained extensive critical and scholarly discussion. Such texts may include oral epic, story cycles, plays, novels, films, opera, television drama and digital works. Emphasizes close reading from a variety of contextual and aesthetic perspectives. Syllabus varies each year, and may be organized around works that have launched new modes and genres, works that reflect upon their own media practices, or on stories that migrate from one medium to another. At least one of the assigned texts is collaboratively taught, and visiting lectures and discussions are a regular feature of the subject. D. Thorburn
Score: 11.533115 Details | Listing | Web page