Introduction to Thinking About Media

Undergraduate

Beginning with the concept of mediation —how each medium’s technological traits and conventions of use shape, modify, and distort the information it carries—this course is an introduction to the scope of the disciplines that comprise the Department of Film & Media Studies. The course examines key technical and critical concepts used to understand and analyze primary and secondary media texts, artifacts, and archives, and the cultures that have emerged around them. Students will develop analytical vocabularies and engage with histories, theories, and practices of mediation, building a foundation of intellectual and experiential inquiry in support of creative participation in the increasingly mediated cultures in which we live.