MDIA 303: Mass Media Technologies

The purpose of this guide is to offer you suggestions on where to find information for your assignment. In this guide you will find the following (taken from the project role descriptions):

Technology Production: Find out: how does the technology work-what are the scientific principles, where did it come from, (patents, history, predecessors, inventors, perspective on “the technology” as a physical thing. Provide your group with the information needed to understand the origins and workings of the technology, what it is used to produce, what changes it has undergone, what principles it operates on.  (Brian Winston's categories: scientific competence, ideation, prototype)

Media Uses and Effects: Find out what scholarly work has been published on  the relationships around/  uses and effects of this technology. Critical perspectives, dimensions of cultural and social experiences we have encountered in our texts will be helpful as guides to your approach, and  you will need additional resources to guide your group in understanding perspectives on the technology your group chooses.  (Brian Winston's categories:  dissemination, redundancy, spinoffs, impact)

Media Organizations and Systems: Find out about the regulatory environment (structural, legal, and institutional) around the emergence of this technology, politics, economics and law are important here: Look at industry practices, regulatory bodies and policy shifts, legislation, lawsuits, corporate mergers/alliances breakups and the emergence and changes that affect markets for this technology.  (Brian Winston's categories: supervening social necessity, suppression of radical potential)