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CMS News Archives
William Uricchio will speak about new directions in archiving-- social tagging, access, recycling
and the broader implications for the interaction between history and memory-- in his opening keynote for European Network for Cinema and Media Studies in Budapest, Hungary. Founded in February of 2006, NECS brings together scholars and researchers in the field of cinema, film and media studies with archivists and film and media professionals who share a common interest in academic film study and the preservation, distribution and programming of film and media art and the film heritage. Click here for more information.
03.21.08 | 11 AM-6 PM | 35-225
CMS Class of 2008 Thesis Presentations
The CMS Class of 2008 will be giving their thesis presentations today, Friday, March 21, 2008, from 11AM to 6PM in room 35-225. The event is open to the public; CMS students, faculty, associates and friends of the program are all warmly welcomed to attend.
10:30-11:00 AM
Coffee and Pastries
11:00-11:45 AM
Information Visualization for the People
Michael Danziger
An analysis of the field of information visualization focusing on the theoretical and methodological challenges associated with conceptualizing and designing visualization as a mass medium.
11:45 AM - 12:30 PM
New Potentials for 'DIY' Music Making: Social Networks, Old and New, and the Ongoing Struggles to Reshape the Music Industry
Evan Wendel
An historical and comparative exploration of "independent" music scenes and their associated social networks during both the post-punk period of the late-1970s and early
1980s, as well as the current music climate which is increasingly defined by online networks. The larger contention is that the
potentials for "independent" musicians to maintain viability, and even achieve success, outside of a terrain traditionally structured by the mainstream recording industry are greater today than ever before, especially when informed by an understanding of the successes and shortcomings of past practices.
12:30-1:15 PM
Targeting Digital Youth in Web 2.0 China
Liwen Jin
A recent Netpop survey reports that Chinese
Internet users are much more likely to use
user-generated content to make purchasing
decisions than Americans (58% to 19%).
They also are much more likely to participate
in forum discussions and blogs. Web
2.0 technologies originate in the United
States. But why does this East Asian society
embrace more of the web 2.0 activities than
its Western counterpart? This thesis will
examine this question from societal, cultural
and psychological perspectives in order to
discuss new marketing strategies to target the
young and dynamic population in China's
cyber communities.
1:15-2:00 PM
Lunch
2:00-2:45 PM
Underground Tunnels, Neon
Signs, and Asian-American
Identity: The Many Dimensions of
Visual Chinatown
Debora Lui
What is Chinatown? Is it an imaginary
construct, a real location, or a community?
Is it an ethnic enclave only available to
insiders, or a fabricated environment
designed specifically for tourists? This thesis
attempts to reconcile the multiple ways in
which Chinatowns in the U.S. are conceived,
understood, and used by both insiders and
outsiders of the community.
2:45-3:30 PM
Public Interest in the
Broadband Age: Media Policy
for the Network Society
Stephen Schultze
What does "public interest" media policy
mean in the broadband age? Using a
three-pronged set of methods consisting of
historical survey, contemporary case study,
and immediate policy recommendations, this
thesis seeks to distill a unified theory of the
public interest in media policy.
3:30-3:45 PM
Coffee Break
3:45-4:30 PM
The Modular, Mechanical and
Wacky World of Slapstick:
Sound/Image Relationships in
the Looney Tunes
Andres Lombana
A comparative and multimedia analysis of
the sound/image relationships developed by
the Warner Brothers animation studio in its
Looney Tunes series. This thesis focuses on
two theatrical animated cartoons: "Porky
in Wackyland" (1938) and "Dough for the
Do-Do" (1948).
4:30-5:15 PM
Tactical Cities: Negotiating
Violence in Karachi
Huma Yusuf
This thesis uses the theories of Henri
Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau to examine
how everyday practices help the residents of
Karachi, Pakistan, negotiate the violence that
is endemic to their city. In this construction,
remembering, blogging, and navigating
heavily trafficked roads become 'tactics' that
create 'representational spaces' symbolically
free of violence.
5:15-6:00 PM
Reception
Please visit http://cms.mit.edu/people for individual
profiles of the Class of 2008. PDF copies of the theses
will eventually be available at http://cms.mit.edu/
research/theses.php.
Games for Change (G4C), the international nonprofit dedicated to supporting research & development of digital gaming for positive social change, announces their very first Boston Games Salon, which will serve as the local adjunct to the national umbrella organization of Games for Change.
The first meeting will serve as an organizing event designed to support the Boston-based community of folks interested in digital games for social change, whether you are a researcher, developer, non-profit rep. or just plan interested in our movement. Along with this special focus on how to shape G4C's Boston activities and outreach, the evening will also highlight a game by Kent Quirk, founder CogniToy - focused on environmental issues/global warming.
Demos will also be presented by MIT's Education Arcade! http://educationarcade.org
Date: Monday, February 26, 2007
Time: 6:00 pm
Place: MIT - Room: Building 14E (east), room 304
It will be a great chance to network with others in the field -- drinks and snacks will be provided!!
We have limited space, so please RSVP to Gary Goldberger (Regional Leader – Boston) @ gary@fablevision.com or 617-956-5707
For more information about Games For Change, explore . . .
www.gamesforchange.org
Featured Presenter
Kent Quirk is a software architect, game designer and entrepreneur with 25 years of software development experience who has been working in computer games and educational software since the mid-1990s. He has led the development of several commercial games, including MindRover, 5 Card Dash, and Cosmic Blobs. He is the founder and CTO of CogniToy, and is currently working on a game about global warming.
Demos will be exhibited during the networking hour
It's our pleasure to announce the start of the MIT Videogame Theorists Colloquium, a series of short, informal (noncredit) classes and discussions about videogames and their relationship to academic study . This is truly an interdisciplinary group intended for people of all ages and experience whose interests span the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
The first meeting is this coming Monday, 2/12, 7pm-8:30pm in room 32-124 on the MIT campus. Please contact Kenny Peng <pengk(at)mit.edu> if you cannot attend and would like to be added to the mailing list to be notified of our upcoming sessions.
Continue reading "Open Invitation to First MIT Videogame Theorists Colloquium session this Monday!" »
Converging Media: Games, Literacy and Culture Research Fair
February 22, 2007
5-7pm
Stata Center, 1st floor lobby (Vassar and Main)
What do Yahoo!, Shakespeare, GPS, Bullet time, Spacewar and MIT have in common?
CMS!
Yahoo! ... along with MTV, GSDM, Turner Broadcasting and Fidelity with the Convergence Culture Consortium respond to the demands of a new media landscape and an empowered client base;
Shakespeare ... early comics, modern dance and the citizens of Berlin are among the many topics explored in the rich multi-media data bases of MetaMedia and Repertory
GPS ... is one of many technologies that we us in handheld gaming applications, all part of our exploration of computer games for education in the Education Arcade
Bullet time... and other special film effects, comic book production, dj-ing, graffiti, and other media expressions come into focus in Project New Media Literacies.
Spacewar ... is where computer gaming all began at MIT, and now it moves into a new generation with the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
Join us to explore the many facets of research on cutting-edge digital games, media literacy, innovative humanities databases, and redefined corporate/consumer relations now underway in MIT's Comparative Media Studies program. Faculty, staff and students will be on hand to showcase their work and answer questions about their latest findings. Refreshments will be served.
CMS Undergraduate Coordinator Gene Fierro sends along the following report from the CMS Media Spectacle 2006:
Last night, a great crowd turned out for the CMS Media Spectacle in honor of Chris Pomiecko, the former program administrator here at CMS. The Media Spectacle was held at Stata and was a huge success both in the quality of submissions and in audience response. Cathy Pomiecko, Chris' sister and his mother were in attendance, and Cathy served as one of the judges. The other judges were Professor Junot Diaz, Dr. Laura Ceia-Minjares, Dr. Doris Rusch, Dr. Joern Ahrens, and myself. The event was filmed and aired on MIT cable.
There were two awards given last night, one for the best undergraduate submission (The Chris Pomiecko Award) and another for the best graduate submission.
The winning undergraduate submission was A Piece of Cake, by Anna Wexler (Brain & Cog Sci) and Nadja Oertelt (Brain & Cog Sci), who were awarded the Chris Pomiecko Prize for their work. Both Anna and Nadja were unable to attend as they are in the Cambridge-MIT Program. Cake is a very funny film with monotone dialogue showing a very mismatched date.
The winning graduate film submission was Amnion, by Rajesh Kottamasu (Urban Planning). Amnion was an ambitious experimental film set within a womb, where a pair of twins was recreated using a light table and fabric. A voice-over narrative chronicles the experiences they would share in their lifetimes.
CMS congratulates the winners on their excellent work, and everyone who attended for coming together to make the Media Spectacle 2006 a memorable experience.
We hope to make streaming versions of the award-winning videos available here on the CMS website in the next few weeks, so check back soon!
CMS is proud to announce:
Tea with Claudia Hart
Claudia Hart is an artist, curator and critic, working in the contemporary context since 1988. She creates virtual paintings that take the form of 3D imagery integrated into photography, animated loops, and interactive screen-based installations. At MIT, she will talk about the different roles she has taken on in her career and her views on the themes of popularity, populism and interactivity in the digital arts.
Take a look at her website, get excited and join us!
http://www.claudiahart.com/
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006
5:00 - 7:00pm, 14E-417
Tea and cookies will be served.
CMS is looking for films, videos, video podcasts and mobisodes produced by MIT and Wellesley students, faculty, staff and affiliates for its 2006 Media Spectacle.
The deadline for submission is April 10.
Screenings will begin at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 26 in 32-123 (the Stata Center). All formats, styles, lengths and subjects are acceptable. Works-in-progress are welcomed.
The Chris Pomiecko Prize will be awarded to the most outstanding undergraduate media submission. The prize is named for the CMS administrator who died in a car accident last year.
To submit a work, send title, format, description and running time to Gene Fierro at generoso@mit.edu or contact CMS at 617.253.3599.
Doug Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, was the speaker for a CMS Colloquium entitled "What Will it Take for Video Games To Emerge as the 21st Century's Dominant Entertainment Form?". David Edery has a detailed report.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web site is in French, but has links to videos, including opening remarks by CMS Director Henry Jenkins, that are in English.
MediaDailyNews has coverage of Henry Jenkins' presentation at The Next Big Idea: the Future of Branded Entertainment.
An article from the MIT News Office.
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