Media

Media

episodes

Interviews with scholars of media and communications about their new books.

Brandon R. Brown, "Sharing Our Science: How to Write and Speak STEM" (MIT Press, 2023)

March 18, 2024

Sharing Our Science

Brandon R. Brown
Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to this interview of Brandon Brown, Professor of Physics at the University of San Francisco. We talk about factoring in both message-sender and…

Umme Al-wazedi and Afrin Zeenat, "Veil Obsessed: Representations in Literature, Art, and Media" (Syracuse UP, 2024)

March 17, 2024

Veil Obsessed

Umme Al-wazedi and Afrin Zeenat
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

In their edited volume Veil Obsessed: Representations in Literature, Art, and Media (Syracuse University Press, 2024), Umme Al-wazedi and Afrin Zeenat…

Anna Kornbluh, "Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism" (Verso, 2024)

March 17, 2024

Immediacy

Anna Kornbluh
Hosted by David Maruzzella

What is the status of art and culture in a world dominated by apps, algorithms, and influencers? Anna Kornbluh’s newest book Immediacy, Or the Style o…

Ellen E. Jones, "Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World" (Faber and Faber, 2024)

March 16, 2024

Screen Deep

Ellen E. Jones
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why does race matter in film and TV? In Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World (Faber and Faber, 2024), Ellen E. Jones, a jo…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Ada Maria Kuskowski, "Vernacular Law; Writing and the Reinvention of Customary Law in Medieval France" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

March 16, 2024

Vernacular Law

Ada Maria Kuskowski
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Custom was fundamental to mediaeval legal practice. Whether in a property dispute or a trial for murder, the aggrieved and accused would go to lay cou…

Nick Jones, "Gooey Media: Screen Entertainment and the Graphic User Interface" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Gooey Media

Nick Jones
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Graphic User Interface, or GUI, is the adhesive centre of today’s screen entertainment web. From films and television to apps and videogames, it h…

Peter D. McDonald, "Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 15, 2024

Run and Jump

Peter D. McDonald

How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.Since the 1980s, 2D platform games have captivated their …

Eleanor Patterson, "Bootlegging the Airwaves: Alternative Histories of Radio and Television Distribution" (U Illinois Press, 2024)

March 12, 2024

Bootlegging the Airwaves

Eleanor Patterson
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Long before internet archives and the anytime, anywhere convenience of streaming, people collected, traded, and shared radio and television content vi…

Murray Dick, "The Infographic: A History of Data Graphics in News and Communications" (MIT Press, 2020)

March 7, 2024

The Infographic

Murray Dick

Infographics and data visualization are ubiquitous in our everyday media diet, particularly in news—in print newspapers, on television news, and onlin…

Emily Lynell Edwards, "Digital Islamophobia: Tracking a Far-Right Crisis" (de Gruyter, 2023)

March 7, 2024

Digital Islamophobia

Emily Lynell Edwards
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In Digital Islamophobia: Tracking a Far-Right Crisis (De Gruyter, 2023), Emily Lynell Edwards explores this virtual and vicious threat, analyzing how …

Amy Coddington, "How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and Race" (U California Press, 2023)

March 6, 2024

How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop

Amy Coddington
Hosted by Katrina Anderson

How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and Race (U California Press, 2023) examines the programming practices at commercial radio stations in the 198…

Francesca Sobande, "Big Brands Are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture" (U California Press, 2024)

March 3, 2024

Big Brands Are Watching You

Francesca Sobande
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Can brands really support positive social change? In Big Brands are Watching You: Marketing Social Justice and Digital Culture (U California Press, 20…

Jinying Li, "Anime's Knowledge Cultures: Geek, Otaku, Zhai" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)

March 3, 2024

Anime's Knowledge Cultures

Jinying Li
Hosted by Anthony Kao

With comics franchises getting turned into multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities and consumer technology companies dominating daily headlines — t…

Jesse David Fox, "Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture–and the Magic That Makes It Work" (FSG, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Comedy Book

Jesse David Fox
Hosted by Pete Kunze

In Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture–and the Magic That Makes It Work (FSG, 2023), Jesse David Fox—the country’s most definitive voice in come…

Poppy Wilde, "Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities" (Routledge, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Posthuman Gaming

Poppy Wilde

Posthuman Gaming: Avatars, Gamers, and Entangled Subjectivities (Routledge, 2023) explores the relationship between avatar and gamer in the massively …

The Fine Art of Literary Fist-Fighting

March 1, 2024

The Fine Art of Literary Fist-Fighting

Lee Gutkind
Hosted by Dan Hill

Lee Gutkind is the founder of the literary magazine, Creative Nonfiction. He’s edited or authored over 30 books during his time on the faculty of, fir…

Erin Elizabeth Greer, "Fiction, Philosophy and the Ideal of Conversation" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

February 29, 2024

Fiction, Philosophy and the Ideal of Conversation

Erin Elizabeth Greer
Hosted by Tong He

The ideal of ‘conversation’ recurs in modern thought as a symbol and practice central to ethics, democratic politics, and thinking itself. Interweavin…

Carol Beggy, "Pencil" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

February 28, 2024

Pencil

Carol Beggy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A cylinder of baked graphite and clay in a wood case, the pencil creates as it is being destroyed. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and t…

Matthew Fox-Amato, "Exposing Slavery: Photography, Human Bondage, and the Birth of Modern Visual Politics in America" (Oxford UP, 2019)

February 24, 2024

Exposing Slavery

Matthew Fox-Amato

Shortly after its introduction, photography transformed the ways Americans made political arguments using visual images. In the mid-19th century, phot…