1/8 Course Introduction
1/11 Introduction: What is “Media Industry Studies”?
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 1: Understanding Media Industries.”
1/15 Introduction: The Industrialization of Culture
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 2: The Industrialization of Culture Framework and Key Economic Concepts.”
DISCUSS: Writing Assignment #1 & Media Companies
1/18 Industrial Identity & Corporate Image [Case Study]
READ: Brookey, “The Digital Auteur: Branding Identity on the Monsters, Inc. DVD.”
1/22 Discussion: Industrial Identity & Corporate Image
DUE: Writing Assignment #1
1/25 Media Industry Mandates
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 3: Media Industry Mandates.”
SCREEN: PBS (Digital) vs. Edutainment
1/29 Economic Conditions in Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 5: Economic Conditions in Media Production.”
2/1 The Sustainability of Radio and Recorded Music Industries [Case Study]
DUE: Reading Reflection #1 on (Digital) Music Industries: Read one blog post or trade journal article on conditions in the music or radio industries (e.g. reflections on streaming/subscription services; analysis on the “Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act”; etc). Write a short, critical reflection (100-200 word) to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation for the post-article you read within your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
READ:
- READ: Blacc, Manta, & Olson, “A Sustainable Music Industry for the 21st Century,” Cornell Law Review Online 101: 39-50.
- (background) Bellamy & Gross, “The First Domino: The Recorded Music Industry and New Technology,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
- (background) DeMars, “Local Market Radio: Programming and Operations in a New Media World,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
2/5 Technological Conditions in (New) Media Industries
READ:
- Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 6: Technological Conditions of the Media Industries.”
- (background) Smith & Hendricks, “New Media: New Technology, New Ideas or New Headaches” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry: Economic and Managerial Implications in the Age of New Media (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010), 3-22.
2/8 The (Many) Death(s) of Books [Case Study]
DUE: Writing Assignment #2
READ:
- Erickson, “Help or Hindrance? The History of the Book and Electronic Media,” in Thorburn & Jenkins, Rethinking Media Change.
- Stone, “The E-Reader Industry: Replacing the Book or Enhancing the Reader Experience?”
- (background) Coover, “The End of Books,” in Wardrip-Fruin & Montfort, The New Media Reader.
- (background) Murphy, “Books are Dead, Long Live Books,” in Rethinking Media Change.
2/12 Regulatory Conditions in Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 4: Regulation of the Media Industries.”
- (background) Coll, “Reboot: An Open Letter to the FCC About a Media Policy for the Digital Age,” Columbia Journalism Review 49.4 (2010): 26.
- (background) Owen, “The tragedy of broadcast regulation,” in The Internet Challenge to Television. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), reprinted in Hassan, The New Media Theory Reader.
2/15 Technological Innovations and Regulations of the Adult Film Industry [Case Study]
READ:
- Coopersmith, “Pornography, Videotape, and the Internet,” IEEE (Spring 2000): 27-34.
- Harchuck, “Pornography and the First Amendment Right to Free Speech” from Comella & Tallant (eds.), New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law (ABC-CLIO, 2015). 9-36.
2/19 Political Economy & the Internet
READ:
- McChesney, “How Can the Political Economy of Communication Help Us Understand the Internet?” in Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy (New York: The New Press, 2013), 63-95.
- Thomas Streeter, “Internet” from Peters, Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information Society & Culture (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 184-196.
2/22 Digitization & (New) Media Industries
DUE: Writing Assignment #3
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 9: “Digitization.”
2/26 Perceptions of Industrial Impacts from Piracy [Case Study]
DUE: Reading Reflection #2 on piracy in contemporary media industries: Read one blog post or trade journal article on the contemporary dynamics of piracy in media industries (e.g. perceptions about piracy, practices regarding the regulation of piracy, technological conditions aiming to subvert piracy, etc.). Write a short, critical reflection (100-200 word) to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation for the post-article you read within your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
READ:
- Lawrence Lessig, “Pirates,” in Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture (New York: The Penguin Press, 2004), 53-61.
- Patrick Vonderau, “Beyond Piracy: Understanding Digital Media Markets.”
- (background) Gayer & Shy, “Copyright Enforcement in the Digital Era,” in Illing & Peitz, Industrial Organization and the Digital Economy.
3/1 Distribution & Aggregation Practices (within Film & Television Industries)
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 8: Media Distribution and Aggregation Practices.”
3/4 – 3/8 SPRING BREAK, no classes
3/12 Technological Change: Film, TV, & Digital Streaming
READ:
- Perren, “Business as Unusual: Conglomerate-Sized Challenges for Film and Television in the Digital Arena,” Journal of Popular Film and Television 38.2 (2010): 72-78.
- Lotz, “Channel Bundles Persist—for Now—Despite Digital Disruption.”
3/15 No Class (I will be at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference)
3/19 Digital Streaming & (Marketing) Consumer Behavior [Case Study]
DUE: Writing Assignment #4
READ:
- Chuck Tryon, “TV Got Better: Netflix’s Original Programming Strategies and Binge Viewing,” Media Industries Journal, 2.2: 104-116.
- (background) Tryon, “Pushing the (Red) Envelope: Portable Video, Platform Mobility, and Pay-Per-View Culture,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.
- (background) Walker & Bellamy, “DVRs and the Empowered Audience: A Transformative New Media Technology Takes Off,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
3/22 Political Economy & YouTube
READ: Janet Wasko and Mary Erickson, “The Political Economy of YouTube,” in Snickers & Vonderau (Eds.) The YouTube Reader.
3/26 Spreadable/Sticky (Social) Media
READ:
- Jenkins, Ford, and Green, “Introduction: Why Media Spreads,” from Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2013)
- Qualman, “Chapter 1: Word of Mouth Goes World of Mouth,” from Socialnomics.
- (background) Benkler, “Sharing Nicely: On Shareable Goods and the Emergence of Sharing as a Modality of Economic Production,” in Mandiberg (Ed.) The Social Media Reader.
3/29 Infrastructure, Algorithms, and Power: Google
READ: Siva Vaidhyanathan, “The Googlization of Us: Universal Surveillance and Infrastructural Imperialism.”
4/2 Infrastructure, Algorithms, and Power: Facebook
READ: Taina Bucher, “Want to be on the Top? Algorithmic Power and the Threat of Invisibility on Facebook.”
4/5 Video Games Industries
DUE: Writing Assignment #5
READ:
- Straubhaar et al., “The Game Industry,” from Media Now.
- Dring, “How Can We Solve Nintendo Switch’s Cartridge Cost Quandry?,” GamesIndustry.Biz March 27, 2017.
- Entertainment Software Association, “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry: 2018 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data,” 4-14.
- (background) Dymek, “Video Games: A Subcultural Industry” and O’donnell, “The North American Game Industry,” in Zackariasson & Wilson, The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future.
- (background) de Peuter & Dyer-Witheford, “A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour,” in fibre culture 5.
4/9 The Production of “Fun” in Video Games [Case Study]
READ:
- Schreier, “Stardew Valley,” in Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made (New York: Harper, 2017).\
- (background) Yee, “Labor of Fun.”
4/12 Mobile Technologies: Personalized & Portable Digital Economies
READ:
- Fishman, “Where Do Media Companies Fit in the World of Mobile Apps?” Acquia, March 04, 2015.
- Dediu, “(Much) Bigger than Hollywood,” Asymco, August 26, 2015.
- Dediu, “The iOS Economy, Updated,” Asymco, January 08, 2018.
- (background) Bolin, “Personal Media in the Digital Economy,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.
4/16 Mobile Technologies: Spreadable & Sticky Digital Technologies
READ: Cannon & Barker, “Hard Candy,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.