Topic: Media Studies

A media history of the material and infrastructural features of networking practices, a German classic translated for the first time into English. Nets hold, connect, and catch. They ensnare, bind,...

A novel interpretation of the history and theory of technology from the perspective of toys, play, and play objects. Toy Theory addresses the relationships between toys and technology in two distinct...

An exploration of the emerging quantum technological paradigm and its effects on human consciousness and cultures. In Quantum Ecology, Stefano Calzati and Derrick de Kerckhove identify three technological ecologies—linguistic, digital, and quantum—to better...

How performances of tactical imperceptibility—or “stealth”—have become a key political practice in digital culture as a means of escaping surveillance and tracking technologies. In The Aesthetics of Stealth, Toni Pape proposes...

A provocative study that reconsiders our notion of play—and how its deceptively wholesome image has harmed and erased people of color. Contemporary theorists present play as something wholly constructive and...

The first book-length study of Nairobi-based female filmmakers—and how their dogged pursuit of opportunities, innovation, and cultural support is defining an industry. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to...

How systematic comparative research can unlock the potential of social media scholarship. Though diverse and fruitful, social media scholarship too often focuses on single platforms in single countries, disconnected from...

The precarious reality of videogame production beyond the corporate blockbuster studios of North America. The videogame industry, we're invariably told, is a multibillion-dollar, high-tech business conducted by large corporations in...

An in-depth look at Ukraine's attempts to shape how it is perceived by the rest of the world. During times of crisis, competing narratives are often advanced to define what...

How prisoners serve as media laborers, while the prison serves as a testing ground for new media technologies. Prisons are not typically known for cutting-edge media technologies. Yet from photography...

How a generation of tech-savvy young Cambodians is restoring historical media artifacts from before the war—and, in the process, helping to repair the Khmer Rouge's cultural destruction. During the Khmer...

A systematic theory of DIY electronic culture, drawn from a century of artists who have independently built creative technologies. Since the rise of Arduino and 3D printing in the mid-2000s,...