Critical Media Studies

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jodi Dean’s book, “Blog Theory.” They focus on her notion of “communicative capitalism,” treating the book as a time capsule of sorts.  They take her arguments from 2010 and suggest their relevance to our current situation in 2024. 

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss chapter one of Bolter and Grusin’s book and attempt to define their foundational term, remediation.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s introduction to their 1999 Media Studies book, Remediation.  In particular, they discuss the four key concepts that Bolter and Grusin introduce: mediation, remediation, immediacy, and hypermediacy. 

In the follow up to their previous episode, Barry and Mike discuss how Kember and Zylinska use Steigler’s notion of an “originary technicity” to articulate a third position between the philosophy Raymond Williams and Marshall McLuhan. 

This is the first of two episodes on Kember and Zylinska’s essay “Mediation and the Vitality of Media” from their book, Life after New Media:  Mediation as a Vital Process (2012).  Barry and Mike discuss the problems with and reasons for the binary divisions in media theory, particularly the way in which the field understands the relations between “old” and “new” media.  Kember and Zylinska note that the contradictions in the field stem from unresolved tensions in the McLuhan/Williams debate.  We discuss their attempts to overcome the binary.

Barry and Mike discuss Bruno Latour’s essay, “On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarifications.” They work through his key terms in an attempt to better understand the new meanings he ascribes to actors and networks and what this theory allows us to do with media theory. 

In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of William Burroughs’ cut-up method.  They introduce Alex Kitnick’s arguments about the Media is the Massage from his book Distant Early Warning: Marshall McLuhan and the Transformation of the Avant-Garde in order to illuminate Burroughs’ practice. 

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss William Burroughs’ 1963 manifesto “The Cut-Up Method.”  We worry over some contradictions and tensions in his “new” method of writing.

#73 In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “Panglossian Neoliberalism,”a term that Evgeny Morozov uses to describe the place of generative AI in thehands of venture capitalists.Can AI Break out of Panglossian Neoliberalism?The True Threat of Artificial Intelligencea sense oF rebellion podcast

The conversation delves into Simone Weil's profound ideas on attention and its spiritual ties amidst the turmoil of Nazi-occupied France. Hosts unpack the impact of digital culture and distractions on education, emphasizing the need for intentional focus. They explore the tension between creativity and social media's addictive nature, advocating for embracing boredom to foster authenticity. Insights from contemporary thinkers further enrich the discourse, while the interplay of attention and boredom provides a thought-provoking conclusion.