Media Studies 2.0

This book explores the contemporary digital revolution and its impact upon media studies. William Merrin persuasively argues firstly that the digitalisation of media forms takes us beyond analogue media (media 1.0) into a new era (media 2.0) and secondly that, since the academic discipline of media studies was the product and reflection of the broadcast-era, the movement to a new 'post-broadcast' era requires a rethinking and upgrading of the discipline. Media 2.0, therefore, we need a 'media studies 2.0' to reflect a different media reality and the very different experiences of contemporary students. Ultimately the book asks the question how can we best serve new students today within the discipline and invites students themselves to contribute towards that answer. This original, easy to read, critical overview of contemporary developments contextualises media studies within the history of media and will be ideal for students taking general media studies courses as well as more specialist courses on digital media.

Media Studies 2.0 offers an exploration of the digital revolution and its consequences for media and communication studies, arguing that the new era requires an upgraded discipline: a media studies 2.0. The book traces the history of mass-media and computing, exploring their merger at the end of the twenty-century and the material, ecological, cultural and personal elements of this digital transformation. It considers the history of media and communication studies, arguing that the academic discipline was a product of the analogue, broadcast-era, emerging in the early twentieth century as a response to the success of newspapers, radio and cinema and reflecting that era back in its organisation, themes and concepts. Digitalisation, however, takes us beyond this analogue era (media studies 1.0) into a new, post-broadcast era. Merrin argues that the digital-era demands an upgraded academic discipline: one reflecting the real media life of its students and teaching the key skills needed by the twenty-first century user. Media 2.0 demand a media studies 2.0 This original and critical overview of contemporary developments within media studies is ideal for general students of media and communication, as well as those specifically studying new and digital media.

Introduction: ‘Media Studies Gone Wrong’ 1. Two Trajectories: The Rise of Mass Media and Computing 2. The Material Revolution: Becoming Digital 3. The Ecological Revolution: Convergence and Hybridity 4. The Cultural Revolution: The Post-Broadcast Era 5. The Me-Dia Revolution: The Second Reformation 6. Mass Media Studies: The Rise of Duck Science 7. The Emperor’s Old Clothes: Why Media Studies Didn’t Work 8. Upgrading the Discipline: Media Studies 2.0 9. The 21st Century Discipline: User Studies and the Productive Turn 10. Open-Sourcing Knowledge: Towards a University 2.0 11. Conclusion: ‘Shit Just Got Real’ Bibliography

William Merrin is an Associate Professor in Media Studies at Swansea University, with research interests in media theory, digital media and culture and media history. He is the author of Baudrillard and the Media (2005) and co-editor of Jean Baudrillard: Fatal Theories (Routledge, 2008).