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Comparative Media Studies |
 | | | CMS.00-CMS.999 plus UROP and Thesis | | |  |
Undergraduate SubjectsCMS.100 Introduction to Media Studies
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Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: MW1-2.30 (56-180) or TR11-12.30 (1-135) 
Offers an overview of the social, cultural, political, and economic impact of mediated communication on modern culture. Combines critical discussions with experiments working with different media. Media covered include radio, television, film, the printed word, and digital technologies. Topics include the nature and function of media, core media institutions, and media in transition. Enrollment limited. Fall: S. Costanza-Chock Spring: J. Picker, E. Schiappa Textbooks (Spring 2017) CMS.300 Introduction to Videogame Theory
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(Subject meets with CMS.841) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of videogames as texts through an examination of their cultural, educational, and social functions in contemporary settings. Students play and analyze videogames while reading current research and theory from a variety of sources in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and industry. Assignments focus on game analysis in the context of the theories discussed in class. Includes regular reading, writing, and presentation exercises. No prior programming experience required. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. M. Jakobsson CMS.301 Introduction to Game Design Methods
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Prereq: None Units: 5-0-7 Lecture: TR11-12.30 (E25-117)
Provides an introduction to the process of designing games and playful experiences. Familiarizes students with concepts, methods, techniques and tools used in the design of a wide variety of games. Focuses on aspects of the process such as rapid prototyping, play testing, and design iteration using a player-centered approach. Students work in project groups where they engage with a series of confined exercises, practice communicating design ideas, and discuss their own and others work in a constructive manner. No prior programming experience required. Limited to 15. M. Jakobsson, S. Verrilli No required or recommended textbooks CMS.307 Critical Worldbuilding
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(Subject meets with CMS.807) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Studies the design and analysis of invented (or constructed) worlds for narrative media, such as television, films, comics, and literary texts. Provides the practical, historical and critical tools with which to understand the function and structure of imagined worlds. Examines world-building strategies in the various media and genres in order to develop a critical and creative repertoire. Participants create their own invented worlds. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 13. J. Diaz CMS.308 The Visual Story: Graphic Novel, Type to Tablet
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(Subject meets with CMS.808) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (66-144)
Focuses on the interactions between graphic stories and media technologies from the rotary press of the late 19th century to contemporary touch screens, exploring the changing relations among narrative expression, reader experience and media form. Working with examples from Pulitzer's Yellow Kid and McKay's Little Nemo, through the classic comics (from DC superheroes to EC horror) and graphic novels, to interactive and non-linear texts (Cognitos Operation Ajax), examines such elements as graphic design, interface, and form as well as the circulation and economies of these various media-based texts. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. J. Paradis No textbook information available CMS.309[J] Transmedia Storytelling: Modern Science Fiction
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(Same subject as 21W.763[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.809) Prereq: None Units: 3-2-7
Explores transmedia storytelling by investigating how science fiction stories are told across different media, such as the short story, the screenplay, moving image, and games. Students read and write critical essays and collaborate to produce their own work of science fiction in a roundtable workshop environment. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. H. Hendershot CMS.311[J] Media in Weimar and Nazi Germany
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(Same subject as 21G.055[J]) Prereq: None Units: 2-2-8
Debates over national and media identity in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Production and use of media under extreme political and social conditions with a focus on films (such as Nosferatu, Berlin, M, and Triumph des Willens) and other media. Media approached as both texts and systems. Considers the legacy of the period, in terms of stylistic influence (e.g. film noir), techniques of persuasion, and media's relationship to social and economic conditions. Taught in English. Enrollment limited. W. Uricchio CMS.313 Silent Film
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(Subject meets with CMS.813) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Examines how the key elements of today's films - composition, continuity editing, lighting, narrative structure - were originally created. Studies the history of cinema, from its origins in the late 19th century to the transition to sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Students view a range of films (both mainstream and experimental) from all over the world, with a particular focus on US productions. Emphasis on how color, sound, and other developments paved the way for today's technological innovations. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. H. Hendershot CMS.314[J] Phantasmal Media: Theory and Practice
() Not offered regularly; consult department (Same subject as 21W.753[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.814) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Engages students in theory and practice of using computational techniques for developing expressive digital media works. Surveys approaches to understanding human imaginative processes, such as constructing concepts, metaphors, and narratives, and applies them to producing and understanding socially, culturally, and critically meaningful works in digital media. Readings engage a variety of theoretical perspectives from cognitive linguistics, literary and cultural theory, semiotics, digital media arts, and computer science. Students produce interactive narratives, games, and related forms of software art. Some programming and/or interactive web scripting experience (e.g., Flash, Javascript) is desirable. Students taking the graduate version complete a project requiring more in-depth theoretical engagement. D. Harrell CMS.333[J] Production of Educational Videos: Skills for Communicating Academic and Professional Content
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(Same subject as ES.333[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-1-8 Lecture: TR3-5 (24-618)
Develops communication and media skills through the production of educational videos. Students conceive, plan, script, shoot and edit video content to teach elements of MIT's curriculum. Each student creates a series of short videos that concisely explains and contextualizes specific problems of importance to disciplines at MIT, especially physics, math, chemistry, biology, or the humanities. The resulting videos present these problems through compelling use of illustrations, demonstrations, animations, and commentary, all from the student's perspective. Empowers students specifically to communicate their MIT expertise to communities of learners and generally to reach broad audiences with quality, accessible online content. Limited to 12; preference to students in ESG. D. Custer, G. Ramsay No required or recommended textbooks CMS.334[J] South Asian America: Transnational Media, Culture, and History
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(Same subject as 21W.788[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines the history of South Asian immigration, sojourning, and settlement from the 1880s to the present. Focuses on the US as one node in the global circulation, not only of people, but of media, culture and ideas, through a broader South Asian diaspora. Considers the concept of "global media" historically; emphasis on how ideas about, and self-representations of, South Asians have circulated via books, political pamphlets, performance, film, video/cassette tapes, and the internet. Students analyze and discuss scholarly writings, archival documents, memoirs, fiction, blogs and films, and write papers drawing on course materials, lectures, and discussions. Limited to 18. V. Bald CMS.335[J] Short Attention Span Documentary
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(Same subject as 21W.790[J]) (Subject meets with 21W.890) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR11-12.30 (2-103)
Focuses on the production of short (1- to 5-minute) digital video documentaries: a form of non-fiction filmmaking that has proliferated in recent years due to the ubiquity of palm-sized and mobile phone cameras and the rise of web-based platforms, such as YouTube. Students shoot, edit, workshop and revise a series of short videos meant to engage audiences in a topic, introduce them to new ideas, and/or persuade them. Screenings and discussions cover key principles of documentary film - narrative, style, pace, point of view, argument, character development - examining how they function and change in short format. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 16. V. Bald No textbook information available CMS.336[J] Social Justice and The Documentary Film
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(Same subject as 21W.786[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.836) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Explores the history and current state of social-issue documentary. Examines how cultural and political upheaval and technological change have converged at different moments to bring about new waves of activist documentary film production. Particular focus on films and other non-fiction media of the present and recent past. Students screen and analyze a series of key films and work in groups to produce their own short documentary using digital video and computer-based editing. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18. V. Bald CMS.338 Innovation in Documentary: Technologies and Techniques
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(Subject meets with CMS.838) Prereq: CMS.100 or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Discusses emerging technologies and techniques available to media-makers (e.g., location-based technologies, transmedia storytelling, crowdsourcing, and interactivity) and their implications on the film and television documentary. Studies the development of these tools and considers the many new directions in which they may take the genre. Includes screenings, meetings with documentary makers, and an experimental component in which students can explore new approaches to documentary production. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. W. Uricchio CMS.350[J] Topics and Methods in 21st-Century Journalism
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(Same subject as 21W.737[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.850) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Gives a broad understanding of what it means to produce journalism today. Evaluates the limitations and strengths of specific types of media, ranging from New York Times stories to Twitter feeds. Provides students with tools to effectively communicate their own work and research to non-specialist audiences. Students submit assignments via an online portal, which mimics the style and substance of an online news source. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 12. S. Mnookin CMS.356[J] Advertising and Media: Comparative Perspectives
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(Same subject as 21G.036[J]) (Subject meets with 21G.190, CMS.888) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: MW EVE (7-8.30 PM) (14N-313)
Compares modern and contemporary advertising culture in China, the US, and other emerging markets. First half focuses on branding in the old media environment; second half introduces the changing practice of advertising in the new media environment. Topics include branding and positioning, media planning, social media campaigns, cause marketing 2.0, social TV, and mobility marketing. Required lab work includes interactive sessions in branding a team product for the US (or a European country) and China markets. Taught in English and requires no knowledge of Chinese. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. J. Wang Textbooks (Spring 2017) CMS.360 Introduction to Civic Media
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(Subject meets with CMS.860) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines civic media in comparative, transnational and historical perspectives. Introduces various theoretical tools, research approaches, and project design methods. Students engage with multimedia texts on concepts such as citizen journalism, transmedia activism, media justice, and civic, public, radical, and tactical media. Case studies explore civic media across platforms (print, radio, broadcast, internet), contexts (from local to global, present-day to historical), and use (dialogic, contentious, hacktivist). As a final project, students develop a case study or project proposal. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. S. Costanza-Chock CMS.361 Networked Social Movements: Media and Mobilization
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(Subject meets with CMS.861) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: R1-4 (4-146)
Provides an overview of social movement studies as a body of theoretical and empirical work, with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between social movements and the media. Explores multiple methods of social movement investigation, including textual and media analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and co-research. Covers recent innovations in social movement theory, as well as new data sources and tools for research and analysis. Includes short papers, a literature review, and a final research project. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 16. S. Costanza-Chock No textbook information available CMS.362 Civic Media Collaborative Design Studio
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(Subject meets with CMS.862) Prereq: One subject in CMS or MAS Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (E15-344)
Project-based studio focusing on collaborative design of civic media provides a service-learning opportunity for students interested in working with community organizations. Multidisciplinary teams create civic media projects based on real-world community needs. Covers co-design methods and best practices to include the user community in iterative stages of project ideation, design, implementation, testing, and evaluation. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 16. S. Costanza-Chock No textbook information available CMS.376 History of Media and Technology
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(Subject meets with CMS.876) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Surveys the interrelated histories of communications media and technological development, from the emergence of 19th-century forms of mass print media and telegraphy, to sound capture and image-based forms (e.g., film, radio, and television), to the shift from analog to digital cultures. Examines how new forms of communication exert social, political, and cultural influences in the global context. Explores how technological innovation and accelerating media affect social values and behaviors in the popular and global adoption of a media device. Includes two papers and a research project on aspects of media history. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Enrollment limited. J. Paradis CMS.400 Media Systems and Texts
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Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 URL: http://cmsw.mit.edu/cms400-media-systems-texts/
Explores theoretical, historical and critical approaches to the comparative study of media. Examines media from three perspectives: the historical evolution of particular media forms (media in transition); the migration of particular narratives across different media forms (trans-media texts); and the ways in which media texts and systems cross cultural and national boundaries (global crossings). Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. J. Picker CMS.403[J] Media and Methods: Performing
() Not offered regularly; consult department (Same subject as 21M.703[J]) Prereq: CMS.100, 21L.011, or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 URL: http://cmsw.mit.edu/cms-403-media-methods-performing/
Seminar examines an array of performance disciplines from the perspective of the performer. Explores what it means to read the human body as a dynamic medium of expression; how fundamental techniques of the performer shift across cultural borders and in step with changing social contexts and historical traditions; and how the expressive tactics of one media platform adapt to the demands of another. Students engage in close analysis of performance practices, acquiring a theoretical and historical framework for thinking about performance across disciplines. Complemented by outside readings, video viewings, short essays, and studio performances, this course is intended to provide students with an introduction to core concepts in performance studies as they relate more generally to the study of media. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Limited to 20. Staff CMS.405 Media and Methods: Seeing and Expression
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Prereq: 21L.011 or CMS.100 Units: 3-3-6
Examines the process of making and sharing visual artifacts using a trans-cultural, trans-historical, constructionist approach. Explores the relationship between perceived reality and the narrative imagination, how an author's choice of medium and method constrains the work, how desire is integrated into the structure of a work, and how the cultural/economic opportunity for exhibition/distribution affects the realization of a work. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Limited to 20. D. F. Harrell CMS.407 Media and Methods: Sound
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Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR2-3.30 (38-166)
Explores the ways in which humans experience the realm of sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. Examines how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally. Describes the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, and sound recording, and the globalized travel of these technologies. Addresses questions of ownership, property, authorship, and copyright in the age of digital file sharing. Particular focus on how the sound/noise boundary is imagined, created and modeled across diverse sociocultural and scientific contexts. Auditory examples--sound art, environmental recordings, music--will be provided and invited. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Limited to 20. J. Picker Textbooks (Spring 2017) CMS.590[J] Design and Development of Games for Learning
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(Same subject as 11.127[J]) (Subject meets with 11.252[J], CMS.863[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-6-3 Lecture: TR1-2.30 (5-134)
Immerses students in the process of building and testing their own digital and board games in order to better understand how we learn from games. Explores the design and use of games in the classroom in addition to research and development issues associated with computer-based (desktop and handheld) and non-computer-based media. In developing their own games, students examine what and how people learn from them (including field testing of products), as well as how games can be implemented in educational settings. All levels of computer experience welcome. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. E. Klopfer No textbook information available CMS.603 Independent Study
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged IAP: TBA. Spring: TBA.
No required or recommended textbooks (IAP 2017); No textbook information available (Spring 2017) CMS.604 Independent Study
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged [P/D/F] IAP: TBA. Spring: TBA.
Opportunity for individual research in comparative media studies. Registration subject to prior arrangement for subject matter and supervision by a faculty member. Staff No required or recommended textbooks (IAP 2017); No textbook information available (Spring 2017) CMS.605 Media Internship
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Prereq: None Units arranged TBA.
Part-time internships arranged in Boston and the wider Northeast for students wishing to develop professional experience in a media production organization or industry. Students work with a CMS faculty advisor to produce a white paper on a research topic of interest based on their intern experience. Students planning to take this subject must contact the instructor before the end of the preceding term. Staff No textbook information available CMS.606 Media Internship
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Prereq: None Units arranged TBA.
Part-time internships arranged in Boston and the wider Northeast for students wishing to develop professional experience in a media production organization or industry. Students work with a CMS/W faculty advisor to produce a white paper on a research topic of interest based on their intern experience. Students planning to take this subject must contact the instructor before the end of the preceding term. Staff No textbook information available CMS.608 Game Design
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(Subject meets with CMS.864) Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6
Practical instruction in the design and analysis of non-digital games. Provides students the texts, tools, references, and historical context to analyze and compare game designs across a variety of genres. In teams, students design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games to better understand the interaction and evolution of game rules. Covers various genres and types of games, including sports, game shows, games of chance, card games, schoolyard games, board games, and role-playing games. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. P. Tan, R. Eberhardt CMS.609[J] The Word Made Digital
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(Same subject as 21W.764[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.846) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W2-5 (14E-310)
Video games, digital art and literature, online texts, and source code are analyzed in the contexts of history, culture, and computing platforms. Approaches from poetics and computer science are used to understand the non-narrative digital uses of text. Students undertake critical writing and creative computer projects to encounter digital writing through practice. This involves reading and modifying computer programs; therefore previous programming experience, although not required, will be helpful. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18. N. Montfort No textbook information available CMS.610 Media Industries and Systems: The Art, Science and Business of Games
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(Subject meets with CMS.922) Prereq: Two CMS subjects or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Examines the interplay of art, science, law, and commerce in the production, marketing, distribution, and consumption of historic and contemporary videogames. Students create prototypes and develop marketing programs to illustrate the challenges of producing videogames in a professional context. Combines perspectives on media industries and systems with an examination of the creative process, development, and trends that shape content. Includes discussions with industry leaders in various areas. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. C. Weaver CMS.611[J] Creating Video Games
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(Same subject as 6.073[J]) Prereq: 6.01, CMS.301, or CMS.608 Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: M2-5 (E25-117) Lab: W2-5 (E25-117)
Introduces students to the complexities of working in small, multidisciplinary teams to develop video games. Covers creative design and production methods, stressing design iteration and regular testing across all aspects of game development (design, visual arts, music, fiction, and programming). Assumes a familiarity with current video games, and the ability to discuss games critically. Previous experience in audio design, visual arts, or project management recommended. Limited to 24. P. Tan, S. Verrilli, R. Eberhardt No required or recommended textbooks CMS.613[J] Writing for Social Media
() Not offered regularly; consult department (Same subject as 21W.751[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Explores how social media is changing our understanding of writing, multimedia, and authorship. Through individual assignments and collaborative work, students contribute to an overarching writing project developed in a networked software environment, and develop their own social media practices. Assigned readings include exemplary selections from existing public social media projects, as well as scholarly work and analysis by noted media critics. Limited to 18. Staff CMS.614[J] Network Cultures
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(Same subject as 21W.791[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.867) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W2-5 (5-232)
Focuses on the social and cultural aspects of networked life through internet-related technologies (including computers, mobile devices, entertainment technologies, and emerging media forms). Theories and readings focus on the cultural, social, economic, and political aspects of internet use and design. Topics include online communication and communities, social media, gender and race in network spaces, activism and hacking, networked publics, remix culture and intellectual property. Students taking the graduate version complete additional readings and assignments. Fall: C. Peterson Spring: T. L. Taylor No textbook information available CMS.615 Games for Social Change
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(Subject meets with CMS.815) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines how various movements have tried over time to create games that enable players to enact social change. Students collaborate in teams to design and prototype games for social change and civic engagement. In a workshop setting, teams develop games and showcase them at an end-of-term open house. Features guest speakers from academia and industry as well as the nonprofit sector and the gaming community. Readings explore principals of game design and the social history of games. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. S. Osterweil CMS.616[J] Games and Culture
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(Same subject as 21W.768[J], WGS.125[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.868) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of digital games. Topics include the culture of gameplay, gaming styles, communities, spectatorship and performance, gender and race within digital gaming, and the politics and economics of production processes, including co-creation and intellectual property. Students taking graduate version complete additional readings and assignments. T. L. Taylor CMS.617 Advanced Game Studio
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Prereq: CMS.608 or CMS.611 Units: 3-3-6
Students join the class in pre-formed teams, which work under the supervision of experienced mentors to complete a term-long game creation project. Covers management best practices for software engineering teams; creative expression as a collaborative project; developing and evaluating prototypes for potential viability, and translating them into a final polished product; planning and running qualitative testing of design elements; and targeting and selecting an appropriate audience for testing. Includes regular reviews and critiques to discuss progress, design, and work plan. Culminates with public presentation of games. Limited to 15. P. Tan, S. Verrilli CMS.619[J] Gender and Media Studies
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(Same subject as WGS.111[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (66-168)
Examines representations of race, gender, and sexual identity in the media. Considers issues of authorship, spectatorship, and the ways in which various media (film, television, print journalism, advertising) enable, facilitate, and challenge these social constructions in society. Studies the impact of new media and digital media through analysis of gendered and racialized language and embodiment online in blogs and vlogs, avatars, and in the construction of cyberidentities. Provides introduction to feminist approaches to media studies by drawing from work in feminist film theory, cultural studies, gender and politics, and cyberfeminism. Fall: K. Gray Spring: K. Surkan No textbook information available CMS.621 Fans and Fan Cultures
() Not offered regularly; consult department (Subject meets with CMS.821) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines media audiences - specifically, fans - and the subcultures that evolve around them. Examines the different historical, contemporary and transnational understandings of fans. Explores products of fan culture, i.e., clubs, fiction, "vids," activism, etc. Readings place these products within the context of various disciplines. Students consider the concept of the "aca-fan" and reflect on their own "fannish" practices. Requires several short papers. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. Staff CMS.622 Applying Media Technologies in the Arts and Humanities
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Prereq: None Units: 2-2-8
Introduces students to the use of new media technologies to design and develop fresh approaches to creating new content in the arts and humanities. Students explore the rapidly expanding world of contemporary media technologies through team work in which they choose from a selection of approaches such as mobile data, civic media, digital humanities, and game prototyping to create novel media objects or compositions. Readings include a selection of classic and contemporary critical and design works from the arts and humanities. J. Paradis CMS.627 Imagination, Computation, and Expression Studio
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(Subject meets with CMS.827) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: T1-4 (E15-335)
Aims to help students invent and analyze new forms of computer-based art, gaming, social media, interactive narrative, and related technologies. Students participate in a range of new and ongoing projects that are designed to hone skills in research, development, design, and evaluation. Topics vary from year to year; examples include cognitive science and artificial intelligence-based approaches to the arts; social aspects of game design; computing for social empowerment; and game character, avatar, and online profile design. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. D. Fox Harrell No textbook information available CMS.628 Advanced Identity Representation
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(Subject meets with CMS.828) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Studies and develops computational identity systems for games, social media, virtual worlds, and computer-based artwork. An interdisciplinary set of readings (cognitive science, computer science, art, and sociology) looks at both the underlying technology and the social/cultural aspects of identity. Includes topics such as developing improved characters, avatars, agents, social networking profiles, and online accounts. Engages students in on-going research projects. Explores how social categories are formed in digital media, including gender, class, and ethnicity, along with everyday social categories (such as those based on personality or shared media preferences). Experience required in one of the following: computer programming, graphic design, web development, interaction design, or social science research methods. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. D. F. Harrell CMS.631 Data Storytelling Studio
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(Subject meets with CMS.831) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR2.30-4 (26-142)
Explores visualization methodologies to conceive and represent systems and data, e.g., financial, media, economic, political, etc. Covers basic methods for research, cleaning, and analysis of datasets. Introduces creative methods of data presentation and storytelling. Considers the emotional, aesthetic, ethical, and practical effects of different presentation methods as well as how to develop metrics for assessing impact. Work centers on readings, visualization exercises, and a final project. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. R. Bhargava No required or recommended textbooks CMS.633 Digital Humanities: Topics, Techniques, and Technologies
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(Subject meets with CMS.833) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (16-676)
Examines theory and practice of using computational methods in the emerging field of digital humanities. Develops an understanding of key digital humanities concepts such as data representation, digital archives, information visualization, and user interaction through the study of contemporary research in conjunction with working on real-world projects for scholarly, educational, and public needs. Students create prototypes, write design papers, and conduct user studies. Some programming and design experience is helpful but not required. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. K. Fendt No required or recommended textbooks CMS.634 Designing Interactions
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(Subject meets with 4.569[J], CMS.834[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 URL: https://architecture.mit.edu/subject/spring-2017-4569 Lecture: W10-1 (E15-335)
Explores the future of mobile interactions and pervasive computing, taking into consideration design, technological, social and business aspects. Discusses theoretical works on human-computer interaction, mobile media and interaction design, and covers research and design methods. Students work in multidisciplinary teams and participate in user-centric design projects aimed to study, imagine and prototype concepts illustrating the future of mobile applications and ubiquitous computing. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Repeatable for credit with permission of instructor. Limited to 12. F. Casalegno, T. Nagakura No textbook information available CMS.701 Current Debates in Media
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(Subject meets with CMS.901) Prereq: CMS.100 Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: T EVE (7-10 PM) (1-150)
Addresses important, current debates in media with in-depth discussion of popular perceptions and policy implications. Students use multiple perspectives to analyze texts emanating from these debates, and present their findings through discussions and reports. Explores emerging topics (e.g., piracy and IP regimes, net neutrality, media effects, social media and social change, and changing literacies) across media forms and from various historical, transcultural, and methodological perspectives. Examines the framing of these issues, their ethical and policy implications, and strategies for repositioning the debate. Instruction and practice in written and oral communication provided. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Fall: J. Paradis Spring: L. Parks No textbook information available CMS.S60 Special Subject: Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged CMS.S60: URL: http://cmsw.mit.edu/cms-s60/ CMS.S60: Lecture: M EVE (7-10 PM) (E15-335)
Seminar or lecture on a topic that is not covered in the regular curriculum. W. Uricchio, S. Rodriguez CMS.S60: No textbook information available CMS.S61 Special Subject: Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged
Seminar or lecture on a topic that is not covered in the regular curriculum. M. Fischer, T. Trimpop CMS.S62 Special Subject: Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units arranged URL: http://www.k12videos.mit.edu/media-classes Lecture: MTWRF1-4 (MEETS 1/9-1/26) (16-220)
Seminar or lecture on a topic that is not covered in the regular curriculum. E. Choe No required or recommended textbooks CMS.THT Comparative Media Studies Pre-Thesis Tutorial
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Prereq: Permission of advisor Units: 1-0-5 TBA.
Student works with an advisor to define his/her thesis. By the end of the term, student must have a substantial outline and bibilography for thesis and must have selected a three-person thesis committee. Advisor must approve outline and bibliography. Staff Textbooks arranged individually CMS.THU Undergraduate Thesis in Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: CMS.THT Units arranged IAP: TBA. Spring: TBA.
The CMS Undergraduate Thesis is a substantial research project or comparable exercise. A written thesis ranges in length from 35 to 50 pages. Digital projects are assessed on the quality of research and argumentation, as well as presentation, and must include a substantial written component. Student gives an oral presentation of his/her thesis at the end of the term. Thesis is not required for CMS majors. Staff No required or recommended textbooks (IAP 2017); Textbooks arranged individually (Spring 2017) CMS.UR Research in Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: None Units arranged [P/D/F] IAP: TBA. Spring: TBA.
No required or recommended textbooks (IAP 2017); Textbooks arranged individually (Spring 2017) CMS.URG Research in Comparative Media Studies
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Prereq: None Units arranged IAP: TBA. Spring: TBA.
Individual participation in an ongoing research project. For students in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Staff No required or recommended textbooks (IAP 2017); Textbooks arranged individually (Spring 2017) Graduate SubjectsCMS.790 Media Theories and Methods I
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6
An advanced introduction to core theoretical and methodological issues in comparative media studies. Topics covered typically include the nature of theory, the gathering and evaluation of evidence, the relationship of media to reality, formal approaches to media analysis, the ethnographic documentation of media audiences, cultural hierarchy and taste, modes of production, models of readership and spectatorship. W. Uricchio CMS.791 Media Theories and Methods II
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Prereq: CMS.790 Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: M2-5 (66-148) Lab: T EVE (4-6 PM) (3-133)
An advanced introduction to core theoretical and methodological issues in comparative media studies. Topics covered typically include globalization, propaganda and persuasion, social and political effects of media change, political economy and the institutional analysis of media ownership, online communities, privacy and intellectual property, and the role of news and information within democratic cultures. H. Hendershot No textbook information available CMS.796 Major Media Texts
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6
Intensive close study and analysis of historically significant media "texts" that have been considered landmarks or have sustained extensive critical and scholarly discussion. Such texts may include oral epic, story cycles, plays, novels, films, opera, television drama and digital works. Emphasizes close reading from a variety of contextual and aesthetic perspectives. Syllabus varies each year, and may be organized around works that have launched new modes and genres, works that reflect upon their own media practices, or on stories that migrate from one medium to another. At least one of the assigned texts is collaboratively taught, and visiting lectures and discussions are a regular feature of the subject. E. Brinkema CMS.801 Media in Transition
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Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Centers on historical eras in which the form and function of media technologies were radically transformed. Includes consideration of the "Gutenberg Revolution," the rise of modern mass media, and the "digital revolution," among other case studies of media transformation and cultural change. Readings in cultural and social history and historiographic method. W. Uricchio CMS.807 Critical Worldbuilding
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(Subject meets with CMS.307) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Studies the design and analysis of invented (or constructed) worlds for narrative media, such as television, films, comics, and literary texts. Provides the practical, historical and critical tools with which to understand the function and structure of imagined worlds. Examines world-building strategies in the various media and genres in order to develop a critical and creative repertoire. Participants create their own invented worlds. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 13. J. Diaz CMS.808 The Visual Story: Graphic Novel, Type to Tablet
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(Subject meets with CMS.308) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (66-144)
Focuses on the interactions between graphic stories and media technologies from the rotary press of the late 19th century to contemporary touch screens, exploring the changing relations among narrative expression, reader experience and media form. Working with examples from Pulitzers Yellow Kid and McKays Little Nemo, through the classic comics (from DC superheroes to EC horror) and graphic novels to interactive and non-linear texts (Cognitos Operation Ajax), the course examines such elements as graphic design, interface and form as well as the circulation and economies of these various media-based texts. J. Paradis No textbook information available CMS.809 Transmedia Storytelling: Modern Science Fiction
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(Subject meets with 21W.763[J], CMS.309[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-2-7
Explores transmedia storytelling by investigating how science fiction stories are told across different media, such as the short story, the screenplay, moving image, and games. Students read and write critical essays and collaborate to produce their own work of science fiction in a roundtable workshop environment. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. H. Hendershot CMS.813 Silent Film
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(Subject meets with CMS.313) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Examines how the key elements of today's films - composition, continuity editing, lighting, narrative structure - were originally created. Studies the history of cinema, from its origins in the late 19th century to the transition to sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Students view a range of films (both mainstream and experimental) from all over the world, with a particular focus on US productions. Emphasis on how color, sound, and other developments paved the way for today's technological innovations. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. H. Hendershot CMS.814 Phantasmal Media: Theory and Practice
()Not offered regularly; consult department (Subject meets with 21W.753[J], CMS.314[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Engages students in theory and practice of using computational techniques for developing expressive digital media works. Surveys approaches to understanding human imaginative processes, such as constructing concepts, metaphors, and narratives, and applies them to producing and understanding socially, culturally, and critically meaningful works in digital media. Readings engage a variety of theoretical perspectives from cognitive linguistics, literary and cultural theory, semiotics, digital media arts, and computer science. Students produce interactive narratives, games, and related forms of software art. Some programming and/or interactive web scripting experience (e.g., Flash, Javascript) is desirable. Students taking the graduate version complete a project requiring more in-depth theoretical engagement. D. Harrell CMS.815 Games for Social Change
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(Subject meets with CMS.615) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Students will collaborate in teams to design and prototype games for social change and civic engagement. Run as a workshop in which student teams develop their games and showcase them at a semester-end open house. Features guest speakers from academia and industry as well as the non-profit sector and the gaming community. Readings will explore principals of game design, and the social history of games. Graduate students will complete additional assignments. S. Osterweil CMS.821 Fans and Fan Cultures
()Not offered regularly; consult department (Subject meets with CMS.621) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines media audiences - specifically, fans - and the subcultures that evolve around them. Examines the different historical, contemporary and transnational understandings of fans. Explores products of fan culture, i.e., clubs, fiction, "vids," activism, etc. Readings place these products within the context of various disciplines. Students consider the concept of the "aca-fan" and reflect on their own "fannish" practices. Requires several short papers. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. Staff CMS.827 Imagination, Computation, and Expression Studio
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(Subject meets with CMS.627) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: T1-4 (E15-335)
Aims to help students invent and analyze new forms of computer-based art, gaming, social media, interactive narrative, and related technologies. Students participate in a range of new and ongoing projects that are designed to hone skills in research, development, design, and evaluation. Topics vary from year to year; examples include cognitive science and artificial intelligence-based approaches to the arts; social aspects of game design; computing for social empowerment; and game character, avatar, and online profile design. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. D. Fox Harrell No textbook information available CMS.828 Advanced Identity Representation
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(Subject meets with CMS.628) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Studies and develops computational identity systems for games, social media, virtual worlds, and computer-based artwork. An interdisciplinary set of readings (cognitive science, computer science, art, and sociology) looks at both the underlying technology and the social/cultural aspects of identity. Includes topics such as developing improved characters, avatars, agents, social networking profiles, and online accounts. Engages students in on-going research projects. Explores how social categories are formed in digital media, including gender, class, and ethnicity, along with everyday social categories (such as those based on personality or shared media preferences). Experience required in one of the following: computer programming, graphic design, web development, interaction design, or social science research methods. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. D. F. Harrell CMS.830 Studies in Film
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(Subject meets with 21L.706) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: W2-5 (3-133) Lab: M EVE (7-10 PM) (3-133)
Intensive study of films from particular periods, genres, or directors. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication provided. Previous topics include Global Horror Film, Film Remixes, Film Narrative, and Heroic Cinema. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments. Limited to 12. Fall: P. Donaldson Spring: E. Brinkema No textbook information available CMS.831 Data Storytelling Studio
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(Subject meets with CMS.631) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR2.30-4 (26-142)
Explores visualization methodologies to conceive and represent systems and data, e.g., financial, media, economic, political, etc. Covers basic methods for research, cleaning, and analysis of datasets. Introduces creative methods of data presentation and storytelling. Considers the emotional, aesthetic, ethical, and practical effects of different presentation methods as well as how to develop metrics for assessing impact. Work centers on readings, visualization exercises, and a final project. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. R. Bhargava No required or recommended textbooks CMS.833 Digital Humanities: Topics, Techniques, and Technologies
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(Subject meets with CMS.633) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (16-676)
Examines theory and practice of using computational methods in the emerging field of digital humanities. Develops an understanding of key digital humanities concepts such as data representation, digital archives, information visualization, and user interaction through the study of contemporary research in conjunction with working on real-world projects for scholarly, educational, and public needs. Students create prototypes, write design papers, and conduct user studies. Some programming and design experience is helpful but not required. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. K. Fendt No textbook information available CMS.834[J] Designing Interactions
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(Same subject as 4.569[J]) (Subject meets with CMS.634) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 URL: https://architecture.mit.edu/subject/spring-2017-4569 Lecture: W10-1 (E15-335)
Explores the future of mobile interactions and pervasive computing, taking into consideration design, technological, social and business aspects. Discusses theoretical works on human-computer interaction, mobile media and interaction design, and covers research and design methods. Students work in multidisciplinary teams and participate in user-centric design projects aimed to study, imagine and prototype concepts illustrating the future of mobile applications and ubiquitous computing. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Repeatable for credit with permission of instructor. Limited to 12. F. Casalegno, T. Nagakura No textbook information available CMS.836 Social Justice and The Documentary Film
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(Subject meets with 21W.786[J], CMS.336[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Explores the history and current state of social-issue documentary. Examines how cultural and political upheaval and technological change have converged at different moments to bring about new waves of activist documentary film production. Particular focus on films and other non-fiction media of the present and recent past. Students screen and analyze a series of key films and work in groups to produce their own short documentary using digital video and computer-based editing. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18. V. Bald CMS.837 Film, Music, and Social Change: Intersections of Media and Society
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(Subject meets with 21W.787) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9
Examines films from the 1950s onward that document music subcultures and moments of social upheaval. Combines screening films about free jazz, glam rock, punk, reggae, hip-hop, and other genres with an examination of critical/scholarly writings to illuminate the connections between film, popular music, and processes of social change. Students critique each film in terms of the social, political, and cultural world it documents, and the historical context and effects of the film's reception. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18. V. Bald CMS.838 Innovation in Documentary: Technologies and Techniques
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(Subject meets with CMS.338) Prereq: CMS.100 or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9
Discusses emerging technologies and techniques available to media-makers (e.g., location-based technologies, transmedia storytelling, crowdsourcing, and interactivity) and their implications on the film and television documentary. Studies the development of these tools and considers the many new directions in which they may take the genre. Includes screenings, meetings with documentary makers, and an experimental component in which students can explore new approaches to documentary production. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. W. Uricchio CMS.840 Literature and Film
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(Subject meets with 21L.435) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: T EVE (7-10 PM) (3-270)
Investigates relationships between the two media, including film adaptations as well as works linked by genre, topic, and style. Explores how artworks challenge and cross cultural, political, and aesthetic boundaries. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. K. Surkan No textbook information available CMS.841 Introduction to Videogame Theory
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(Subject meets with CMS.300) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6
Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of videogames as texts through an examination of their cultural, educational, and social functions in contemporary settings. Students play and analyze videogames while reading current research and theory from a variety of sources in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and industry. Assignments focus on game analysis in the context of the theories discussed in class. Includes regular reading, writing, and presentation exercises. No prior programming experience required. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20. M. Jakobsson CMS.842 Playful and Social Interaction Design Exploration
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Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (E15-335)
Explores the role of technology in relation to playful and social interaction. Deepens understanding of the potential and limitations of iterative design and rapid prototyping used as research methods. Familiarizes students with the theoretical foundations of interaction design and explorative design research, as well as practice methods applied to working with physical and digital design materials. M. Jakobsson No required or recommended textbooks CMS.845 Interactive Narrative
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(Subject meets with 21L.489[J], 21W.765[J]) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (14E-310)
Provides a workshop environment for understanding interactive narrative (print and digital) through critical writing, narrative theory, and creative practice. Covers important multisequential books, hypertexts, and interactive fictions. Students write critically, and give presentations, about specific works; write a short multisequential fiction; and develop a digital narrative system, which involves significant writing and either programming or the structuring of text. Programming ability helpful. Graduate students complete additional assignments. N. Montfort No textbook information available CMS.846 The Word Made Digital
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(Subject meets with 21W.764[J], CMS.609[J]) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: W2-5 (14E-310)
Considers the many uses of text, language, and writing in creative digital media. Focuses on non-narrative uses of text, such as in information display, visual and lyrical settings, and human-legible computer code. Considers the use of text within the context of computing and different computing platforms. Draws on concepts and approaches from poetics, the material history of texts, and computer science. Assignments include individual and group writing projects, which involve reading and modifying computer programs. Previous programming experience and writing coursework helpful. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18. N. Montfort No textbook information available CMS.848 Apocalyptic Storytelling
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