Introduction to Media Studies and Media Literacy

Media is not limited to the news or professional content consumed through hard-wired or mobile devices; it is fundamentally intertwined with culture and human influence.
Culture emerges through media, which surrounds and influences individuals to the extent that it may be impossible to live in a world where media is not an influencing factor.
Media facilitates connection between people and includes anything created by humans to connect, communicate, or entertain. It often comments on society or tells a story.
Academically, the term "media" denotes a specific realm, while a "medium" is defined as a means of communication. A medium is an outlet, tool, format, or container through which content is delivered or through which people meaningfully interact.

A "media text" or simply a "text" is defined as a discrete instance of a medium containing content. Examples include:
- A TikTok video starring a cat (text in the medium of TikTok, video, and the mobile phone).
- A podcast episode about rap beats (text in the medium of audio or spoken audio, delivered via platforms like Spotify).
- An essay regarding a growth mindset.
- A billboard warning against driving under the influence (DUI).
The term "text" in this context does not refer to sending an emoji to a friend; rather, it refers to any discrete instance of art or communication analyzed for meaning.
Reality is constantly mediated by the world communicating messages. This mediation shapes how experiences are perceived and how people engage with one another.
Spaces can serve as media texts. For example, a classroom mediates the educational experience through its physical layout, such as the size of tables (e.g., seating four people) or the number of doors and the views they provide.
Environmental factors like natural light act as media. Light mediates the experience of a room, influencing comfort levels or the atmosphere of specific areas, such as a dark corner.

Media is Powerful: It has a tremendous influence on life. Some theorists argue that modern life is media, meaning life is entirely mediated by human-crafted physical texts and perspectives. Understanding how media works develops the capacity to think and act as a free person rather than merely being subject to encountered perspectives.
Media has Capitalistic Value: Understanding media is critical for a wide range of academic and professional careers, particularly in creative industries. This includes roles such as writers, photographers, videographers, and filmmakers.
Media Facilitates Communication: Critically analyzing and creating media texts equips individuals to communicate more effectively in the modern world and the classroom. Understanding the techniques behind a film or song helps an individual better compose songs or give professional presentations.

Literacy is the ability to fluently read a language. In this context, media literacy is the ability to fluently "read" the surrounding world of media.
"Reading" in a media context extends beyond alphanumeric text to include analyzing TV episodes, songs, and other non-traditional formats.
Media literacy involves understanding how individual media texts operate and how they participate in broader systems. For example, analyzing an episode of Black Mirror involves looking at its specific communication while also considering how it participates in the wider system of "streaming culture."
High media literacy allows individuals to resist the propagandistic power of media and intelligently make their own decisions.

Cultural Analysis: This field investigates and interprets how media systems and technologies shape culture, society, and human thinking. It focuses on broad impacts, such as how the internet shapes human behavior or how TikTok affects attention spans.
Close Reading: This is the careful examination of a media text to understand its construction and function. It looks at:
- Formal elements of a medium.
- The relationship between form and content.
- Implicit and explicit meanings.
- Ideologies (beliefs and values) that shape the text.
- Analysis of language, structure, and patterns.
Identity: This involves investigating how media plays a role in personal identity. This includes self-reflecting on media consumption habits, personal tastes in music or film, and personal histories of engagement with media.
Praxis: Praxis is a term for "practical practice" or the act of making texts. Engaging in the creation of media formats allows for critical thinking about how those formats function and opens new pathways for thought and expression.

Cultural Analysis Topics:
- Streaming culture.
- Social media and the broader internet.
- Misinformation and disinformation in political communication.
- Theories regarding the interplay between technology and society.
Close Reading Subjects:
- Music and writing.
- Comics and image texts (e.g., image-based memes).
- Film, television, and video.
- Video games.
- Visual art (including visits to places like the human art museum).
Praxis Activities:
- Writing resumes and professional emails.
- Giving presentations.
- Composing essays.
- Academic research and note-taking strategies.

The course includes an "Intellectual Show and Tell" as the first project. Students bring a presentation on a media text they enjoy and explain why they like it to explore the basis of personal taste.
The course concludes with a final project called a "creative intervention." Students create a media text in a chosen medium intended to intervene in a social issue. Examples include:
- A photo project on homelessness in Albuquerque.
- A comic addressing racism.

Student Point (Interaction): A student noted that in a world without media, a person has no influence. They suggested that if an individual is not influenced by anything, they may not truly think for themselves, or they lack the reassurance of shared thought.
Student Question: Can you say the broad spectrum of media is the internet?
Response: Currently, the internet is one of the primary sources of media and dominates the media landscape. It is a huge part of modern media study.
Student Point: A student suggested that media is anything created by people typically to entertain, tell a story, or comment on society.