These courses are offered to MIT students and affiliates. More information can be found at the MIT subjects catalogue.
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Prereq: None
Units: 3-3-6
Lecture: MW1-2.30 (4-257) 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: J. Picker, J. Reich
Spring: J. Picker, D. Custer
Textbooks (Fall 2019)
() 
(Subject meets with CMS.807)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-3-6
Lecture: W EVE (7-10 PM) (56-167) Lab: R EVE (7-10 PM) (56-167)
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
No textbook information available
()
(Same subject as 21W.790[J])
(Subject meets with 21W.890)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR3.30-5 (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
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(Subject meets with CMS.838)
Prereq: CMS.100 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR12-1.30 (E15-318)
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.
Fall: W. Uricchio
Spring: W. Uricchio
No textbook information available
() 
(Subject meets with CMS.861)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
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
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(Subject meets with CMS.864)
Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor
Units: 3-3-6
Lecture: MW1-4 (E15-318)
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
No textbook information available
() 
(Subject meets with CMS.827)
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
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. F. Harrell
()
(Same subject as 21L.489[J], 21W.765[J])
(Subject meets with CMS.845)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
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.
N. Montfort
(, )
(Subject meets with CMS.901)
Prereq: CMS.100
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: M2-5 (1-135)
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. Picker
Spring: L. Parks