Understanding Media: A Popular Philosophy (Paradigm) - Softcover

Boyer, Dominic

Softcover

ISBN 10: 097940570X ISBN 13: 9780979405709

Publisher: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2007

Synopsis

Why do we understand media the way we do? In their simplest forms, media are means of communication and instruments of human creativity. But on another level, media are powerful technologies that govern how we think and act in the world, and they can even take on a sinister character, with media conglomerates working in opposition to freedom of information. Dominic Boyer grapples with these complexities in Understanding Media, where he questions what our different ways of engaging media actually tell us about media, how we relate to information, and about ourselves.
Understanding Media explores, in a serious yet entertaining way, our common habits of thinking about the presence and significance of media in our lives. Offering analysis of the philosophical and social foundations of contemporary media theory as well as everyday strategies of knowing media, it addresses the advantages and limitations of different ways of understanding media. Finally, Boyer reflects on how we can know media better than we do.

About this title

About the Author:

Dominic Boyer is associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prickly Paradigm Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 097940570X
• ISBN 13: 9780979405709
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 120