Critical Media Studies

In this episode Barry and Mike talk about Andrew Milne’s essay, “Tourists in our own Reality: Susan Sontag’s Photography at 50” in an attempt to update her arguments for the digital age. They puzzle over what it means to have an authentic relationship to photographs, or to be authentic ourselves.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss chapter 2 of of Jonathan Crary’s “Scorched Earth.” They focus on social media as a pharmacological problem within the Internet Complex.

Barry and Mike discuss Jonathan Crary’s critique of the “internet complex” and what it means.

Barry and Mike discuss Siegfried Kracauer's 1926 essay "Cult of Distraction: On Berlin's Picture Palaces." Written nearly 100 years ago, the essay is strangely relevant to our current political landscape. We pay special attention to Kracauer's unique notion of distraction, which contra Stiegler, Kracauer views as a stimulus to thought.

Barry and Mike discuss Yanis Varoufakis' book, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, and the challenge it presents to Marxist theories about global capital.

In this episode Barry and Mike relate Evgeny Morozov’s 2013 New Yorker essay, “Only Disconnect” to their previous discussion of A. Romero’s meditation on boredom and distraction and the internet.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “The Most Important Skill in the 21st Century,” Alberto Romero’s polemical defense of boredom in the media entertainment age. They discuss whether it’s possible to be bored today in the way that Romero seems to require.

In this episode Barry and Mike return to the earlier discussion of Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” and question her conclusion regarding the human/robotic distinction in light of PKD’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Sherry Turkle’s “Alone Together” and her thesis, that though technology opens new possibilities for communication it simultaneously alienates us from each other, leaving us wanting for emotional connections. We wonder whether Turkle is right and whether authentic relationships are possible.

In this episode Barry and Mike resume their discussion of Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun.” They discuss how differences in class and education determine how the various characters relation to Kara as an embodiment of technology.

Change is good! Barry and Mike shift the focus of their discussions on technology to look more closely at what it means to be human in a technologically dominated world. This episode looks at Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, "Klara and the Sun" and investigates his questions about the spaces between humanity and technology.

In this episode Barry and Mike wrap up their discussion of Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects,” focusing on the question of education and media.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Marshal McLuhan’s seminal text, The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. They discuss the form of the book and some of the key opening arguments.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the three central issues raised by John Law in the introduction to his 1991 anthology, “Sociology of Monsters”: the problem of epistemology; the problem of the social; the problem of distribution. Law argues that the coming together of Sociology and STS (science, technology, society) offers an opportunity to address these issues in meaningful and ethical ways.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Denise Lu’s recent New York Times editorial, “Want to Enjoy Music More? Stop Streaming It. Build a real music collection. Reintroduce intimacy to the songs you care about.” They attempt to re-frame the article in CMS friendly terms and end up with an extended investigation of the nature of intimacy and the archive.

On the occasions of their 50th episode, Barry and Mike get reflective. The discuss the purpose or intent of the show, their favorite episodes, what they’d do over, and the biggest surprises that they’ve encountered so far.

In this episode Barry and Mike discussion John Law’s 1992 essay, “Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity” and in particular Law’s concepts of network composition, punctualisation, and translation.

Barry and Mike discuss Bruno Latour’s essay, “On Actor-Network Theory: A few clarifications.” They work through his key terms in an attempt to better understand the new meanings he ascribes to actors and networks and what this theory allows us to do with media theory.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss a chapter from Jacques Attali, book, Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Following on their discussion from the Glenn Gould episode, they interrogate at Attali's take on the impacts of recorded music as an archive and as background noise.

In this episode Barry and Mike talk about Glenn Gould’s essay “The Prospects of Recording.” They focus on two central arguments from the essay – how technology creates the new, empowered, listener and the significance of background music.