Collected in this volume are some of the most important, provocative, and groundbreaking studies of mediation, communication, and culture. A Media Studies Reader traces the breadth and depth of media studies. Some papers collected here define the field. Others are less-known, but no less important. All mark out ways for understanding a territory — a technological lifeworld in which the dominant forms of capital include information, communication, and mediation.

Think of A Media Studies Reader as a guide book, a collection of maps, a rough guide. This guide:



Does not reproduce a territory, but rather creates a way of seeing a field — a world in which media is not only entertainment, but education and enculturation — symbolically and iconically.
Emphasizes media literacy, the impact of new technologies on everyday life, and philosophies of communication — most with a political, feminist, and radical humanist twist.
Can suit the needs of the undergraduate and graduate alike who share a thirst for observations that bring the field of media studies inquiry to light.