Order Description
Mediological analysis, of 2,500 words
must include an appropriate bibliography

these our weekly study from the module handbook please use them
for getting information and references:

Week eight: Mediology and the Image: Mediological Analyses 2

Further exploration of Debray’s mediological analyses – of ‘the image’ and the difference focussing on the material realisation of an image does to how it is used and transmitted (passed down through history) and who it gathers together to view it and how it is shown. Stafford (2013) summarises and assesses Debray’s work in images and their histories – he appreciates key aspects of his work but remains ambivalent about a deal of it.

This week’s readings:
Debray, Regis (1996) Media Manifestos: On the Technological Transmission of Cultural Forms, London / New York: Verso, pp. 133-44.

Stafford, Andy (2013) ‘Transmission versus Communication: Regis Debray’s Mediology’, pp. 145-78 in Modern French Visual Theory: a critical reader, edited by Nigel Saint and Andy Stafford, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Additional reading: Debray, R. (1995c) ‘The three ages of Looking’ Critical Inquiry 21: 329-55 if you wish to take Debray’s analysis of images and image regimes further.

Week nine: Mediology and Religion

Debray is not interested in religion as truth claims but as the material realisation of history (transmission) over, sometimes, very long periods of time (Christianity is nearly 2,000 years old, Sikhkism about 500 years.)

Second Assignment: Start using mediology to apply to some aspect of society, culture and / or media.

This week’s reading: Debray, Regis (2004c) God: an itinerary, London: Verso, pp. 1-10, 232-41.
Week ten: A Mediological Analysis of YouTube: Mediological Analyses 3

Even though YouTube is quite young and not the natural object for mediological analysis – this source by a US student shows how we might use mediology to get at distinctive aspects of YouTube’s usage.

This week’s reading: Hughes, LiIian [Irvine, Martin] (2011) ‘Replay, like, share: A mediological analysis of digital memorials and fantasy on YouTube’ Irvine.wikis.gdc.georgetown.edu/LHughes [Accessed 14th July 2011]

You will also need to watch the examples Hughes uses online in order to assess her mediological analysis.

Second Assignment: You should be developing a good example / case study to analyse using mediology. Come and see me in my office hours to discuss this further.

Week eleven: Mediology and Transportation: Mediological Analyses 4

Use of bicycles and cars has changed the way we think about women’s bodies and changed the shape of urban living. How and to what extent is there a distinctive mediological way of exploring the use of these devices?
This week’s readings:

Guillaume, Marc (2001) ‘Automobile’, The Mediology Paper, No. 12, pp. 1-4 www.mediologie.org/collection/revue_index.html [Accessed 13th February 2008]
Lavenir, C. Bertho (2011) ‘How? The bicycle is not a medium? Back to a mediological question’ cbertholavenir_recherche.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-bicycle-is-not-medium-back-to.html [Accessed August 10th 2011]

Second Assignment: Continue developing your ideas and case studies and talk in the seminar and my office hours about how your work is shaping up.
Week twelve: Completing your Mediological Analysis

In this week’s seminars bring in your ‘essay’ plans and ongoing bibliographies for your mediological analysis if you wish to discuss them further. Also come and visit me in office hours. Note the reading from Sloterdijk (2009) which you are not obliged to read but could if you wanted to test your grasp of Debray’s mediology.