Connections: The Future of Media Studies

Media Studies recently hosted Connections: The Future of Media Studies, a conference of media studies scholars organized by the Department of Media Studies and sponsored in part by the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the UVa Provost’s Office.

The Department would like to thank all the guests who attended:

• MIT/USC Prof. Henry Jenkins III
• London School of Economics Professor Sonia Livingstone
• University of Illinois Prof. Robert McChesney, founder of the Free Press media reform organization
• Yale University Professor Jeffrey Alexander
• Hebrew University Professor Tamar Liebes-Plesner
• Michael X. Delli Carpini, Dean, and Marwan Kraidy, Professor, Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania
• University of North Carolina Professor Jane Brown
• NYU Professors Lisa Gitelman and Eric Klinenberg
• University of Michigan Professors Paddy Scannell and Robin Means Coleman
• Texas A&M University Professor Eric Rothenbuhler
• McGill Professors Jonathan Sterne and Carrie Rentschler
• University of Illinois Professor Inger Stole
• University of Tel Aviv Professor Dafna Lemish
• University of Wisconsin Professor Michele Hilmes
• Northwestern University Professors Eszter Hargittai and Maria Mastronardi
• Ben Scott of the Free Press, Washington DC
• Victor Pickard, Senior Research Fellow at Free Press

Events included:

What Matters in Media Studies? Future Research and Interdisciplinarity

Friday, April 3, 4:00—6:00pm

A panel featuring papers by Jeff Alexander, Michael Delli Carpini, Henry Jenkins, Eric Klinenberg, Marwan Kraidy, Sonia Livingstone, Robert McChesney, Paddy Scannell, Jonathan Sterne and others, and will focus on the nature of Media Studies as a discipline, and the connections of this interdisciplinary field to other disciplines in the University.

Media History

Saturday, April 4, 8:30—10:00am

Featuring presentations by Michele Hilmes, Tamar Liebes-Plesner, Eric Rothenbuhler, Paddy Scannell, Jonathan Sterne, and Inger Stole.

Media Policy

Saturday, April 4, 10:15—11:45am

Featuring presentations by Michael Delli Carpini, Henry Jenkins, Sonia Livingstone, Robert McChesney, Victor Pickard, and Ben Scott.

This Panel will introduce the University of Virginia Media Studies Department’s new Verklin Family Program in Media Ethics and Policy, preparatory to its formal launch at the Program’s kick-off conference currently being planned for October 6–8, 2010.

Papers on this panel include:

• “Beyond the Ivory Tower? Communication Policy, the Public Interest, and Media Studies” by Michael X. Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
• “Media Policy from the Perspective of the Audience: Reflections on the Implied Audience of Communications Policy Making” by Sonia Livingstone, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics
• “Future Directions for Media Policy Research” by Robert W. McChesney, Gutgsell Endowed Professor of Communications, University of Illinois
• “Media and Communications Policy for a New Administration” by Ben Scott, Free Press
• “Bridging Media Policy and Media Scholarship” by Victor Pickard, Research Fellow, New America Foundation

Identities: Gender, Race, Class, Sexuality in Media Research

Saturday, April 4, 1:15—2:45pm

Featuring presentations by Jane Brown, Robin Means Coleman, Marwan Kraidy, Dafna Lemish, Maria Mastronardi, and Carrie Rentschler.

Critical Information Studies

Saturday, April 4, 3:00—4:30pm

Featuring presentations by Lisa Gitelman, Eszter Hargittai, Henry Jenkins, and Eric Klinenberg.