Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2006. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-66). / Like writers and editors, photojournalists are held to a standard of ethics. Each publication has a set of rules, sometimes written, sometimes unwritten, that governs what that publication considers to be a truthful and faithful representation of images to the public. These rules cover a wide range of topics such as how a photographer should act while taking pictures, what he or she can and can't photograph, and whether and how an image can be altered in the darkroom or on the computer. This ethical framework evolved over time, influenced by such things as technological capability and community values; and it is continually developing today. This thesis details how photojournalism's ethical system came to be, what the system looks like today, and where it will go in the future. The first chapter chronicles the history of ethics in photojournalism. The second chapter describes current ethical practices through specific case studies. The third and final chapter builds upon the first two and uses technology and policy to examine the trajectory of photojournalistic ethics. / by Daniel R. Bersak. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-123). Filmography: p. 124-125. / This thesis attempts to look at how Chinese animation cinema has evolved over the years and how the Chinese nation is being constructed and contested through animation filmic texts and animation filmmaking practices as sites where national and transnational cultural and economic flows converge and contend. The unraveling of the intricate relations between animation cinema and nation is intended to shed light on the understanding of contemporary cultural, social and media scapes in China. The Introduction addresses motivations and goals, critical questions, and over-riding theoretical framework and methodology. Chapter One explores the origin of the pursuit of a national animation style by investigating early Chinese animation cinema of the pre-reform period. It also serves as a backdrop against which the present discourse of revitalizing national animation cinema is being articulated. / (cont.) Chapter Two closely examines a commercial 3D feature-length animation production - Thru the Moebius Strip, as a case of "homemade" in the era of global capitalism, to look into modern nation-building both at the industry level and the filmic text level. Chapter Three closely examines another recent feature production, Little Soldier Zhang Ga, which can be read as a new type of "national" film that inherited the heritages of the socialist cinema, but aims at revolutionizing the animation cinema. The Conclusion comes back to the core question of the national and the creative, which contemporary animation cinema centers on. I try to disentangle the relations between Chinese animation filmmaking and the state discourse of national, taking into account the broader political, institutional, economic and cultural situations. / by He Huang. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2008. / "June 2008." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 150-155). / This thesis examines the relationship between violence and urbanity. Using Karachi, Pakistan, as a case study, it asks how violent cities are imagined and experienced by their residents. The thesis draws on a variety of theoretical and epistemological frameworks from urban studies to analyze the social and historical processes of urbanization that have led to the perception of Karachi as a city of violence. It then uses the distinction that Michel de Certeau draws between strategy and tactic in his seminal work The Practice of Everyday Life to analyze how Karachiites inhabit, imagine, and invent their city in the midst of - and in spite of - ongoing urban violence. Using de Certeau's argument to contextualize ethnographic research, media analysis, and personal narrative, this thesis argues that the everyday practices of Karachiites such as remembering, driving, and blogging are 'tactics' aimed at creating representational spaces that are symbolically free of violence. Through such tactics, this thesis concludes, cities with an urban imaginary of violence nonetheless boast a vibrant city culture. / by Huma Yusuf. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-131). / At the heart of this thesis is a desire to understand the evolving and situated relationship between humans and computers. Looking to a specific kind of computer at a specific moment in history, I analyze the ways in which advertising played a role in socially constructing an individual's relationship to the personal computer in the home. Based an analysis of over 500 advertisements in widely circulated magazines during 1984-1987, this thesis examines through emblematic examples how advertisements during this period positioned the personal computer as a domestic machine. In observing the means of socially constructing the personal computer in the mid -1980s, we come to understand the role and potential implications of advertising in socially constructing meaning, as well as gain a deep perspective on how the personal computer was constituted in the early years of its introduction into the home. Taken together, these advertisements present a portrait of a technology's evolution and begin to reveal how personal computers took on the meaning and place that they now occupy in contemporary life. Once embodiments of military and corporate de-humanizing control, computers are now accepted as evocative, social extensions of individual selves that represent individual freedom and power. With personal computers as our contemporary companions, at home, at work and in our laps, this thesis tells a history of how our relationship began. / by Madeleine Clare Elish. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [61]-63). / How can concepts from literature and technology design combine to create new forms of storytelling on mobile devices? This paper examines the theory and practice of bringing literary techniques into mobile technology design. First I present a model of media technology evolution which is not progressive, but atemporal-grounded in the ongoing expressive challenges of the humanities. This theory forms the basis for what I call the exchange: temporary collaborations between creative writers and interaction designers which lead to new forms of fiction and communications technology. I promote close readings of literature as a starting point for the exchange, examining specific passages for mobile storytelling inspiration and innovative means of modeling users. I then look at nascent efforts in storytelling over mobile devices, focusing on museum tours, grassroots organizations, artist collectives, research groups, and, lastly, my own work. In the end, I advocate a hybrid form of "Moving Fiction," combining mobile media characters with live actors, music, and sensory input from the surrounding environment. / by Michael Epstein. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-89). / Secrets are a ubiquitous part of contemporary videogame design, yet are largely unexplored within academic discourse and often dismissed as extras. I contend that secrets play a fundamental and influential role within a given gamespace in terms of the way they affect a videogame design and player experience. As such this paper will investigate the nature of secrets in videogames. I shall find where secrets exist in a game and how they function as moments of gameplay. Then I will explore secrets historically and look at how the meaning of secrets have changed and evolved over time. It will be shown that secrets create a window to an underlying structure of gameplay, a meta-level that subverts the regular play of a videogame. Further, I will argue that secrets are a space where players engage in unstructured play, free from the constraints of a game design. Finally I will demonstrate how secrets can be used to personalize or redesign the experience of a videogame and/or remake the game design itself. In order to make this argument I will break down what secrets can mean specifically to players through two very differently structured games: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Animal Crossing. Knowing why secrets matter in a gamespace will reveal a reason for why videogames are compelling as a brave new form of media. / by Kristina Lynn Drzaic. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2010. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-125). / The ubiquity of camera phones, coupled with the increasing mobility of citizens and the rise of digital production as an embedded technosocial practice, is creating incentives for many people around the globe to engage in media creation. Mobile phone users are beginning to explore personal broadcasting through live-streaming video, but little is known about the type of content being produced or how much of that content has civic or community value. At this technological and cultural moment, there is an opportunity to learn not only what is being created, but also how the medium can be embraced as a means of civic participation. This thesis analyzes overall production trends through a content analysis of 1,000 mobile videos on Qik.com, and goes on to investigate the motives and practices behind the production of civic content specifically. Looking at live-streaming mobile video production as a social practice through the lens of civic engagement, it analyzes how and why people are beginning to use this medium to become active citizens for the sake of educating or inspiring others. Research includes mobile production by general users but focuses more narrowly on those who self-identify as activists, journalists, educators and community leaders. / by Audubon McKeown Dougherty. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2009. / "June 2009." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-217). / In designing DwarfFortress as part roguelike and part simulation, Tarn and Zach Adams of Bay 12 Games drew on a tradition of game genres that used proceduralism and simulation to give players unique paths through the game. The specific choices in their design served their goal of "giv[ing] rise to some really awesome stories from the players themselves," I argue, because it took advantage of what Henry Jenkins calls "narrative architecture." Expanding on Jenkins' idea to examine narrative architectures of space, code, and player choice, the thesis shows how Bay 12 not only encouraged players to view the game as a world full of stories, but also gave players tools to craft their own kinds of tellable moments through the game. Tellable moments, as described by Marie-Laure Ryan and Lisbeth Klastrup, are events which, because they either create or break expected patterns, are well-suited to use in plots, and serve as resources for storytelling. As players became authors, they engaged in a sort of 'narrative play' through the game's affordances (and tools created in the community) in order to craft more elaborate and specific story arcs within the general confines of the game. This narrative play is a gameplay strategy in which players use the game's narrative architecture in order to goad the game's code into producing certain kinds of outcomes, outcomes which they aim to use for storytelling. Three different stories provide us with a set of tellable moments in which narrative play alternatively responds to gameplay challenge, creates an environment that embodied and staged story, and reconfigures code in order to create new types of tellable moments. / by Joshua Lindsay Diaz. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-87). / A close reading of two television shows, K-Street and Tanner '88, was performed to examine how one might become informed about real-life political news by viewing entertainment programs that combine fiction with actual current political events, issues, and figures. In his book The Good Citizen, Michael Schudson claims that mere factual recall does not necessarily indicate that one is "informed", but rather an "informed citizen" is one who actively reads the "information environment". According to Schudson, however, "the obligation of citizens to know enough to participate intelligently in governmental affairs [should] be understood as a monitorial obligation" where one scans rather than reads the "information environment". By indexing themselves as "hybrid", programs such as K-Street and Tanner '88 might encourage skepticism and therefore scanning of the "information environment", unlike "news programs" (i.e. "The News") that frame themselves as accurate and complete. In addition, fictional narrative has the power to foster viewers' personal investment in particular characters and, in this way, could provide additional incentive for active information gathering by creating narratives where characters stand to be directly affected by actual current political events and issues. Neither Tanner '88 nor K-Street appear to have harnessed this potential, however. / by Robert J. Bain, Jr. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-89). / The design of information visualization, defined as the interactive, graphical presentation of data, is on the verge of a significant paradigm shift brought on by the continued maturation of the Information Age. Its traditional role as a scientific tool deployed by rigorous data analysts is in the process of expanding to include more mainstream uses and users, reflecting fundamental changes to the role of information and data in our increasingly digital society. However, visualization design theory remains rooted in earlier conceptions of its use, largely ignoring the needs of this new, non-expert audience. Accordingly, this thesis attempts to re-contextualize information visualization as a public-facing practice, and explores ways in which its design can shift from being described as "by experts, for experts" to a new characterization as "for the people." / by Michael Danziger. / S.M.