Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-137). / Many of today's most popular single-player videogames contain short, semi-interactive sequences of tightly scripted, visually spectacular action gameplay, which-despite being generally unrepresentative of a game's 'normal' functions-tend to receive prominent placement in the marketing campaigns that produce desire for the games they appear in. As prevalent as they have become, these setpieces (as they are called in gamers' parlance) are often critically dismissed as mere eye-candy-proof, perhaps, of the skewed priorities of an industry that would sacrifice the interactive substance of games in favor of surface qualities that enhance only their commercial appeal. This thesis attempts to place the technique of AAA videogame setpieces within a series of wider technical, aesthetic, commercial, and cultural problematics relating to the contemporary games industry. It seeks to address the question of the setpiece's artistic merit directly, by understanding the design principles that inform setpieces' creation, and-for the sake of critical context-the aesthetic, cultural, and commercial imperatives these principles exist to serve. Following a historical poetics approach that relates practices of media exhibitionism to the perpetual innovation economy of digital games, this thesis argues that the setpiece is a meaningful site of fluid agency play within games, enabling complex narrative expression as well as self-reflexive comment about a game's own relationship to a continuously reimagined technological state of the art. / by Sonny Sidhu. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "June 2013." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-88). / Information visualizations are an important means through which we communicate knowledge. By considering visualizations as data-driven narratives, this thesis uses narrative thinking as an orienting concept to support the production and evaluation of information visualizations. It proposes a set of guides that are central to future developments in the visualization of information through the analysis of historical examples and a design-based research process resulting in a system called the Royal Society Network. This thesis investigates the themes of various types of objectivity, the layering of quantitative and qualitative methods, the parallel relationship between investigation and visualization, and the graphical nature of statistical thinking. It then identifies transparency, hybridity, and investigation as the central concepts to visualization, where transparency is the communication of underlying structures to end users and is expressed through the building of interface elements as equal components to visualization, the recording and visual incorporation of usage patterns, and the representation of uncertainty; where hybridity is-in terms of both method and form-expressed through the use of quantitative and qualitative methods to drive visualizations forward and the use of multiple graphical forms to aid in understanding and providing contextual information; and where the investigative quality of visualizations is based on the coordination of grain size and axis of representation with the author's line of inquiry. / by Jia Zhang. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita. / Includes bibliographical references. / The last decade has seen the rise of new technologies for making information more broadly available and accessible. Variously called 'user-generated content,' 'social media,''social news,' 'crowd-curation,' and so on, these design conventions, algorithmic arrangements, and user practices have been widely praised for 'democratizing' media by lowering the barriers to publishing, accrediting, and aggregating information. Intermediary platforms like Facebook, reddit, and Twitter, among others, are generally expected to elicit valuable knowledge through the algorithmic filtering mechanisms broadly distributed among their users. This thesis investigates user-generated censorship: an emergent mode of intervention by which users strategically manipulate social media to suppress speech. It shows that the tools designed to help make information more available have been repurposed and reversed to make it less available. Case studies reveal that these platforms, far from being neutral pipes through which information merely travels, are in fact contingent sociotechnical systems upon and through which users effect their politics through the power of algorithms. By strategically pulling the levers which make links to sites more or less visible, users recompose the representations of the world produced by social media, altering pathways of access and availability and changing the flow of information. This thesis incorporates insights from media studies, sociology, law and policy, information science, and science-technology studies to study user-generated censorship. It contributes to a broader conversation now emerging across fields which seeks to explore and understand the politics of our developing social media systems. / by Christopher E. Peterson. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / "June 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-113). / In light of calls that civic participation is declining, efforts are underway to replace outdated, unproductive forms of citizenship. With the majority of Americans now connected to the Internet, community leaders see the digital realm as the new frontier for promoting engagement. Increasingly, digital games are being designed for the express purpose of promoting community engagement and social action. My thesis examines this emerging practice of civic game design. Within this thesis, I analyze several cases wherein games have served as successful tools for fostering civic learning and promoting further civic action. An analysis of Darfur is Dying (2006) reveals how casual serious games can deliver short, persuasive messages that compel players to take direct action outside of the game. Participatory Chinatown (2010) shows how a locally networked online game can transform a face-to-face community meeting through the use of digital role-play. I ground this analysis historically by looking to the 1960s and 70s for examples of non-digital civic games. Fair City (1970) helped local residents understand and navigate the complexities of a federal urban development program, and The Most Dangerous Game (1967) shows the sophistication of designers of this era with a serious game that reached thousands of players though the use of television and phone networks. Together, all of these games point to a growing field of design and research that will continue to influence how everyday citizens engage in civic life. / by Steven M. Schirra. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-114). / Look around you. What unassuming skills or assets are just bursting with potential? Meet the peer economy, where people monetize skills and assets they already have using online, peer-to-peer marketplaces. Lyft, Shapeways, Etsy, Skillshare... these platforms enable strangers to transact confidently. Instead of education, reskilling or being network rich, new marketplaces emerge everyday to reconfigure people's existing assets and skills into income generating opportunities. Airbnb, TaskRabbit, KitchenSurfing, Postmates... From small-scale manufacturing to space sharing to personal services, amateurs and professionals alike can easily jump in. As an alternative to full-time employment with benefits-a 20 century model worn thin-the peer economy (sometimes called the "sharing economy") is setting imaginations on fire. At its best, the peer economy can reintegrate people who are defined out of the traditional workplace and, therefore, the traditional economy (the elderly, homemakers, those with varying physical and mental ableness, those at risk for human trafficking, etc.). At its worst, it exploits human labor and degrades human dignity. Between positive and negative speculations, I have identified five particularly sticky issues: 1. Can peer economy opportunities comprise a livable work lifestyle? 2. Who is accountable when something goes wrong? 3. Do legal classifications override social relationships? 4. Can providers cultivate a collective voice? 5. How do peer economy actors historically contextualize the model? The thesis begins with a historical overview of how we have arrived at this moment of possibility. The second act brings readers up to speed on conversation among investors, startups, cities, policy makers, entrenched interests, media, scholars and critics, and labor advocates. As antecedents to the peer economy, I introduce marginalized movements in the third chapter that could inform how the peer economy develops; I believe that this space can be a distributed network that matchmakces providers' needs with capacity across the sector. From 2013-2014, I conducted ethnographic field research to suss out emergent needs among peer economy providers, and I summarize the results in chapter four before finally tying together why the peer economy-regardless of speculation-has been so captivating. This thesis is a confluence of historical analysis, economic theory, sociology, rhetorical analysis, qualitative and ethnographic fieldwork, and legal precedents that culminates in interventions for the peer economy. First and foremost, it considers whether the peer economy is a livable work lifestyle. The peer economy is a charismatic and rapidly spreading concept that is fundamentally transforming the way many people think about employment. / by Denise Fung Cheng. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-173). / Crowdfunding, the raising of capital from a large and diverse pool of donors via online platforms, has grown exponentially in the past five years, spurred by the rise of Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. While legislative attention in the US has turned to the potential to use crowdfunding as a means of raising capital for companies, less attention has been paid to the use of crowdfunding for civic projects - projects involving either directly or indirectly, the use of government funds, assets or sponsorship, which may include the development of public assets. This project analyzes the subgenre of civic crowdfunding from three perspectives. First, it provides a comprehensive quantitative overview of the subgenre of civic crowdfunding, its most common project types and its geographic distribution. Second, it describes three edge cases, projects that, while uncommon, demonstrate the current limits, aspirations and potential future path of the subgenre. Third, it analyzes the historical and intellectual paradigms within which civic crowdfunding projects and platforms are operating: whether they are best located within the historical context of community fundraising, participatory planning, entrepreneurial culture or a combination of the three. In addressing these questions, the thesis will explore the potential benefits and challenges of using crowdfunding as a means of executing community-oriented projects in the built environment, and offer proposals for how public and non-profit institutions can engage with crowdfunding to realize civic outcomes. / by Rodrigo Davies. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 115-119). / We live in an era of unprecedented growth in the use and impact of data. While large institutions are using data about individuals to drive decision-making, small organizations and civic hackers are using open and public data to innovate for social good. Meanwhile, the educational and informational resources to enable individuals to understand this data remain scarce. Individuals and communities are often unaware of the data being collected about them, the data they are contributing, and the ways in which that data is being used. Although the Open Data movement has given some individuals a new opportunity to interface with data directly, the public at large lacks the skills and knowledge to take advantage of this opportunity. This thesis argues that we need to support the public - especially youth - in developing data literacy, so that they are equipped to think critically and ethically about data. I make this case in four ways. First, I contextualize the need for data literacy by describing the historical evolution of institutional data collection practices, contemporary uses of data that have had a profound impact on institutions and individuals, and the potentially problematic consequences of data modeling. Second, I propose a definition of "data literacy," situate the concept within the landscape of new media literacies, and describe settings, methodologies, and tools that can be used to support it. Third, I analyze two data literacy initiatives that enable youth to use data to investigate and address real-world issues: one in an informal learning environment, Young Rewired State's Festival of Code, and the other in a public school, City Digits: Local Lotto. Fourth, I analyze the challenges facing data literacy initiatives - from the constraints of the public school environment, to the challenges of reaching diverse audiences and supporting open-ended learning. I propose three design principles to guide researchers, educators, and practitioners in shaping future data literacy initiatives. / by Erica Deahl. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 90-101). / In the early twentieth century, the emergence of national market and maturation of color printing technologies brought a revolution in advertising. Consumers received and collected many colorful advertising images and pasted them into scrapbooks. Nowadays, a group of visually-driven social commerce sites like Pinterest.com provides a platform on which both businesses and consumer-collectors publish, collect, and circulate images en masse. This thesis examines historical scrapbooks as well as a variety of Pinterest collections through the theoretical lens of sociology to determine whether Pinterest enables new modes of collection, consumption and community formation. This thesis shows that while collections of commercial images of products are often spaces in which we express consumer desires for products and engage in hedonistic imaginative play, the socially-networked nature of Pinterest allows a new type of malleable, global and taste-based community to develop that can engage in collective imaginative play. / by Lingyuxiu Zhong. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 83-85). / The Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) series of comic books have, since 1967, dominated the market for domestic comic books in India. In this thesis, I examine how these comics function as public culture, creating a platform around which groups and individuals negotiate and re-negotiate their identities (religious, class, gender, regional, national) through their experience of the mass-media phenomenon of ACK. I also argue that the comics, for the most part, toe a conservative line - drawing heavily from Hindu nationalist schools of thought. In order to demonstrate these arguments, I examine selected groups of ACK titles closely in the first two chapters. I perform a detailed content analysis of these comics, considering the ways in which they draw upon history and primary texts, the artistic and editorial choices as well the implications of these decisions. In the third chapter, I draw a picture of the consumption of these comics, studying the varying interpretations and reactions that fans across generations have had to the works, connecting their conversations to my argument about ACK as public culture. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the extent of ACK's role in the popular imagination of its large readership as well as the part it plays in the negotiation of their identities as Indians. / by Abhimnanyu Das. / S.M.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, September 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "August 2009." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 95-99). / This thesis attempts to uncover the emotional and cultural economics of material culture. What does it mean for material good to be "fake"? What are the salient aspects that are being copied and are those aspects purely material? How does counterfeit branded fashion function as craft, as commodity, and as idea? The first chapter, Productions, looks not just at how fakes are made but what makes a fake, at how fake branded luxury goods are produced, both materially and immaterially. The second, Exchanges, examines the three most common sites of exchange, street markets, online message boards, and purse parties, and how the culture of exchange at each site produces a value specific to that site. The final chapter, Ownerships, explores how owners and observers make meaning from branded luxury goods, real and fake, and how, more specifically, how emerging legal discourses misunderstand the nature of creativity in fashion. To conclude, it considers what it might mean, more holistically, to use branded objects made, bought, and used outside of authorized channels, to constitute everyday life. / by Deja Elana Swartz. / S.M.