Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, May, 2020 / Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-75). / The furry fandom is a loose-knit online subculture of fans devoted to anthropomorphic animal characters. Furries are not necessarily fans of specific media properties, but instead often create their own media, including the "fursona," an anthropomorphic animal character to represent oneself in the community. Conducting empirical research through interviews, participant observation, auto ethnography, and virtual ethnography, I have sought to understand this aspect of furry identity and sociality through a number of disciplinary lenses. In this thesis, I argue that furry queers fandom through several interrelated processes: severing fandom from textual objects; developing queer sex publics; paving new pathways to queer becoming; and displacing online identity through stylized, affective modes of embodiment. These fan practices, as articulated through the fursona, cohere into a queer worlding of virtual spaces. / by Ben Silverman. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies / S.M.inComparativeMediaStudies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2018 / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-112). / This thesis examines organizational practices in the field of youth online privacy in the Americas. I describe harms created by protective, universalist, individualistic approaches that pose youth as conditional citizens, and make a case for approaches based instead on youth agency, intersectional views of privacy, collective responsibility, and the recognition of youth as subjects of rights today. I demonstrate organizational practices that align with this vision, such as codesign and institutional youth involvement; particular consideration of the needs and rights of marginalized youth; actions that emphasize the role of sociotechnical structures in the defense of youth's right to privacy; the creation of opportunities for intergenerational learning; the use of advocacy frames such as harm reduction and equality; and the reliance on local and creative narratives that resonate with youth. My methods consisted of eighteen semi-structured interviews and an organizational literature review of eighteen organizations that work at the intersections of youth development, personal data protection, digital rights, and countersurveillance. / by Mariel Garcia-Montes. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies / S.M.inComparativeMediaStudies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2017. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / "September 2017." Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-109). / Over the past several decades, computers have allowed for the increasingly voluminous and rapid ingest of images. These images, made for machine legibility, are called "operational images," a term coined by Harun Farocki. They are made for machines, by machines; they are not made to represent an object, but are part of an operation. Yet these operational images are only the most recent chapter in a longer history of logistical and instrumental use of images. Through the history of cartography, surveillance, and reconnaissance runs a long tale of instrumentalization, a history of calculable images primed for machine-readability. Before computers allowed for a truly "operational" image that could be harvested and interpreted independently, there were many other logistical images -- only these predecessors kept humans in the operational loop. These days, so-called deep learning allows for a new development in the operational image -- not only are humans excluded, but machines are performing inscrutable assessments; they interpret images and provide conclusions while their rationales remain opaque. These images are part of an interpretive turn. This sort of image use is difficult to demystify, confront, and confound. To contemplate effective strategies, it helps to look at the broader context of subversion of the logistical image, reaching back to early instances of artistic intervention to help inform the present and future. / by Nathan Saucier. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 21-23). / Humans have been entranced by butterflies for thousands of years. This thesis parses apart the complex interactions between humans and butterflies, focusing specifically on people whose lifestyles are significantly intertwined with butterflies. On-site research observing butterfly collectors, breeders, museum curators, photographers and conservationists was conducted, along with historical and biological research. The effect of humans on butterflies was also analyzed, and it was discovered that enthusiasts often have unexpected impacts on butterfly populations. / by Sarah Mae Yu. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2013. / Vita. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 27-30). / The next era of medicine will be one of personalization, scientists and physicians promise. Personalized medicine is a refined clinical approach in which clinicians will utilize your genomic information to help you prevent disease, and tailor targeted therapies for you when you fall ill. This is the future science has slowly been approaching. However, the human genome is not enough, not unless we can decipher its language. One ambitious study to this effect is the Personal Genome Project, led by Dr. George Church at Harvard Medical School. This project will eventually recruit 100,000 volunteers to donate their genomes and a full body of information concerning their biological health. With this data, Church hopes others can cross-analyze these profiles and better determine the role in disease of each gene of the human genome. However, the Personal Genome Project is as much a study in the ethical, legal and social aspects of genomic studies as it is an effort toward personalized medicine. Church envisions a future where privacy cannot be guaranteed. Society is becoming more open and technology is more invasive than ever. Considering this, Church has informed his participants that their information will likely not remain anonymous. With their fully informed consent, he has in turn made all this data public, to promote open science. This ethical approach raises several important questions about expansive genomic studies. The scientific community will have to decide on an approach that will eventually deliver personalized medicine. On one end of the spectrum, there is Church's open approach, and the other, more security, more firewalls and more legislation. In order for personalized medicine to become a reality, society will have to prepare itself for our ever-changing ethical, technological and scientific landscape. / by Abdul-Kareem H. Ahmed. / S.M.in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Science Writing, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies, 2015. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 20-26). / The sense of smell is a mystery-and the human sense of smell is a particularly inscrutable one. Only in the last 25 years have scientists identified the molecules in our noses responsible for detecting odors, and since then, the unexpected discovery of a new family of olfactory detection molecules has complicated the story. When the complexities of the human brain, human motivation, and human variation are added to the mix, the question of what smells do to and for us becomes even more perplexing-and intriguing. Essayist and physician Lewis Thomas wrote that understanding the sense of smell "may not seem a profound enough problem to dominate all the life sciences, but it contains, piece by piece, all the mysteries." Scientists from all fields are coming together to solve these mysteries of olfaction, and their investigations are starting to reveal that the sense of smell can move us in ways that we aren't even always aware. While it's clear that scientists are far from closing the case on smell, it is also becoming increasingly obvious that the power of the human nose is nothing to sniff at. / by Rachel A. Becker. / S.M. in Science Writing

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2016. / 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 (pages 83-86). / Virtual reality, as the name implies, is implicitly evaluated by its ability to reproduce or imitate aspects of reality, particularly in ways that convince users that they are physically present in the virtual space. This approach to the medium, a form of immediacy, effaces the material reality of the medium and can obscure the ways through which a medium can offer new forms of knowledge. Virtual reality's realism is a construct, and by acknowledging this, creators can push the medium to more experimental and novel ends. The framework of embodied montage proposed in this thesis seeks to provide an expressive vocabulary and techniques for creating virtual reality work that accounts for the material aspects of the medium. Drawing on theoretical research from film and media theory, analyzing existing virtual reality work, and discussing the process of creating an original virtual reality work, I analyze the 3D capture and interaction design process. I offer the term machine vision perspective to describe the process of experiencing such images through virtual reality systems. This process provides a ground to experiment with embodied modes of thinking that are not possible with the human body situated in the real world. This makes embodied montage, a novel framework proposed by this thesis, possible. Embodied montage is the decoupling and recoupling of action and perception in virtual reality experiences in order to generate new meanings, similar to montage in film. Drawing on film theory, media history and cognitive science, this framework creates a territory for creative expression that challenges embodied cognitive structures and could effectively use the medium in ways that are distinguished from other media forms. / by Halil Deniz Tortum. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Humanities, 2017. / "June 2017." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 106-111). / The improbable election of Donald Trump relied on myriad factors. Among the most important of these, I argue here, was Trump's deft use of the social media site Twitter, which Trump used as a means to both communicate with his supporters directly, and to reach a far wider audience in the mainstream media. In adopting this hybrid communications strategy, Trump's political communications reached a wider audience, on a sturdier basis, than earlier figures who had similarly adopted what I dub a "paranoid populist" philosophy. I present case studies of two of these historical figures, Charles Coughlin, whose radio "sermons" reached millions in the 1930s, and Pat Robertson, whose cable television network inspired a devout following from afar. The grander political ambitions of both Coughlin and Robertson were stymied by a combination of technological, legal and economic factors, which did not serve to constrain Trump's candidacy in the same way. Instead, Trump's hybrid use of Twitter blended the breadth of Coughlin's audience with the depth of Robertson's following, providing him both an unfiltered line of communication to his supporters and a means of reaching a far wider audience through the provocative nature of his pronouncements. Through a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis, I illustrate the extent of Trump's paranoid populism on Twitter, and explain how Trump secured an avalanche of mainstream media coverage through the eternally controversial nature of his candidacy. I conclude with some reflections on Trump's early presidency, and his evolving use of Twitter as a platform for decrying the very news organizations without whose coverage his election would have proved impossible. / by Josh Cowls. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-168). / In the current political climate in the United States, much attention has been paid to the role of the press in our increasingly polarized society and to what extent it exacerbates or mends divisions. While the majority of that analysis is focused on national politics and news outlets, the role of local media and the crucial role it plays in civic life has been often neglected in the wider debate. In this thesis, I argue that local journalism is critical as a tool for informing citizens so they can be civically engaged and hold the powerful accountable, as well as keeping communities together. Methodologically, this thesis seeks to incorporate the worlds of both media theory and journalism practice. To understand the role local news plays in society, I utilize various theoretical frameworks, but particularly that of James Carey and his explanation of the "transmission" and "ritual" functions of communication. In my more expansive understanding of these theories, I suggest the transmission role encompasses the ways in which local journalism informs citizens on matters of public interest so that they can participate in democracy and keeps the powerful in check. The ritual model highlights the often-ignored but significant manner in which local media serves a vehicle for community identification and maintaining societal bonds. After explaining the decades-long economic decline of the local media industry, I survey the various projects and experiments in the fields of journalism and philanthropy that are seeking to revive or at least prevent local news outlets from disappearing. In the final chapter, which is based on my field research and uses a style of journalistic reportage rather than academic writing, I profile several new local news initiatives in West Virginia and Kentucky. While these projects are too recent to yet offer any definitive results, I conclude with some initial takeaways and a discussion of possible metrics to measure their success in the future. As a final note, I argue that the various sectors working to save the news industry from economic collapse, restore trust in the media and combat political polarization and strengthen democracy should consider focusing their efforts on sustaining local journalism as a means to address all three. / by Sara Rafsky. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies

Thesis: S.M. in Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-106). / As the media landscape in the United States has shifted and changed, the emphasis placed on digital technologies - particularly with respect to audience engagement - has become increasingly noteworthy. However, when situated against a backdrop of risk communications and sensationalized spectacle, such an emphasis also becomes concerning. This thesis examines the audience engagement considerations and practices of the media industry at present through a discussion of current social media policies and practices, a discussion of the affordances and constraints of social media as they relate to public health communications concerns, and an analysis of the affective implications of the heavy emphasis placed on images used on social media. This breakdown is partnered with a data-oriented exploration of U.S. audience trends and U.S. media coverage of the 2014 Ebola and 2015-2017 Zika outbreaks to underscore the perception gap that U.S. audiences are contending with. In doing so, I use a theoretical framework of sensationalism, gatekeeping, and media figurations to argue that audience engagement is not merely a journalistic, revenue-oriented concern - it is a public health concern too. / by Aashka Dave. / S.M. in Comparative Media Studies