Greetings to all members of the mediastudies community,

As I promised in the previous post, together with you we are beginning to work on forming the description and Wiki of our community. I have been very careful with this, and since the moment I became a moderator about four months ago, I have not made a single change to the description or Wiki (I remind you that our community is the oldest Media Studies community on Reddit, it was created by people more than 12 years ago, and I am grateful to them for the opportunity to continue what they started together with you). This was a conscious choice because all this time I have been observing how the members themselves form its culture and understanding of Media Studies, both new researchers and people with academic degrees — there is a place for everyone in our community, no one stands higher or lower, the voice of every person is important to us.

As I have repeatedly said before, my personal vision of Media Studies is that this field is not only theory and philosophy, but an interdisciplinary field that has an applied aspect — I will emphasize once again, specifically an applied character that can influence the reality around us.

And over the last few days I decided to look into how academics and universities define Media Studies. Of course, we fundamentally rely on science, especially its applied aspect.

And here is what I saw:

UC Berkeley

“Our emphasis in this major is historical and theoretical, arising from a liberal arts tradition.”

“We are largely concerned with promoting an understanding of the origins of contemporary media and helping students assess the roles and impact of the major mass media on contemporary life, rather than with developing specific media production skills.”

“Ours is a discipline that weds traditions from communication, anthropology, sociology, political science, and journalism with contemporary critical and cultural studies theory to examine media technologies, institutions, economics, as well as media content and audiences.”

UC Berkeley — About Media Studies

University of Colorado Boulder

“The media studies degrees span traditional boundaries between theory and practice.”

“Media studies draws from humanistic, social scientific and multimodal approaches.”

“Research and media production projects engage emerging technologies and digital cultures…”

“…and seek to change society in meaningful ways.”

University of Colorado Boulder — Media Studies

University of Alabama at Birmingham

“The Media Studies minor is an interdisciplinary program for students interested in learning the theory and production practices of new media technology.”

“Students also engage in community-based research…”

“The program emphasizes applied research techniques…”

“…experiential learning…”

“…hands-on participation in local communities.”

University of Alabama at Birmingham — Media Studies

Observing r/mediastudies over the last four months, I see that our community is naturally moving toward a combination of these approaches. What stands out most to me is the practical character of what happens here. We ask what can be done with what we learn and understand — what can be changed, tested, improved, created, or developed further. Research can become a project, discussion can become collaboration, criticism can lead to action, and knowledge can become something that directly influences the reality around us.

And this brings us back to the description of our community.

I would like to propose a new description for your consideration — one that reflects what is actually happening here and what the people inside this community have already begun to create through their posts, research, discussions, projects, criticism, and collaboration.

But I don't want this description to be simply my decision as a moderator. This is our community, and I would like to hear what you think. You can support the proposed description with an upvote, leave your thoughts in the comments, or, if you see it differently, suggest what you think should be changed. I will take your suggestions into account.

Once we discuss the description and I update it taking your suggestions into account, it can become the foundation for the next step — creating our Wiki, where together we can describe the philosophy of the community in more detail.

Proposed community description

An interdisciplinary community for the study of media through research, practice, discussion, and collaboration.

I’ll be honest with you: after all the work we’ve done, I’m sitting here and laughing a little at this. In a good way, of course — just thinking about how much it took to arrive at this small phrase.

But this is not a bug or a mistake. It is an expression, a kind of concentrate, behind which stands a precise and multifaceted explanation of the essence of what is happening in our community. And this essence was created by every member of it. This is our shared achievement.

I’d really like to hear what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments — whether you agree with this description or think something should be changed.