Media Materialities : Form, Format, and Ephemeral Meaning

Provides new perspectives onthe increasingly complex relationshipsbetween media forms and formats,materiality and meaning. Drawing on arange of qualitative methodologies, ourconsideration of the materiality of mediais structured around three overarchingconcepts: form - the physical qualities ofobjects and the meanings which extendfrom them; format - objects considered inrelation to the protocols which governtheir use and the meanings and practiceswhich stem from them; and ephemeralmeaning - the ways in which mediaartefacts are captured, transformed andredefined through changing social,cultural and technological values.Each section includes empirical chapterswhich provide expansive discussions ofperspectives on media and materiality.It considers a range of media artefactssuch as 8 mm film, board games maps,videogames, cassette tapes, transistorradios and Twitter, amongst others. Theseare punctuated with a number of shorttakes - less formal, often personal takesexploring the meanings of media incontext.We seek

to consider the materialitieswhich emerge across the broad andvariegated range of the term's use and tocreate spaces for conversation anddebate about the implications that thisplurality of material meanings might havefor the study of study of media, culture and society. [Publisher's text]

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