SOME IMPORTANT LINKS FOR STUDYING THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF MEDIA
By Maximilian C. Forte
 

NOTE: 1. Resources listed below are coded for their relevance to specific sections of the course. 2. Try not to rush through these materials--take your time in examining carefully, exploring internal links, and reading as much as possible. 3. When a link has expired, sending you to "Error 4: Page Not Found"--remember that you can most likely still access the site through http://web.archive.org. Enter the expired URL, in full (like the one just shown to the left), into the "Wayback Machine", and click on one of the resulting archived pages.

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN-Canada) [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, TV]

ADORNO, Theodor, and HORKHEIMER, Max. "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception". [THEORY]
You will have probably encountered an outline of the argument advanced by Adorno at some point in AN/S 110, especially with reference to the Frankfurt School and its critique of the modern mass media. This is the full text of one of the key papers you should read in connection with the Frankfurt School.

AMERICANA: The Journal of American Popular Culture [GENERAL]
This online, open access journal may provide you with some useful supplementary articles, depending on the nature of your media research project.

American History: Booknotes--Complete notes from Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, New York: Random, 1995. [GENDER]
This text has been placed on Reserve for our course. These notes, though fairly extensive, will not substitute for a close and critical reading of the text. What they may help you to do is decided whether or not this is the right book for your project.

Anthrobase.com: Methods [ETHNOGRAPHY]
A selection of freely available full text articles on diverse aspects of ethnographic research.

Arctic Cyber Anthropology, by Neil Blair Christensen [INTERNET, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, ETHNOGRAPHY]
This is an especially well developed website that offers many materials to complement our reading (on reserve) from Christensen's book, Inuit in Cyberspace.

BARTHES, Roland. 1957. MYTHOLOGIES. [THEORY]
Barthes was one of the key figures to develop semiology, the science of signs. On this site, you will read materials related to Barthes' analysis of "mass culture".

BAUDRILLARD, Jean. "Requiem for the Media" (Ch. 19 from the The New Media Reader): Full text of chapter available online in PDF format. For the HTML version, click here. [THEORY]

Baudrillard on the Web [THEORY]
A selection of essays and papers by Jean Baudrillard.

CHRISTENSEN, Neil Blair. 1989. "Inuit in Cyberspace: Practising and Constructing Computer-Mediated Space". Full text of paper available online. [INTERNET, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES]

CONTINUUM [FILM, TV]
An online Australian cultural studies journal with many issues dedicated to film, cinema, and television.

C-THEORY: An International Journal of Theory, Technology and Culture [INTERNET, THEORY]
This is a full text, open access electronic journal that has published an extensive range of articles on cyberspace and culture as well as a wide range of book reviews.

Cultural Survival Quarterly. Back Issues on Indigenous Peoples and the Media: Aboriginal Media, Aboriginal Control; The Internet and Indigenous Groups. [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, INTERNET]

CYBERSOCIOLOGY: Sociological and Ethnographic Research of Cyberspace [INTERNET]
This site contains numerous freely accessible articles as well as an online magazine. The contents are varied, so take some time to look around.

Difference and Identity in Cyberspace [INTERNET, GENDER, ETHNICITY]
A bibliography of papers, many of them available online as full text articles, compiled by the Modern Culture and Media Program at Brown University.

ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION (EFF): Culture and Cyber Anthropology Archive [INTERNET, GENDER, ETHNICITY]
A very useful list of links to online papers on many subjects critical to the Internet section of our course. See the following articles especially: History of the Internet; A Short History of the Internet; The History of the Net; What is Cyberspace?; What is the Internet?; What is Usenet?; What is the Internet, Anyway?. The second half of this page will take you to lists of links to papers on issues such as Gender and Ethnicity.

ENZENSBERGER, Hans Magnus. "Constituents of a Theory of the Media" (Ch. 18 from The New Media Reader): Full text of chapter available online in PDF format. For the HTML version, click here. [MEDIA THEORY]

"Extremists Using Web to Spread Terror". [INTERNET, GLOBALIZATION]
This is a collection of recent news stories from mainstream press agencies, archived at Yahoo! News, focusing on how "terrorists" have been using the Internet to propagate their messages and/or images of their actions. Look for the story by the same title as this link. See also: Internet is Extremists' Channel of Choice.

FIRST MONDAY [INTERNET, THEORY, GENERAL]
This is a peer-reviewed journal available only online, with free full text access to its many issues and papers. Take the time to "mine" this site for papers that you can aid you in your research (and remember citation and plagiarism guidelines while you are at it).

First Nations Broadcasting [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, RADIO, INTERNET]

FLETCHER, Gordon. "Towards an Anthropology of Cyberspace" [INTERNET]

FQS: Forum--Qualitative Social Research [ETHNOGRAPHY, RESEARCH METHODS, MEDIA, INTERNET]
A unique resource: FQS is an open access, peer reviewed electronic journal specializing in social research methods, with an extensive array of articles, review essays, and other reviews. Make certain that you carefully search its complete database of published materials.

Gender, Race and Ethnicity in Media [GENDER, ETHNICITY, GENERAL]
From the University of Iowa's Department of Communication Studies, a very valuable directory of links to resources on Advertising; African American; Asian American; Assorted Gender & Media links; Cyberspace; Feminist Media; Indexes and Directories; Latin American; LesBiGay; Native American and other Indigenous Peoples; Print media; Television & Film; and, Other Media & Mixed Media.

GINSBURG, Faye D. "Chapter 1 -- Screen Memories: Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media". (Chapter from Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain, edited by Faye Ginsburg, Lila Abu-Lughod and Brian Larkin.) Full text of chapter available online. This item comes from one of the core texts we are using for this course. [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES]

A Guide to Ethnography [ETHNOGRAPHY, INTERNET]
Includes useful pages on how to do ethnographic research; classical and contemporary approaches in ethnography; data gathering; data analysis; understanding how people use the web by using ethnography; doing ethnography on the web.

HAKKEN, David. "Chapter One: Introduction". (From Cyborgs@Cyberspace: An Ethnographer Looks to the Future, London: Routledge, 1999): This is a freely available full text reproduction of chapter 1 from a text we are using in this course--complementing what we have on Reserve. [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY]

HARRIS, Robert. 1997. "Evaluating Internet Research Resources". [INTERNET RESEARCH METHODS]
This full text article from VirtualSalt should provide you with some useful notes about how to evaluate Internet resources that you might consider using in your research.

HODGE, Robert. 1990. "Aboriginal Truth and White Media: Eric Michaels Meets the Spirit of Aboriginalism". Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media and Culture 3 (2): full text access online. [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, TV]

HOWARD RHEINGOLD [INTERNET]
One of the pioneering pundits of cyberspace studies has produced a widely referenced website containing his many papers.

ILLUMINATIONS: The Critical Theory Website [THEORY, MEDIA]
This site will provide you with some useful introductions and sample readings from many of the major theorists that have shaped media studies in general--from Adorno, to Habermas, to Marcuse.

Interface on the Internet: Journal of the Berglund Center for Internet Studies [INTERNET]
This is a respectable source of regularly published online articles on the nature, impact and reach of the Internet.

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISDnet). Online Indigenous Communities: Using the Internet to strengthen community connectedness. [INTERNET, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES]

The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach (by Daniel Miller and Don Slater) [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY]
A very limited companion website for one of our course text's, by the same title and authors.

INVISIBLE CULTURE: An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture [FILM, TV, GENERAL]
An electronic, open access journal that specializes in visual culture--you can consider this as a subset of media studies.

IRISS: Internet Research and Information for Social Scientists [INTERNET, RESEARCH METHODS, ETHNOGRAPHY]
This is an extensive collection of papers, all available online, from a wide range of academic specialists interested in studies of the Internet.

IT & SOCIETY: A Web Journal Studying How Technology Affects Society [INTERNET]
Past issues of this online, open access e-journal have featured analyses of the digital divide, mass media, and IT and sociability.

JEFFREY, Liss. "Rethinking Audiences for Cultural Industries: Implications for Canadian Research". This is a full text paper, freely available online. Originally published in the Canadian Journal of Communication. [ETHNOGRAPHY, AUDIENCE]

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY, ETHNICITY, GENDER, GENERAL]
This is an online peer-reviewed journal. Students will find numerous papers to aid them in their research and thinking.

KARIM, K. H. 2000. "Introduction--The Islamic Peril". (From The Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence, New York: Black Rose Books). [GLOBALIZATION, ETHNICITY]
This is the introductory chapter from a text that has been placed on Reserve for this course.

KITCH, Carolyn. "Introduction" from The Girl on the Magazine Cover: The Origins of Visual Stereotypes in American Mass Media. (University of North Carolina Press, 2001). This is the full text of the first chapter of this book, also on Reserve for our course. [GENDER]

MANOVICH, Lev. "Database as a Symbolic Form". (From Chapter 5, The Language of New Media, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2001). Full text of paper online. [INTERNET, THEORY]

Marxist Media Theory, by Daniel Chandler [THEORY]
A useful page that features concise and accessible introductions to Marxist theory in broad terms and its applications to media analysis. Internal pages include the following: Introduction; Base and superstructure; Media as means of production; Ideology; Media as amplifiers; The constitution of the subject; Differences within Marxism; The Frankfurt School; Althusser; Gramsci and hegemony; Stuart Hall; Limitations of Marxist analysis; Strengths of Marxist analysis.

MASON, Bruce, and DICKS, Bella. 1999. "The Digital Ethnographer". In Cybersociology, Issue 6: Research Methodology Online. [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY]

McLUHAN, Marshall. "Two Selections by Marshall McLuhan--The Galaxy Reconfigured & The Medium is the Message". (From Ch. 13 of The New Media Reader). Full text of chapter available online. [THEORY]

McLUHAN.CA: The Marshall McLuhan Global Research Network [THEORY]

The Media and Communications Studies Site: Main Directory [GENERAL]
This is the top level directory page featuring the sub-directories of links to online articles listed below.

The Media and Communications Studies Site: Content Analysis [GENDER, ADVERTISING, METHODS, GENERAL]
Links to full text papers online, on content analysis that, however, are focused on media research pertaining to advertising, children and gender.

The Media and Communications Studies Site: Ethnicity [ETHNICITY]
Access to a range of online full text articles on ethnicity, race and the media.

The Media and Communications Studies Site: Gender [GENDER]
Access to a range of online full text articles on gender and the media.

Media Research: Books on Audience Research Methods [ETHNOGRAPHY]
Should you find that what is available in the Library, or through this course, is insufficient and/or you are interested in acquiring additional materials (either through purchase or inter-library loan), then check this annotated listing of published texts on audience research methods.

Media Studies [GENERAL]
A top level directory page from the University of Iowa's Department of Communication Studies, with links to its pages concerning: General and Mixed Media Resources; Radio; Television; Digital Media Hypertext, Cybernetics, Cyborgs and Virtual Realities; Media Watchers and Activists; Film Studies Resources; Regional Filmographies & Interpretations; and, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in Media.

MILLER, Daniel, and SLATER, Don. "Chapter One--Conclusions". (Ch. 1 from The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach): Full text of chapter available online. [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY]

The Movies, Race and Ethnicity [RACE, ETHNICITY, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, FILM]
Useful as a research resource in that this site provides a good database of films and bibliographies on how select ethnic groups have been featured in Western cinema.

NAKAMURA, Lisa. "Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet". Full text of paper available online. This paper complements some of the assigned readings we are doing for this course, and emerges from one of the texts by Nakamura placed on Reserve. [INTERNET, RACE, ETHNICITY]

NATIVE-L. SIGNALS IN THE AIR: Native Broadcasting in America. By Michael C. Keith. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut, 1995. Reviewed by Frank Haulgren. Signals in the Air is one of the texts placed on Reserve for this course. This review may help you in deciding whether or not to use this text for your research, how to use it, and which questions you might ask as you read it. [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES]

NETLAB at the University of Toronto. [INTERNET]
Online full text publications are available at this site. Contents include: I. CYBER SOCIETY: Digital Divide; Essay and Reviews; National Geographic Studies; Netville; Books; Presentations; Other Cyber Society Research Papers; Scholarly Networks; II. NETWORK SOCIETY: East York Studies; Social Network Methods; and, Social Network Theory, Reviews and Essays.

NETTIME: Talking Race and Cyberspace: Interview with Lisa Nakamura by Geert Lovink. [INTERNET, RACE]

NMEDIAC: The Journal of New Media and Culture [INTERNET, THEORY]
This is an online peer-reviewed journal that will have some items of relevance to you.

NUA: Online Internet Surveys, Demographics, Statistics and Market Research [INTERNET]
This is one of the Web's most valuable resources for articles and reports on Internet usage and accessibility across the globe.

ONLINE COMMUNITIES WEBSITE [INTERNET, ETHNOGRAPHY]
This is a valuable online resource, especially as it contains numerous chapter extracts and full text chapters from the book, freely available online. Contents include: Part One: Getting Acquainted - Chapter 1, Introduction (Complete Text); Chapter 2, Community Tours; Chapter 3, Sociability: Purpose, People and Polices; Chapter 4, Usability: Tasks, Users, Software; Chapter 5, Research Speaks to Practice: Interpersonal Communication; Chapter 6, Research Speaks to Practice: Groups; Part Two: Developing Online Communities - Chapter 7, Community-Centered Development; Chapter 8, Selecting Software; Chapter 9, Guidelines: Sociability and Usability; Chapter 10, Assessing Needs and Evaluating Communities; Chapter 11, Development Case Studies; Chapter 12, Looking to the Future.

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT [INTERNET]
Another site that contains valuable and widely quoted reports on Internet usage and accessibility.

Psychology of Cyberspace, by John Suler [INTERNET, RESEARCH METHODS]
This site offers a wide array of papers on diverse aspects of individual and group dynamics in cyberspace, as well as materials on research methods and ethics of doing research in cyberspace.

Racial Images, by Ross Woodrow: Racial Images in the Australian Popular Press of the 19th Century [RACE, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES]
Material on this site is presented in excellent depth with concise explanations and helpful illustrations.

RCCS: Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies [INTERNET, THEORY]
Essays and especially book reviews on this site may help students to better evaluate, or even choose, the texts they use for research.

RECONSTRUCTION: Studies in Contemporary Culture [THEORY, TV, CINEMA, MEDIA]
An open access electronic journal from a theoretical and cultural studies perspective, not necessarily restricted to media analysis.

REYMERS, Kurt. 2002. "Identity and the Internet: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on Computer-Mediated Social Networks". Full text article available online. [INTERNET, THEORY]

SHIELDS, Rob. "Performing Virtualities: Liminality On and Off the 'Net'". [INTERNET]

SOULES, Marshall. 2001. "Identity in Cyberspace". [INTERNET]

Stereotyping Arabs and Muslims [RACE, ETHNICITY]
Some of the items featured on this site relate to images of Arabs and Muslims in the mainstream media.

SWITCH: Social Networks [INTERNET, THEORY]
This is an online, full text journal.

UIMONEN, Paula. Internet and Globalization [INTERNET, GLOBALIZATION]
This site contains numerous papers by the author, most with a development angle.

VIRTUAL SOCIETY? The Social Science of Electronic Technologies [INTERNET]
A collection of reports, project news and conferences on the social scientific study of the Internet, focused primarily on work done in the UK.

WAWATAY: First Nations News and Broadcasting [INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, INTERNET]

Web Archive in Visual Anthropology [FILM, GENERAL]
This site specializes in providing open access, full text reproductions of out of print books (classics in many cases), as well as unpublished doctoral dissertations. While some of these items are already listed on our Free Books Online page, there are additional ones here that you may be interested in.

WIRED Magazine [INTERNET, GENERAL]
Many of the topics in this online magazine may not be of immediate relevance to our course, but there will be a great many articles archived here that will be of relevance to some issues we study--do a careful search.

WRIGHT, Michelle. "Racism and Technology" [RACE, INTERNET]
A full text article published in Switch.