MIT is a flexible program that gives you the opportunity to build a degree program to suit your interests and goals. After first year, you’ll take required courses in Political Economy of Media, The Matter of Technology, The History of Communication, Mapping Media and Cultural Theory, and Text, Lies and Digital Media. In your senior years of the program, you’ll have the freedom to choose electives in MIT that cover a wide range of media-related topics.
If you’d prefer a more structured approach to selecting your MIT electives, we encourage you to consider grouping thematically-linked courses into “elective concentrations.” Not only will elective concentrations give you an overview of what MIT has to offer and highlight some of the Faculty’s strengths in teaching and research, but they also provide ideas for grouping courses to help you plan for possible academic or career paths after graduation.
Can’t find an MIT course on this list? You won’t find all of our course offerings included in the elective concentrations below. But if a course has been offered in the past three years, and fits into an elective concentration, you’ll find it here:
Browse by Elective Concentration, followed by a the list of associated elective courses
Media, Identity and Diversity
Media representations shape our identities, defining gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, ability and disability, human and non-human. The courses in this concentration look at how media sign-systems construct our subjectivity and at how dominant definitions can be challenged and altered. Media, Information and Technoculture 2372F/G – Feminist Perspectives and Practices in the Online World
Media, Information and Technoculture 2375F/G - Sexuality and the Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 2510F/G - Race, Ethnicity, and Technology
Media, Information and Technoculture 2901F/G - Social Movements and Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 2934F/G - First Nations in the News
Media, Information and Technoculture 3200F/G - Rebels and Rogues: Outlaws in Culture and Theory
Media, Information and Technoculture 3210F/G - Media Representations of Women
Media, Information and Technoculture 3212F/G - Organizing Post-War Masculinity
Media, Information and Technoculture 3218F/G - Technology, Democracy, and Postwar America
Media, Information and Technoculture 3353F/G - Exile in Guyville?: Popular Music and Gender
Media, Information and Technoculture 3931F/G - Century of Genocide
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 3402F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Children, Advertising and Consumer Culture (Fall 2009, Summer 2010, Fall 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3433G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Deviant Divas (Winter, 2010, Winter 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3435F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Women’s TV: History, Gender, Feminism (Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3442F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Television and US Social Movements in the 1960s (Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3440G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Sports, Media and Society (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3772G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Cartoons (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3775F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Forever Young: Fang-Ophilia in Contemporary Media Culture (Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3850F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Issues in Identity and Community in Online Environments (Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3871F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Hollywood (Fall 2010, Winter 2011)
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Virtual Worlds and Interactive Media
Explore virtual worlds, online games, networked communities, new media and e-learning. The concentration includes courses on online identity, gender in cyberspace, videogame culture, Web 2.0, digital design, web animation, and surveillance and privacy.
Media, Information and Technoculture 2371F/G - Cyber-Life: Communication in the Digital Age
Media, Information and Technoculture 2372F/G – Feminist Perspectives and Practices in the Online World
Media, Information and Technoculture 2374F/G - Social Networking: Theory & Practice
Media, Information and Technoculture 2376F/G - The Next Generation Web
Media, Information and Technoculture 3200F/G - Rebels and Rogues: Outlaws in Culture and Theory
Media, Information and Technoculture 3371F/G - Game On! Video Game Culture, Technology, and Industry
Media, Information and Technoculture 3601A/B - Animation and Rich Media for the Web
Media, Information and Technoculture 3718F/G - Work in a Wired World
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2412F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Blogging: For Passion, Politics or Profit (Fall 2009, Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3436G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Cyborgs and Visual Culture (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3771F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Net-Work: Labour and Profit on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Web 2.0 (Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3850F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: ‘New Media’ Theories and Production (Fall 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3405G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Digital Literature (Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3650G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Social Networking in Everyday Life: Social Relations, Social Movements and Privacy (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3653G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Virtual Worlds: Theory and Practice (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3775G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Bubble, Pop, Electric: Japanese Visual and Technoculture (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3850F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Issues in Identity and Community in Online Environments (2009)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3852G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Social Media and Organizations (Winter 2012) Back to the top
Information Society
Discover how, in the age of Google, access to and control over information is a major force in our lives. Courses examine search engines and surveillance, data mining, Web 2.0, copyright and piracy, information-work and information technologies.
Media, Information and Technoculture 2020F/G - Legal Foundations of Media and Information
Media, Information and Technoculture 2021F/G - Legal and Ethical Issues in Multimedia
Media, Information and Technoculture 2376F/G - The Next Generation Web
Media, Information and Technoculture 2377F/G - Propaganda in Print and Visual Culture
Media, Information and Technoculture 3110F/G - Global Political Economy of Information
Media, Information and Technoculture 3115F/G - Search Engines and Data Mining
Media, Information and Technoculture 3130F/G - The New Political Economy of Information: Networked Capitalism
Media, Information and Technoculture 3718F/G - Work in a Wired World
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 3405G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Digital Literature (Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3432G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Untangle the Web: Search Engines and Data Mining (Winter 2010, Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3663F – Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Search and Discovery (Fall 2011)
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Cultural Industries
Popular culture is shaped by industrial complexes such as the major film studios and music labels, the videogames business, comic book publishing, and radio and television networks. This concentration examines these cultural industries, and includes courses on celebrity culture, the role of audiences and fans, reality TV, global media corporations, and the myths and realities of creative cultural work.
Media, Information and Technoculture 2305A/B - Radio and Television as Entertainment Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 2350F/G - Popular Music in Society
Media, Information and Technoculture 3210F/G - Media Representations of Women
Media, Information and Technoculture 3211F/G - The Culture of Celebrity
Media, Information and Technoculture 3213F/G - Media and Audiences
Media, Information and Technoculture 3214F/G - Advertising and the Mass Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 3352F/G - Music, Media and Globalization
Media, Information and Technoculture 3353F/G - Exile in Guyville?: Popular Music and Gender
Media, Information and Technoculture 3371F/G - Game On! Video Game Culture, Technology, and Industry
Media, Information and Technoculture 3832F/G - Documentary Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 3932F/G - Politics & Representations of Food
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2403G – Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture Course Topic: The Complexities of Sports-Media (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2403G/2405G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Mythologies We Live By: Advertising (Winter 2009, Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2406G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Tales of Tinseltown (Winter 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3402F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Children, Advertising and Consumer Culture (Fall 2009, Summer 2010, Fall 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3403G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Advertising’s Century (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3404F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Media Convergence (Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3404G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Media and Audiences: Museum Culture (Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3436G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: The Real Things (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3651G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Video Killed the Radio Star: Music Videos, MTV, and the Birth of New Music (Winter 2011, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3772G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Cartoons (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3851G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Critical Perspectives in Advertising (Summer 2010,Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3871F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Hollywood (Fall 2010, Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3772G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Cultural Labour (Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3774F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Babies, Buyers, and Beyond!: Advertising and the Youth Consumer Culture (Fall 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3932F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Media Convergence (Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
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Political Economy of Media
The political economy of media studies how communication is influenced by power and wealth. This concentration examine the relation of media to globalized capitalism, the place of a media in culture of consumption, the corporate exploitation of media workers, and at movements for digital democracy and independent media. Media, Information and Technoculture 2211F/G - Foundations of Global Communication
Media, Information and Technoculture 2371F/G - Cyber-Life: Communication in the Digital Age
Media, Information and Technoculture 3110F/G - Global Political Economy of Information
Media, Information and Technoculture 3130F/G - The New Political Economy of Information: Networked Capitalism
Media, Information and Technoculture 3216F/G - The Culture of Consumption
Media, Information and Technoculture 3217F/G - Public Opinion
Media, Information and Technoculture 3718F/G - Work in a Wired World
Media, Information and Technoculture 3352F/G - Music, Media and Globalization
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2401G/2402G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Pop Culture: Agency and Structure in a World of Commodities (Winter 2009, Fall 2010, Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2412F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Blogging: For Passion, Politics or Profit (Fall 2009, Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3221F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Photography, Politics, History (Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3437F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: International Media and Social Change (Fall 2010, Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3439F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Music and Creative Labour (Fall 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3651F/3875G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Brave New Wireless World/Mobile Media (Fall 2010, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3771F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Net-Work: Labour and Profit on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Web 2.0 (Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3772G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Cultural Labour (Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3871F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Hollywood (Fall 2010, Winter 2011)
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Popular Music and Society
These courses focus on popular music as a vital part of media culture. Courses examine topics such as the music business, music and gender, digital music, popular music on television and music celebrities. Calendar Courses
Media, Information and Technoculture 2350F/G - Popular Music in Society
Media, Information and Technoculture 2550A/B - Digital Music: An Introduction
Media, Information and Technoculture 3211F/G - The Culture of Celebrity
Media, Information and Technoculture 3352F/G - Music, Media and Globalization
Media, Information and Technoculture 3353F/G - Exile in Guyville?: Popular Music and Gender
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 3445B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Sound in Media: Audio Production in Radio, Film & Television (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3439F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Music and Creative Labour (Fall 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3651G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Video Killed the Radio Star: Music Videos, MTV, and the Birth of New Music (Winter 2011, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3653G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Mediation of Music Through Sound Recording (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3660B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Digital Audio & Music in Media (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3663B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Representing Reality: Video Theory & Production (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3772G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Political Economy of Cultural Labour (Winter 2010)
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Media and Culture in Practice
This concentration brings together theoretical perspectives on media with practical experience in the making of videos, music and virtual images. The emphasis is on the combination of high-level conceptual analysis with an introduction to production methods
Media, Information and Technoculture 2550A/B - Digital Music: An Introduction
Media, Information and Technoculture 2570A/B - Introduction to Digital Imaging and Web Site Design
Media, Information and Technoculture 2600A/B - Introduction to Graphic Design
Media, Information and Technoculture 3601A/B - Animation and Rich Media for the Web
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2660A/B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Intro to Video Production, Theory and Practice (Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2445B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Podcasting: Theory and Practice (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3445B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Sound in Media, Audio Production in Radio, Film & Television (Winter 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3660B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Digital Music: Advanced (Winter 2010, Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3663B - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Representing Reality: Video Theory and Production (Winter 2012)
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Advertising and Promotional Culture
Courses in this concentration deal with the role of advertising, promotion and marketing in our culture, the relation of these practices to a ‘consumer society’, the connections between advertising and propaganda, the ways marketing may or may not be used for purposes other than profit, and how markets and marketing shape media.
Media Information and Technoculture 2306F/G - Exploring Consumerism
Media, Information and Technoculture 2377F/G - Propaganda in Print and Visual Culture
Media, Information and Technoculture 3214F/G - Advertising and the Mass Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 3217F/G - Public Opinion
Media, Information and Technoculture 3216F/G - The Culture of Consumption
Media, Information and Technoculture 3901F/G - Getting the Message Out: Activism and Mainstream Media
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2412F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Blogging: For Passion, Politics or Profit (Fall 2009)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3402F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Children, Advertising and Consumer Culture (Fall 2011, Summer 2010, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3403G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Advertising’s Century (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3771F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Net-Work: Labour and Profit on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Web 2.0 (Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3774F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Babies, Buyers, and Beyond!: Advertising and the Youth Consumer Culture
Media, Information and Technoculture 3850G/3851G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Critical Perspectives in Advertising (Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Winter 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3851G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Media Creativity and the Commons (Winter 2010)
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News Reporting and Journalistic Practices
Investigate some of the controversies about, and skills of, contemporary journalism. Courses examine issues such as corporate control over news, alternative media and citizen journalism, and the shaping of public opinion, and also provide an introduction to journalistic writing and news production
Media, Information and Technoculture 2020F/G - Legal Foundations of Media and Information
Media, Information and Technoculture 2021F/G - Legal and Ethical Issues in Multimedia
Media, Information and Technoculture 3210F/G - Media Representations of Women
Media, Information and Technoculture 3217F/G - Public Opinion
Media, Information and Technoculture 3830F/G - Freedom of the Press: Print Media Policy
Media, Information and Technoculture 3831F/G - Introduction to Journalistic Writing
Media, Information and Technoculture 3832F/G - Documentary Media
Media, Information and Technoculture 3833F/G - Arts & Entertainment Journalism
Media, Information and Technoculture 3840F/G - Introduction to Television News
Special Topics
Media, Information and Technoculture 2403G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: The Complexities of Sports-Media (Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2412F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Blogging: For Passion, Politics or Profit (Fall 2009)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2770G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: The Serial Killer in the Media & Popular Culture (Winter 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 2871G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Objectivity in Media Reporting (Winter 2009, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3442G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Looking at Sensationalism (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3437F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: International Media and Social Change (Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2011)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3438F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: “Me Against the World”: Journalism, Popular Culture, and the Representation of Crime (Fall 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3438F - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Journalism and Popular Culture (Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3650F/G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: ABC TV to YouTube: Broadcasting in Transition (Fall 2009, Winter 2010)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3770G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Human Rights Reporting : International Legal Standards for the Protection of Journalists (Winter 2011, Winter 2012)
Media, Information and Technoculture 3870G - Special Topics in Media, Information and Technoculture: Course Topic: Writing for Magazines (Winter 2010, Winter 2011, Winter 2012)
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