We mentioned this in our C3 Weekly Update that we sent out within the Consortium this week, but I wanted to draw the attention of the larger C3 community toward an interesting piece in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education, focusing on the Program in Comparative Media Studies here at MIT, and Dr. Henry Jenkins in particular. The piece, here, is one of the most detailed pieces that have been written on Henry, and there's some focus on C3 in particular as part of the piece.
Included in the article is this passage:
Some people have criticized the model as giving too much corporate control to the department's research. "One of the dangers of this is that the money can drive the program," says an MIT professor familiar with the consortium, who asked not to be named.Sam Ford, who worked as a media analyst for the consortium until he graduated in June, is now a full-time project manager there. "Our job is not to give the thumbs-up to everything they do and explain why these companies are great," he says.
"What frustrates me is this idea that academia should study something but be completely removed from it. What I admire most about the consortium and this department is this idea that we should engage with the industry that we study."
Be sure to check out the article for more.
Where else has C3 popped up of late? See Henry's interview with CNET, where C3's work is mentioned as well.
Meanwhile, in relation to my own recent press appearances, I was interviewed by ESPN: The Magazine for the LZ Granderson's page 2 story earlier this month, talking about the process of newsmaking in relation to NBA basketball players who were held hostage at gunpoint and how it was not reported in the news. My analysis of the realities of the news gathering process still stands, but I will point out that I didn't advertise myself as a professor at MIT, but that's how I appeared in print nonetheless.
Last month, I was also interviewed by Robbie Brown at The Boston Globe for a story on wrestler Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, and the many instances a wrestler reinvents himself/herself, now on the local level, here in the Boston area.
For those C3 readers who are interested in knowing more about the class I taught on pro wrestling here at MIT, it was covered by The Boston Globe, The Cambridge Chronicle, Slam! Wrestling, the WWE, and The Tech here at MIT.
I would love to get your comments on any of these pieces, whether it helps shed any more light about the types of topics we are interested in, or whether you have new questions and/or what you feel are misconceptions from some of these recent pieces.
