Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies

专业详情

The graduate program is a two-year course of study leading to a Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies. Comparative Media Studies investigates and engages in the world’s complex media environment; researches multiple media forms and technologies, from books, pamphlets, and silent films to social media, virtual reality, and globally-networked games; and studies the emerging media practices of states, corporations, social movements, fan communities, and everyday people. Embracing MIT’s motto of mens et manus, CMS students design and create media through practice-based research labs.  They also examine media within the contexts of varied cultures, societies and social structures, and critique and design media to empower communities. Above all, Comparative Media Studies is committed to an ethically and critically engaged approach to the study and production of media.

The graduate degree program in Comparative Media Studies places extensive emphasis on student participation in collaborative sponsored research of one or more of its research groups, including the Open Documentary Lab; the Education Arcade; the MIT Game Lab; the Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory;  the Trope Tank; the Teaching Systems Laboratory; and the Civic Design Initiative. Typically graduate students spend 20 hours per week on funded group-project work during their two-year program, for which they receive funding that supports their graduate study at MIT.

CMS graduate students usually take three 12-unit subjects per term, plus a 3-unit colloquium. All students take three introductory seminars (Media Theories and Methods I and II, and Major Media Texts) during their first year, as well as Workshop, and another subject that offers hands-on experience in media. In their final year, they are required to take Media in Transition and a 24-unit subject devoted to completing the master’s thesis, plus the 3-unit Colloquium in Comparative Media.

Students may enter the program with a degree from a wide range of undergraduate majors, including the liberal arts, the social sciences, journalism, computer science, and management.