medi@sia: Global Media/tion In and Out of Context

Medi@siais a path-breaking, cross-disciplinary study that employs ethnographic methods and sociological and cultural perspectives to examine the uses and influences of various media in a large number of contexts inside and flowing out of Asia today. The book introduces the concept of the media/tion equation where the compound of information technology (media) and its content (communication) are touched by and associated with the economics, politics, social organization, cultural practices, and moralities in the everyday lives of users. The role of context - the complex spaces influenced by and within which media/tion transpires - is captured in eleven key studies of TV, film, music videos, popular song, romance novels, Internet bulletin boards. comics, brand characters, and advertising. Beyond the contexts of contemporary Asia - many of which have been neglected by conventional media and cultural studies - are the spaces in the world touched by the sweep of Asian-originated media flows. Through thisperspective, medi@sia proffers a newer, antithetical 'map' of globality; one which moves decidedly east to west. Contributing to discourse in a large number of scholarly areas including globalization theory, media sociology, the anthropology of media, cultural studies, communication studies, and Asian studies, medi@sia charts a new interdisciplinary area of inquiry within the current literature and, as such, establishes a precedent for future research.