Looking for "New Media" Masters programs in a warm climate, preferably west coast

May 28, 2010 5:31 PM

Back to school filter: Looking for "New Media" Masters programs in a warm climate, preferably west coast. More details inside.

I'm having trouble finding grad programs for so-called "new media". Or rather programs that match what I mean when I say "new media"

I'm looking for a program that studies the effects of 'new' social mediums, how ready access to instant information is changing lives and our culture. I'm talking about a masters in long tail, crowd sourcing, open api, mashup, OSS ,memes, facebook, android marketplace, and lolcatz. (*cue the groans*).

It seems a lot of programs called "new media" are geared towards video/audio/graphic design or digital journalism.

There's two excellent programs that seem to fit the bill near me now:

new school media studies
NYU Interactive Telecommunication Program

...but that doesn't gel very well with my GTFO of New England requirement :( (Yes I've considered taking the online program, and moving... but it seems a little asinine to move, then take an online masters program from a school I previously lived 50 miles from)

So, simply searching for all the new media masters programs isn't working for me... I'm hoping you know of other programs like I described that maybe have some other new-age name or more specific to understanding and leveraging social media.

thanks mefi :)

posted by rampy to Education (18 answers total)

What are you planning to do with this degree?
posted by lunasol at 5:52 PM on May 28, 2010

Best answer: I don't know much about these programs, but it seems reminiscent of what Alice Marwick of tiara.org has been studying. She is currently at NYU, but she obtained her MA in Communication from University of Washington and her master's thesis was very "social internet"-focused.

Alice is or was interning with Danah Boyd (danah.org); she is a well-known figure in this arena, and got her PhD from UC Berkeley's School of Information (iSchool).

You might contact them to see what they think as far as programs that suit your needs. But just given where they themselves got their degrees and in what -- you might consider expanding your search from "new media" to communications, information, etc.
posted by asciident at 6:23 PM on May 28, 2010

Best answer: You might want to look at this article, which mentions this UW program. Not a warm climate, of course.

There's also the Online Communities Focus of Annenberg's Communications Management program.
posted by jgirl at 6:25 PM on May 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

You also might drop a line to Sree Sreenivasan and see what he thinks.
posted by jgirl at 6:31 PM on May 28, 2010

Response by poster: I was afraid someone would ask that... I'm not positive. It's more of a following my interests, and delving into something that I'm passionate about/interested in.

My original major was Communications, and I've managed to stay out of TV/Radio/PR and make a good (but unsatisfying) living in IT.

If I like the theoretical / research part of it or decide I like teaching I could explore that path.

I could go down the much maligned social media guru/consultant route or some sort of online community manager type gig preferably for a non-profit or the like.

Maybe be a product owner/product manager for a facet of some web based application.

*Shrug* Admittedly it's not well thought out as far as what to do next occupationally.. but I definitely not geared towards just getting a new piece of paper (like an MBA) to advance my "career" I don't care about wealth/stature to that degree. I can always get some mid-level PM/BA type soul sucking job if I it doesn't work out.

rampy
posted by rampy at 6:31 PM on May 28, 2010

Response by poster: Thank you both... that's exactly the type of programs I'm looking for, and might not have found hidden as a tract of more general communications program. I appreciate it!

I'm still open to other program suggestions, while I research USC & UW, etc :)
posted by rampy at 7:54 PM on May 28, 2010

I am a PhD student at UC Santa Barbara and I study new media.

MA programs IMHO are a big time and money waste.

What's your goal?
posted by k8t at 8:06 PM on May 28, 2010

Berkeley's School of Information is excellent.
posted by judith at 8:28 PM on May 28, 2010

I think you need to investigate more information science programs, and not worry too much if they call themselves "new media." Do you know (of) Fred Stutzman? He's a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (warm!) in information science, and he focuses primarily on Facebook and other social media, as I understand it.
posted by bluedaisy at 8:39 PM on May 28, 2010

Hey, I realized after I hit "post comment" that the tone sounded like someone a grumpy dad on a sitcom would say: "what do you plan to DO with this degree, junior?"

I asked mainly because I thought it might help people give you good suggestions, especially since some of the best programs in something like this might be in departments you wouldn't expect.

Anyway, if you're interested in working in new media strategy for nonprofits and want to chat about it, send me a memail.
posted by lunasol at 9:08 PM on May 28, 2010

University of Michigan has an ischool concentration in social media.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:33 PM on May 28, 2010

Very warm there, too, on the lower peninsula.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:34 PM on May 28, 2010

i went to itp (started with class of 2004, finished with 2005) and honestly, even if you want to live somewhere warm, consider sucking up another two years on the east coast and going. one of itp's main strengths is that it's pretty open-ended: lots of people go in with very specific ideas of what they want to do, and either filtering all their other classes through that, or end up doing something different altogether. both ways are respected, neither is frowned upon. that might work for you since you don't quite know what you want yet. one of the other things that's great about itp is that it's been around for so long and alums are EVERYWHERE you might conceivably want to work. i hate talking about alumni networking because it's usually bullshit, but the itp alum network is pretty fantastic. the itp alumni mailing list is so useful/edifying/funny that it's almost worth the not-inconsiderable price of admission by itself.
posted by lia at 9:38 PM on May 28, 2010

p.s. just saw your tags and thought i should mention that i took a class with clay at itp and love him to bits. super awesome dude.

p.p.s. have you ever lived in new york city at all? new york's not part of new england, and nyc is just completely different from any other city in the u.s. i can understand wanting to flee new england culture/winters, but nyc culture is not new england culture at all and our weathers are far, far milder.
posted by lia at 9:44 PM on May 28, 2010

There's CRCA at UCSD, but I'm not sure how good it is. But the climate's warm. I wasn't impressed by most of the faculty, especially "new media" faculty when I was an undergraduate there.
posted by beerbajay at 10:57 AM on May 29, 2010

I did the Annenberg Program. Shoot me a memail if you have any specific questions about it.
posted by lovetragedy at 7:19 PM on May 29, 2010

All of the specific programs I came in here to recommend have already been mentioned, but another phrase you might find useful in your search for a program is "digital humanities."
posted by dizziest at 8:54 AM on May 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you all. Excellent suggestions and this gives me a lot to chew on. Definitely the insight/help I was hoping for.
posted by rampy at 10:34 AM on June 4, 2010