media studies

What Can ‘Animal Crossing’ Tell Us About the Past and Present of Natural History Museums?

Amid the COVID crisis, museums are being reinvented online in ways that harken back to past ways of representing the natural world.

I Have an Ice-Bridge in Greenland that Might Interest You

We saw the best minds of our generation destroyed by news about Jeffrey Epstein.

Data and the Culture of Real Estate, from Atlanta to Zillow

When seen simply as a stream of incoming sales data, Atlanta can look like a city rising up or population left behind, depending on your point of view.

Bill Maher Draws a Blank on Comic Books

Maher’s criticisms of comic books and the individuals who read them aren’t novel, insightful, or even recent. He’s just the latest in a long line of moralizers and cultural critics who’ve ascribed various faults in American society to the pedestrian, easily-mockable comic book.

From Bauhaus to Your Mouse: Fred Turner’s Brilliant New Book on the Origins and Politics of Interactive Media

Democracy is a funny word.  In the strictest sense, it means “government by the people,” with decisions made […]

The Lego Movie and the Gospel of the Creative Class

Any parent who has ever stepped on one of the wonderful Danish bricks known as Legos might find […]

Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the Remaking of American Copyright in the Twentieth Century

The first book by ToM’s own Alex Cummings, Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the Remaking of American Copyright […]