MIT Goals & Objectives

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Goals

The goal of the Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT) program is to offer critical, interdisciplinary analysis of the institutions, practices, and cultural meanings associated with technologies of communication, information, knowledge, learning, and entertainment.

The perspective of the program is critical, creative, and cross-disciplinary:

  • Critical in that it not only rigorously examines the strengths of our society's technology and communication systems but also uncovers their crises, conflicts and structures of control.
  • Creative in that it pays attention to emerging cultural values, practices and institutions within the spheres of media, technology, and information.
  • Cross-disciplinary in that it brings to bear on these issues a variety of theoretical perspectives, including those from cultural studies, political economy, history, psychology, education, journalism, computer science, design, law, and information science.
The program additionally encourages other boundaries to be crossed. Recognizing that an information society is also a globalized society, the program makes a special effort to introduce international perspectives. The Faculty has developed internship programs that will aid students in making connections between academic study and the off-campus world, including public service organizations, community groups, and innovative sectors of media- and information-based industries.

Objectives

As a student in the MIT three-year or four-year program, you will:

  1. Gain an understanding of the practical, theoretical, historical, social and cultural contexts of media, information, and technology
  2. Become aware of information as a resource, understand the range of information sources available in an area of interest, and be able to find, retrieve, and critically evaluate information and information resources
  3. Learn how the media of information, communication, news and entertainment are related to culture, ideology, and identity formation
  4. Explore cultural responses to technology, the forms they may take and the way relations between humans and technology create different kinds of cultures or "technocultures"
  5. Examine patterns of thought, cognition, interaction, culture, or power embodied in the design and use of information technologies
  6. Gain an understanding of the processes and institutions involved in creating and disseminating information, entertainment, and knowledge
  7. Explore the connections between the control of information/communication technologies and democracy, the public sphere, capital accumulation, labour and occupations, and the environment
While the MIT program provides students with a broad range of intellectual skills and knowledge, it is not designed as a training program in advertising, media production, or public relations. Students will acquire a solid, interdisciplinary education useful for professional work in media industries, information management, or other communications-related fields. It also provides the necessary background for graduate work in media studies, communication and other disciplines.