This past week we discussed computer games that are disruptive as well as enjoyable. This stems from Kris’ interest in those digital games that conflict with our traditional understanding of what a game is – especially those that ask us to consider our understanding of play. We had in mind titles like The Stanley Parable and Gone Home, both of […]

Read more "Strange Play"

This week emerged from a misunderstanding: media afterlife was mentioned near the end of an earlier episode. During our pre-show discussion (which usually happens if we’re fortunate to be taking the same bus to campus **), we revisited the term “afterlife” as the ephemeral – such as audience “buzz,” re-releases, and nostalgia – but by the time […]

Read more "Archiving and the Afterlife"

Producer’s Note: This week is a double blog post on “Sound” and “Mediaphiles.” Kris and I were caught up in MIGC over the last week, so we figured we would collapse the posts into one for our own sanity.   During our February 18th week on Sound, Kris and I ended up referring to an number of […]

Read more "Screens: Sound and Mediaphiles"

This week Screens tackled the concept of surveillance, which came out of last week’s discussion on social activism in the media. We discussed the hardware of images, a recent video Allain produced on political events at UWM, and the notion of privacy. We came back the ambiguous distinction between “monitor” and “screen” to see if anything […]

Read more "Surveillance"

Unfortunately, much of life at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has ground down to a slow churl of anxiety, depression, and anger after the news of some devastating budget cuts proposed by the current state administration. Rather than once again attempt to ignore these issues, we dedicated this week’s episode of SCREENS to how media has […]

Read more "Screens and Social Activism"

As it’s the first week of classes, we’ve decided to delay the relatively depressing topic of Digital (Negative) and focus on some personal favorites to keep the positive spirit of the semester rolling. As Kris and Allain are both science fiction nerds, we discussed personal favorites and considered how screens have been used in (and changed by) the science […]

Read more "January 28 – SciFi Screens"

This week on SCREENS, we made a valiant attempt to focus on the positive aspects of the digital. Perhaps our difficulty in maintaining an optimistic outlook was because one cannot consciously discuss the digital without considering the issue of access. Or maybe it’s simply due to a long day in preparation for our upcoming classes. We did, […]

Read more "January 21 – Pondering the Positive of Digital"

Following one of last weeks’ numerous tangents, this week’s episode of SCREENS will feature our discussion on tactility in media. While movies, TV shows, and computer games certainly appeal to our senses of sight and sound, how do these approaches work to immerse us within the on-screen world? How do our senses contribute to the illusion of being present […]

Read more "January 14 – Tactility"

Welcome to Discussing Screens, the companion blog that collects and expands upon “Screens,” the webcast radio show produced by the graduate students of UW-Milwaukee’s Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies program. Our first show featured some brief introductions from our current contributors (Allain Daigle, cinema) (Kris Purzycki, interactive media/games) as well as some initial discussions on the notion of […]

Read more "January 7 – The Pilot"