Thom Gencarelli

Media and Popular Culture Theory and Criticism (with a particular emphasis on popular music), Media Ecology, Media Education/Media Literacy, and Children and Media

Book:

• Searching for the Right Notes: Essays on Media, Music, and Meaning.  (Under contract for publication in 2024).  New York: Peter Lang.
• Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America's Most Powerful Generation.  B. Cogan & T. Gencarelli (Eds.).  (2014).  Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO/Praeger.

Articles and Book Chapters:

• "Media Ecology."  (2021, October 27).  In K. Gabbard (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in "Cinema and Media Studies."  New York: Oxford University Press.  https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0345.xml?rskey=xW0BE5&result=1&q=media+ecology#firstMatch
• "Time Binding and Art / Time Binding in Art."  (2020-2021, Spring).  Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought [Special Issue: Manhood of Humanity],13, 59-69.
• "Media Ecology and the Digital Humanities: Five Lessons from Neil Postman to Help Us Find Our Way."  (2021).  In L. Trujillo-Linan & J. R. Islas Rivero (Eds.), Humanidades Digitales en Contexto (pp. 47-58).  Ciudad de Mexico: McGraw Hill.
• "'Literacy as Deviance' and Virtual Reality."  (2021).  Explorations in Media Ecology {EME}, 20(1), 80-85.
• "ETC: A Review of General Semantics: The Neil Postman Years."  (2020-2021).  Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought, 12, 7-27.
• "Sound: The Second Sense."  (2019).  ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 76(3/4), 246-252.
• "Culture: An Alternative Conception of Space-binding."  (2019).  ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 76(1/2), 59-64.

• "Hollywood, the Global Media Market, and a Time of Transition for American Media Empire."  (2019).  In R. Kern & S. Mishra (Eds.)., Transnational Media: Media Nationalism and Transnationalism in a Globalized World (pp. 107-114).  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

• Guest Editor, "Special Issue: The 75th Anniversary of the New York State Communication Association."  (2017).  Atlantic Journal of Communication, 25 (4).

• Amazing Ourselves to Death: Neil Postman’s Brave New World Revisited.  Strate, L.  (2014).  New York: Peter Lang.  In (2017).  Explorations in Media Ecology {EME}, 16(4), 381-388.  [Book review]

• "La Ecología de los Medios y la Educación de los Medios en los Estados Unidos."  (2015).  In C. A. Scolari (Ed.), Ecología de los Medios: Entornos, Evoluciones e Interpretaciones (pp. 133-143).  Barcelona, España: Gedisa.

• "The Cult/ure of Personality."  (2014).  ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 71 (1), 6-13.
• "Be Careful What You Wish For: Popular Music in an Age in Which 'Information Wants to Be Free'."  (2014).  Proceedings of the 71st New York State Communication Association, 13, 1-6.  http://docs.rwu.edu/nyscaproceedings/vol2013/iss2013/4/ 
• "Transmedia Storytelling and the Possible Futures for Popular Cultural Entertainment"  (2013).  In D. Renó et al. (Eds.), Transmedia Journalism (pp. 75-88).  Bogotá, Columbia: University of Rosario Press.
• "General Semantics for a Digital Age."  (2013).  Anekaant: A Journal of Polysemic Thought, 1, 71-82.  (Reprinted in 2014 as a book chapter in D. Mishra [Ed.], General Semantics: A Critical Companion [pp. 109-126].  Delhi, India: Pencraft International.)
• Ralon, L.  (2012, April 12).  Figure/Ground Communication - http://figureground.ca/interviews/.  [Interview as part of a series with academics and public intellectuals that includes, among others, Noam Chomsky, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Eric McLuhan, Douglas Rushkoff, and Denise Schmandt-Besserat.]
• "Broadcast Media."  (2011).  In D. Southerton (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture (pp. 123-127).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• "Minds and Meanings."  (2009/2010).  With Jerome Bruner, Kenneth Gergen, and Renee Hobbs.  General Semantics Bulletin, 76, 66-73.
• "At the Margins: A Remembrance."  (An introduction).  (2010).  In L. G. Elson, Paradox Lost: A Cross Contextual Definition of Levels of Abstraction (pp. vii-xiii).  Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
• "The Missing Years: Neil Postman and The New English Book Series."  (2006).  Explorations in Media Ecology, 5 (1), 47-61.
• "Neil Postman and the Rise of Media Ecology."  (2005).  In C. M. K. Lum (Ed.), Perspectives on Culture, Technology, and Communication: The Media Ecology Tradition (pp. 201-253).  Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
• Schumer, F. (2004, April 11).  "Next, a Course on Dressing the Couch Potato."  The New York Times (New Jersey Section), p. NJ1. [Interview]
• Karaoke Around the World: Global Technology, Local Singing.  T. Mitsui &S.  Hosokawa (Eds.). (2003).  London and New York: Routledge.  In Ethnomusicology. 47 (2), 261-262.  [Book review]
• "Media Ecology and Media Education in the United States."  Media Education: The Electronic Journal of the Media Ecology Institute - http://www.franko.lviv.ua/mediaeco/zurnal/index.htm.
• "Composing an Academic Life."  Co-authored with Deborah Borisoff, James W. Chesebro, Susan Drucker, Dan F. Hahn, and Neil Postman.  (2001).  The Speech Communication Annual, 15, 115-137.
• Guest Editor, "Special Issue: Media Education."  (1998).  The New Jersey Journal of Communication, 6 (2).

Keynote/Featured Addresses:

• "Some Perspective on the Perspective of Revolutions in Communication and Media."  Institute of General Semantics (virtual), May 25, 2023,
• "Media Ecology and the Digital Humanities: Five Lessons from Neil Postman to Help Us Find Our Way."  Congreso Internacional: Humanidades Digitales.  Virtual Conference through Universidad Panamericana, March 2020.  

• "Dark Nets and Disruptive Practices."  New York State Communication AssociationConference.  John F. Wilson Memorial Lecture.  Callicoon, NY, October 2017.

• "Neil Postman and the Media Ecology Concept."  1º Congresso Internacional de Mídia e Tecnologia, Bauru, Brazil, October 2017.

• "Presidential Address."  ("Media Ecology and Artistic Practice/Media Ecology as Artistic Practice.")  Media Ecology Association Convention, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2013.
• "General Semantics for a Digital Age.”  (“Public Lecture,” invited).  National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.

Conference Papers (since 2000)

• "A Two-valued Orientation, the Faustian Bargain, and the Shape of Technological Things to Come."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, "The Semantic Environment in a Time of Uncertainty" (virtual), October 2020.
• With Murat Iri.  "Contemporary Turkish Cinema's Influence on the Understanding of Turkish Culture and the Turkish People among Young People in the United States."  Media Ecology Association Convention (virtual), June 2020.

• "Culture: An Alternative Conception of Space-Binding."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, “The Tyranny of Words,” New York, NY, October 2019.

• "If There’s a Future for Journalism and Journalism Education, What is it?"  Media Ecology Association Convention, Toronto, ON, June 2019.

• "Sound: The Second Sense."  Environmental Research Design Association Conference, Brooklyn, NY, May 2019.

• "Media Education and the Education of Generation Z."  Eastern Communication Association Conference, Providence, RI, April 2019.

• "Playing in the Streets and in the Stations: Some Observations on Busking as our Urban Soundtrack."  National Communication Association Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2018.

• "'Literacy as Deviance' and Virtual Reality."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, “Language and Meaning in the 21st Century,” New York, NY, October 2018.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmDI8dCfBww&t=0s&list=PLaoJIXlyLvLngZEFxtiW8RYM235B6uEXP&index=12

• "Careerism in Contemporary/Popular Music."  New York State Communication Association Conference, Callicoon, NY, October 2018.

• "On Taking a Stand: Communication, Media, and the Political Moment.”  New York State Communication Association Conference, Callicoon, NY, October 2018.

• "A Media Ecological Contribution to the Study of the Image: Christine Nystrom, 'Literacy as Deviance,' and Virtual Reality."  1o Congresso Internacional Media Ecology and Image Studies - Desafios para as Narrativas Imagéticas.  (Virtual conference.)

  http://www.meistudies.org/index.php/cmei/cmei/schedConf/program

• "The Media Ecology of Social Media Practices in Politics."  International Communication Association Conference, Prague, Czechoslovakia, May 2018.

• "Dark Nets and Disruptive Practices."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, "Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk," New York, NY, October 2017.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdgeu0heEl8&list=PLaoJIXlyLvLlOd3DSdTYx82DOCstJW

• "Life as Algorithm.”  Eastern Communication Association Conference.  Boston, MA, March-April 2017.

• "Korzybski Meets Watzlawick et al.: Either/Or Thinking, the Content Versus Relationship Level of Communication, and Political Discourse in the United States in the Early 21st Century."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, "Language in Thought and Action," New York, NY, October 2016.

• "Toward a Media Ecology of Song.”  Media Ecology Association Convention, Denver, CO, June 2015.
• "Media, Media Ecology, and Memory.”  International Communication Association Conference, San Juan, PR, May 2015.
• "Music, Technology, Media, and the Creation of Baby Boomer Culture.”  New Jersey Communication Association Conference, Jersey City, NJ, April 2015.
• "The Bearable Lightness of Being Digital."  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, "'Making Sense' Through Time-Binding," New York, NY, October 2014.
• "It's Only Rock-'n'-Roll: The Rise of the Contemporary Popular Music Industry as a Defining Factor in the Creation of the Baby Boomer Culture."  Media Ecology Association Convention, Toronto, ON, June 2014.
• "The Good Life, or a Good Life?  Media Ecology and the Difference Between the Two."  International Communication Association Conference, Seattle, WA, May 2014.
• "The Cult/ure of Personality."  Insitute of General Semantics Symposium, "Language + Symbol Use 21st C.,"  New York, NY, October 2013.
• "The Mechanical and the Ethereal: The Bias of Digital Music."  Media Ecology Association Convention, Grand Rapids, MI, June 2013.
• "New York City Soundscape: A Cage-ian Analysis."  International Communication Association Conference, London, June 2013.
• "Music as Environment and Anti-environment."  Eastern Communicaion Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2013.
• “General Semantics and Media Theory.”  Institute of General Semantics Symposium, New York, NY, October 2012.  (Available on the Institute’s YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sMo4cTZTgQ).
• “Be Careful What You Wish for: Popular Music in an Age in which ‘Information Wants to be Free’.”  New York State Communication Association Conference, Ellenville, NY, October 2012.
• “Social Media and the Arab Spring.”  Media Ecology Association Convention, Riverdale, New York, June 2012.
• “Will the Revolution be Televised?  Media Ecology as the Center of Media Studies.” International Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, May 2011.
• “On the Question of a Digital Revolution."  (Invited).  National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.
• "General Semantics, Media Ecology, Media Education, and the Study of Human Language: A Synthesis."  (Invited).  National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 2011.
• “The City as Counter-environment in an Age of Sprawl.”  International Communication Association Conference, Singapore, June 2010.
• "Mobility and the 'Fourth Screen': Some Considerations Regarding the Question of a Fifth Communications Revolution."  Media Ecology Association Convention, Orono, ME, June 2010.
• "'iFi,' or the Near Future for Music Consumption."  Media Ecology Association Convention, St. Louis, MO, June 2009.
• “Mapping the Media? But They Keep Changing the Borders!”  Media Conversations VI 2009: An International Conference of Youth, Media, and Education, New York, NY, June 2009.
• “Understanding Gumpert: The Metro-polis is the Message.”  Eastern Communication Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA, April 2009.
• “The End of Intellectual Property.”  Institute for General Semantics Symposium, “Creating the Future: Conscious time-binding for a Better Tomorrow,” New York, NY, November 2008.
• “The Bias of Digital Communication.”  Media Ecology Association Convention, Santa Clara, CA, June 2008, and the International Communication Association Conference, Montreal, QC, Canada, May 2008.
• "Models for Analysis of Broadband/Wi-Fi Adoption."  Media Ecology Association Convention, Mexico City, México, June 2007.
• "Music in the Age of Digital Reproduction: What is the Dissenting Response?"  New York State Communication Association Conference, Kerhonkson, NY, October 2006.
• "Jean Piaget, Cognitive Development, and Language Acquisition."  New York Society for General Semantics Symposium, "World in Quandaries: Coping with Controversial Communication in the Global Village - Personal, Social, National and Cultural,"  New York, NY, September 2006.
• "Neil Postman and the New English."  The Neil Postman Symposium, New York, NY, April 2006.
• "The Role of the Discipline in the Implementation of Educational Media Initiatives."  National Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, November 2005.
• "Bruce Springsteen, Heroism, and Celebrity."  Glory Days: A Bruce Springsteen Symposium (organized by Penn State University), Monmouth, NJ, September 2005.
• "Theory Before Praxis: Or, 'What is an Educator For?'"  Eastern Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA, April 2004.
• "Six (or 7, or 8, or 9...) Lessons from the Work and Thought of Neil Postman."  National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, IL, November 2004.
• "The New York School of Media Ecology in the History of Media Education."  National Communication Association Conference, Miami, FL, November 2003.
• "Music, Authorship, Ownership, and Identity: The Case for 'Mash-ups.'"  New York State Communication Association Conference, Tarrytown, NY, October 2002.
• "Media Ecology and Media Education in the United States."  [Invited].  Media Education as Part of Civic Education Conference, Institute of Media Ecology, Ivan Franko L’viv National University, L’viv, Ukraine, September 2002.
• "Toward a Media Ecology of Music."  Media Ecology Association Convention, New York, NY, June 2002. And the New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, October 2001.
• "Media, Money, and Music: The Case of Digital Music."  New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, October 2001.
• "Telecommunications as Savior or Enslaver? The Contemporary Case of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan."  New York State Communication Association Conference, Monticello, NY, September 2000.
• "From Tin Pan Alley to Absolute Nonsense: One Take on the Evolution of Pop Music Lyrics." Eastern Communication Association Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2000.  Also presented as "In Defense of Lyrical Nonsense." New Jersey Communication Association Conference, Glassboro, NJ, April 2000.

Invited Lectures (since 2000):

• "General Semantics Meets Media Studies: Some Thoughts from the Field."  The New York Society for General Semantics, New York, NY, April 17, 2014.
• "Not a Keynote But a Symphony Address" (my portion entitled "The Digital Future for Want of a Crystal Ball").  New Jersey Communication Association Conference, Union, NJ, April 12, 2014.
• “New Media Ecologies.”  Seminario Nuevo Ecología de los Medios y Gran Encuentro de Egresados (Seminar in New Media Ecology and Grand Alumni Meeting), University of Rosario, Bogotá, Columbia, August 31, 2013.
• "The Future of General Semantics."  National Workshop on General Semantics for a Digital Age, Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, Baroda, India, January 22, 2011.
• “Building a Bridge to Education: Media Ecology and/as Media Education.”  Fordham University, Lincoln Center Campus, December 11, 2009.
• “Cognitive Development and Language Acquisition.”  The New York Society for General Semantics, New York, NY, December 3, 2009.  And the Bayonne Jewish Community Center, Bayonne, NJ, April 17, 2007.
• "Understanding the Effects of Media in Everyday Life."  Bayonne Jewish Community Center, Bayonne, NJ, October 11, 2005.  And St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Irvington, NY, November 16, 2003.

• The Louis Forsdale Award for Outstanding Educator in the Field of Media Ecology, Media Ecology Association, 2019.
• Distinguished Teaching Fellows Award, Eastern Communication Association, 2019.
• The John F. Wilson Fellowship Award for Scholarship and Service, New York State Communication Association, 2016.
• The Christine L. Nystrom Award for Career Achievement in Service to the Field of Media Ecology, 2013.
• 2012 Apex Award for Publication Excellence – Award of Excellence, YouTube Publications, for Merry Christmas from Manhattan College’s Communication Students.  Producer.  [With Michael Grabowski, Director].

• $150,000 from the George I. Alden Trust to Manhattan College toward the purchase of equipment for media laboratory complex.  (Co-authored with former Provost Weldon Jackson and former Dean of the School of Arts Mary Ann O'Donnell.)

• Taught "Media Studies in the Digital Age."  (Invited.)  Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de México, Mexico City, México, July 23-25, 2014.  (For faculty from across México.)
• Coordinator, the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, Riverdale, New York, June 7-10, 2012.
• Producer, “The Academic Minute,” WAMC Northeast Public Radio, with Dr. Margaret Groarke, November 2012, and Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, March 2012.
• Co-coordinator (English-language program), the Eighth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, Mexico City, México, June 6-10, 2007.
• Program planner, chair, respondent, and/or presenter for over 200 conference/convention panels.
• Associate Editor, The Atlantic Journal of Communication.
• Taught “Seminar on Media, Society and Research.” [Invited]. For the “Media Literacy in Post-Communist Countries” project, offered through the Open Society Institute – Higher Education Support Program, Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching. At Ivan Franko L’viv National University, L’viv, Ukraine, July 2007.  (For junior faculty from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern Europe.)
• Participant in a Pre-conference, “Media Ecology: Theory, Publication, Pedagogy,” at the National Communication Association Conference, San Diego, CA, November 2008.