A Dictionary of Media and Communication (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

Chandler and Munday have produced a wonderful volume that is much more than a simple dictionary. The book concisely summarizes over 2,000 terms and concepts from multiple subfields of media and communication and related disciplines. It also provides extensive cross-references, which encourage readers to understand relationships among concepts and to make connections across different discourses. As result, the volume offers a fine introduction to the field to students and other newcomers while also enabling specialists in each subfield of communication to better understand and communicate with each other. (Joshua Meyrowitz, author of No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior (Oxford University Press))

"As one reads through the entries one becomes more and more aware of the need for a dictionary of this kind. Media Studies is a notoriously diffuse and ill-defined subject area but the ingenuity and scholarship of the compilers has ensured that its principal concepts and ideas are now available in a coherent and comprehensible form. But perhaps the greatest value of the work lies in its assiduous cross-referencing. As the authors point out, students who have previously been forced to rely upon the web for conceptual definitions in this area are often denied knowledge of the context from which the terms emerged. This dictionary not only remedies that defect but also provides a rich array of web sources which can be used by those who wish to pursue more detailed study of concepts, theories, and theorists. It is a fine achievement which left me with only one question. How on earth have I managed for so long without having such a volume close at hand?" (- Professor Laurie Taylor, BBC Radio 4)

The Dictionary of Media and Communication is an authoritative and wide-ranging A-Z providing over 2,200 entries on terms used in media and communication, from concepts and theories to technical terms, across subject areas that include advertising, digital culture, journalism, new media, radio studies, and telecommunications. It also covers relevant terminology from related disciplines such as literary theory, semiotics, cultural studies, and philosophy. The entries are extensively cross-referenced, allowing the reader to link related concepts that span different discourses with ease. It is an indispensable guide for undergraduate students on degree courses in media or communication studies, and also for those taking related subjects such as film studies, visual culture, and cultural studies.

With highly relevant web links to key essays, images, examples, and websites which complement the A-Z entries, all updated and accessed via a companion webpage, as well as a biographical appendix with web links to key people, this is a valuable resource for media professionals, postgraduates, academics, and researchers and an eminently practical and user-friendly reference for anyone involved in the worlds of media and communication.