Branding, Culture, Politics, and Everything in Between

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

I’ve accepted a position at Aalto University’s Media Factory initiative as a researcher. This also marks the start of my doctorate studies. Yes, I’m aiming for a PhD in marketing.

This is basically what Media Factory does:

1. Media technologies
Paper and press technologies, (mass-produced print product/art print), ‘after paper’, the digital media, the future Internet

2. Media production and management
Journalistic working processes, interactivity, the public as a producer, formation of information, media economics and management

3. Media concepts and communications behaviour
Media concepts such as periodicals, Internet applications, games, the cinema, and audiovisual media. Communications behaviour such as the consumers’ use of media, media psychology and basic research on media concepts.

I’m interested in all three, but #3 is where I aim to really specialize. My interest is in how media (new and old) work in diffusing cultural meanings, especially on the internet where meanings flow so much faster but in many directions.

Wish me luck. I’m going offline for two weeks, I’m going to have a little vacation before I engulf myself in research.