Scholar to examine 'slow media'

Media scholar Jennifer Rauch, Ph.D., will discuss "Slow Media : Why ‘Slow’ is Satisfying, Sustainable and Smart” during a lecture at Linfield College Wednesday, Feb. 20. The free program will start at 5 p.m. in the Nicholson Library on campus.

Rauch, professor of journalism and communication studies at Long Island University-Brooklyn, will talk about problems associated with modern-day media and a budding movement to slow the pace of media production and consumption.

She will share ideas from her book, which carries the same name as her lecture. It examines the complex relationships between everyday media choices, human well-being and the natural world.

She said the "slow media" movement takes its cue from the Slow Food movement, which has inspired people around the world to apply principles of humanism, localism, simplicity, self-reliance and fairness to food production and consumption. It promotes alternatives to global, corporate media, which are often unresponsive to the needs of human communities and natural environments, she said.

Rauch’s book introduces the concepts of Mindful Media, Green Media and Post-Luddism and presents ways to make media use and production more socially and environmentally sustainable.

Mindful Media advocates for more contemplation in, and about, daily communications. Green Media debunks the assumption that digital media are ecologically benign and identifies alternatives that reduce electronic waste and consumption of nonrenewable resources. Post-Luddisim challenges the conventional wisdom that people who are skeptical of technology are ignorant or fearful.

Copies of her book will be available for purchase at the event. For more information, contact Lisa Weidman, at lweidma@linfield.edu.