Jamming the Media

by Gareth Branwyn

Book Overview

In one of the most complete handbooks to mass communication ever, cyber-culture expert Gareth Branwyn guides the wired and soon-to-be wired through the use of public access television, film, video, the Internet, and more. This groundbreaking, comprehensive guide is full of easy-to-follow instructions, hands-on information, practical hints, and case studies. 2-color throughout.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811817954
• ISBN13: 9780811817950
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Taking back what is rightfully ours!!!

The media is rightfully ours. The airwaves are actually owned by the American people. (Here in the US) The FCC "lends" them out to companies, organizations and such. The corporate monsters have stolen the airwaves from the general public that gave it to them.So, it is right that we should be able to use our first amendment rights to use the media to express ourselves.Pirate radio or microradio, zines, public access television, the Internet, tapes and CD's. It is not about money, it's about expressing viewpoints. This book shows us how. It's a bit old (1997), but it's still a good reference.Free DC! (Taxation without representation is against the law!)

A powerful handbook that should be read by everybody

In his book, Jamming the Media: A Citizen's Guide Reclaiming the Tools of Communication, Gareth Branwyn writes about an alternative media, a Do It Yourself (DIY) media, where everybody can produce high quality messages from their desktops. He talks about every kind of medium from zines, which are noncommercial amateur publications, to the most modern multimedia technologies. In every chapter, he provides a "starter kit and resources" section to encourage the reader to experiment with the making of zines, music recordings, multimedia CD-ROMs, WebPages, TV, films, videos, radio and other kinds of bizarre media. The media, as an institution, have changed their role to an interactive, public access space where everybody can participate. With passion and a particular writing style, Branwyn gives the recipe, step by step, of how to design, produce, package, distribute and promote written, audio, visual and even animate messages. Moreover, he opens the reader's mind to create a new kind of message full of feelings and expressions that crosses the barrier of conventional and commercial media. Talking about media pranks and art hacks, Branwyn affirms: "Anything that's out of the ordinary or worthy of a sound bite will find its way into the local and national media (albeit shoved into a little suffocating compartment)" (p. 248).The author introduces his book giving an explanation on how the development of new technologies has contributed to the creation of powerful personal computers that can now be used as "a full-color publishing house, a broadcast-quality TV studio, a sound recording studio, or an island in the digital oceans of the cyberspace" (p.13). He then talks about zines, as an easy and funny way to get on the bus in this DIY media. Starting with a brief history of the print media, he tells some anecdotes about how "Factsheet Five", the mother of all zines, started as a two-sheets zine, distributed among twenty-five people, and converted into a nation-spread zine that can also be found over the internet. But Gareth Branwyn not only lays in theory. As in every chapter, when talking about zines, he develops "The Zine Hacker's Starter Kit", where he teaches many different ways of how to create a homemade a zine or other types of media with a very low budget. Other interesting sections are "Words of Wisdom", where specialists about each topic give advice on how can you communicate a message in a properly way, and "Resources", a practical guide with books, directories, catalogs and net sites, where the reader can learn more about each subject.But DIY media applies not only to print or visual media, but also to the audio. "Never Mind the Music Biz" is the chapter where the author discusses DIY tape recording as an accessible way of self-publishing music productions. Musicians can now stop their search for big record companies to finance their projects. Instead, they can not only produce but also distribute thei

...gave me the courage to jump into those unstarted projects

This book is the bomb - it is an engaging read, and an indispensable reference. Whenever I have doubt about any of the projects I'm involved in, I open this book and take strength. Clear layout, comprehensive content, and inspiring ideas. A toolkit for media hackers, pranksters, or for anyone who needs to grok our role in media today.

i went from writer's block to imagination overload in 24hrs

you know, i'm pretty much sick of what the world today has to offer. if i see another Gap or Nordstrom or Slick-Chic sitcom that tries to tell me what i should be, look like, or do (as in "Don't Think For Yourself-Let ABC") i'll choke myself with my own vomit.Deliberately.for weeks, i've been nervous about a painting project that's about to come to fruition, i've felt a void begin to eat in my comedy work, i've stopped drinking.i'm dry.then, in the mail, i get this gift-this wonderful gift a friend who works in a tie sent me."i know you- you'll love this book..." he said to me when it arrived.and i did.i'm a Carver fan, an Estep worshipper, a woman who adorrres Bukowski. a faithful commercial-book hater- to Sydney Sheldon i give the finger and the miserable like that dominates the Best Seller list that has to do with that form of smarmy apologia.it takes alot- fiction or non- to impress me, make me want to write.Gareth has done that very thing.in a simply divine, concise use of language, i felt like he was taking me on this heathen-ess tour of areas to infiltrate the media. play with it. no longer try to fight being a consumer puppet-but showed me the way to help sever the strings.i knew of some but never really put myself in a position, even in my imagination, to really be able to do it myself.DIY publishing.zine-dom.pirate radio....Jamming The Media.....i ripped through this book, read parts over and over again til it sank in if it needed to, began scribbling notes first in the book, then my notebook, then on my drawing board... (yes, i really do have one )now instead of searching for free pictures of naked people and their friends on the Internet, i am actually up till 2 and 3 in the morning with something constructive.i'm Jamming The Media...heh-heh-heh...His book helped show me where to find the plug to HAL.all i got to do now is pull....thank you, Gareth.....

Roll up your sleeves and jam...

SPREADING THE MEDIA JAM =======================By ROY BLUMENTHAL (This review originally appeared in Gadget Magazine) If you're keen on rolling up your sleeves and getting into communicating with the masses, a superb book guides you in the tactics being used on the frontline by some of the most experienced media hackers in the world today.Browzing at Facts & Fiction in Sandton Square, pretending to myself that my credit card wasn't too over-flexed, I saw a title that stopped me in my tracks. Which meant I had to apologise to the woman who had been walking behind me. Once she had dusted herself off and checked for fractures, she made straight for the alternative health section. I was glued to the media shelf. The book Reclaiming the Tools of Communication" by Gareth Branwyn. Now call me a sucker or something, but I really do judge books by their covers. This cover was seductive, steeped in the new design made popular by Ray Gun magazine, precursored by the boundary-shifting Mondo 2000. We're talking about a cover that would even make a darn good web page.So what's this book all about and why did it encourage me to spend four hours at the Facts & Fiction coffee table developing concentration scars on my forehead? In short, it's a do-it-yourself book on how to manipulate the media of today for profit, gain and fun..