In an age of so-called "new" media, the question of how to theorize media has become more urgent than ever. To that end, this seminar will undertake a critical comparative examination of various models of media theory including the Toronto School (Ong, Innes, McLuhan), the Frankfurt School (Benjamin, Kracauer, Adorno/Horkheimer), and its British translation by the Birmingham School of cultural studies (Williams, Hall), systems theory (Luhmann), communications studies and American cultural studies, and finally the German paradigm of cultural technology studies (Kittler, Ernst, Vismann).