My Birkbeck colleague Joel McKim and I are going to be leading an ‘urban media tour’ of West End London in just over a week, on Wednesday 22 May, 2013. This tour is, in part, based on a tour I originally developed for my undergraduate module The Mediated City, though it’s now being re-purposed (with Joel’s addedd insights) for a wider audience as part of Birkbeck Arts Week 2013. The formal details are below – note registration is essential.

We are currently plotting at least one additional tour, likely during the week of the International Communication Association Conference, which takes place in London between 17-21 June 2013. Further down the road, we also area planning an audio version, or even two, one designed so a user could listen whilst walking through London, and another which could be listened to outside of London, in conjunction with a slideshow.

The Mediated City: A Tour of Media and Mediation in West End London

Led by Joel McKim and Scott Rodgers

This tour uses West End London as a lens into what we might denote ‘the mediated city’. It explores how the city not only hosts, but is in many ways constituted through, media. City living compels us to use, need and even desire media content and devices in quite particular ways. Meanwhile, media forms, technologies and industries exist in and are even ‘built-into’ urban spaces: for example the street, the tube, the suburb, the bar, the public square. The aim of this tour is twofold: first, to highlight how the city provides a unique lens to critically study, understand and define media; and second, to use media and mediation as a lens to understand the city. Though a range of buildings and neighbourhoods associated with major media industries will be visited, the tour also focuses on observing some more unconventional forms of urban media and communication.

Date, place and registration:
Wedsnesday 22 May, 2013, 2-5pm
Numbers are limited, so booking is essential – visit http://londonmediatour.eventbrite.co.uk/.
Attendees will meet at the southwest corner of Fitzroy Square at 2pm. The tour will end at Leicester Square.

Futures tour dates:
Another tour will likely be scheduled to take place during the week of the International Communication Association Conference, taking place 17-21 June 2013 in London. In addition, audio versions are being prepared so that the tour can be undertaken independently, either whilst walking through London, or at a distance, in conjunction with a slideshow.

For further information:
Contact Joel McKim (j.mckim@bbk.ac.uk) or Scott Rodgers (s.rodgers@bbk.ac.uk)