Faculty
Matthew Wysocki
Associate Professor, Coordinator of Media Studies
Professional Profile
Professor Wysocki earned his Ph.D. in Communications and Media Studies from Northwestern University. He earned a M.A. in Communications from Western Kentucky University and a B.A. in Broadcast and Cable Studies from Pennsylvania State University. His research interests focus on “deviance” and technology, including computer hacker subculture and online pornography, and on textual analysis of video games and professional wrestling. His research in the area of video games studies looks at the cultures being created by gamers, the cultures being created by games, the roles that players create as producers of their own vehicles of consumption, and the question of control in gaming.
Teaching
Courses taught:
- Media Literacy
- Principles of Media Studies
- Introduction to Film Studies
- Writing Criticism for Media Studies
- Videogaming
- Senior Seminar in Media Studies
Previously taught at:
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- DePaul University
- University of Louisville
- Western Kentucky University
Research
Conference presentations, publications and research talks include:
- Not Another Porn Paper: Narrative Intertextuality in Joanna Angel's Not Another Porn Movie. Presented at Popular and American Culture Associations in the South Conference, Savannah, GA
- Alternative to What? Alternative Pornography, Suicide Girls and Re-appropriation of the Pornographic Image NMEDIAC: Journal of new Media and Culture, Volume 7, Issue 1, Summer, 2010
- The Postmodern Student: Back to the Future of Film: Telling the Story With Converging Technology. Presented at University Film & Video Association Conference, Colorado Springs, CO
- Video Game Mods and the Interactive Audience. Presented at Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, NM
- Standing on the Shoulders of the Real Programmers: An Analysis of the Use of Usenet as a Site for Computer Hacker Cultural Formation. Presented at Internet Research 3.0: NET/WORK/THEORY, Masstricht, The Netherlands.
- Murderers, Thieves, Vandals: News Portrayals of Computer Hackers. Colloquium presentation sponsored by the University of Illinois – Chicago Department of Communication
- Editor: CTRL-ALT-PLAY: Essays on Control in Video Gaming, McFarland Publishing, February 2013.
- Would You Kindly? BioShock and the Question of Control. With Matthew Sandler. In CTRL-ALT-PLAY: Essays on Control in Video Games, McFarland Publishing, February 2013.
- Preface to CTRL-ALT-PLAY: Essays on Control in Video Games, McFarland Publishing, February 2013.
- Alternative to What? Alternative Pornography, Suicide Girls and Re-appropriation of the Pornographic Image NMEDIAC: Journal of New Media and Culture, Volume 7, Issue 1, October 2011
- October, 2014: Pile-Driving the Fourth Wall: Audience as Participant in CHIKARA Pro Wrestling. Presented at Popular and American Culture Associations in the South Conference, New Orleans, LA
- September, 2014: "If people hate me they hate me": Uwe Boll and Film Adaptation of Video Games. Presented at Association of Adaptation Studies Conference, St Augustine, FL.
- April, 2014: “All that’s left is the choosing”: BioShock Infinite and the Illusions of Control. Presented at Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Chicago, IL
- October, 2013: Marching Ants, Sea Monsters, and the Sons of Ice Cream: The Carnivalesque Performance in Chikara Pro Wrestling. Presented at Popular and American Culture Associations in the South Conference, Savannah, GA
- March, 2013: It’s Not Just the Coffee That’s Hot: Modding Sexual Content in Video Games. Presented at Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Washington, DC
- September, 2012: “I was drawn into the three ring sexcapade”: Pornography As Punk Subculture on BurningAngel.com. Presented at Popular and American Culture Associations in the South Conference, Nashville, TN
- April, 2012: Little Big Audience: Interactive Audiences for LittleBigPlanet. Presented at Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Boston, MA
- October, 2011: 'I see miracles every day': Anti-Rationalism and the Insane Clown Posse. Presented at Popular and American Culture Associations in the South Conference, New Orleans, LA
More Information
Office Hours (On Campus):
- Monday: 12:45 PM - 1:45 PM
- Tuesday: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
- Wednesday:12:45 PM - 1:45 PM
- Thursday: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM