Faculty Directory
Kevin Driscoll headshot
KD

Kevin Edward Driscoll

Assistant Professor
Unit: College of Arts and Sciences
Department: Department of Media Studies
Office location and address
210 Wilson Hall
115 Ruppel Dr
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904
Biography

Kevin Driscoll is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Studies. His research explores popular culture, political communication, and networked personal computing. Some of his recent work explores everyday and emerging uses of social media such as live-tweeting, joking about politics, and spreading rumors. In 2017, he published a technical and cultural history of the French Minitel with Julien Mailland from Indiana University titled Minitel: Welcome to the Internet. Currently, he is writing a book tracing the pre-history of social media through the dial-up bulletin board systems of the 1980s and 1990s.

Kevin joined the Department in the fall of 2016 after working as a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research. He holds a PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and an M.S. from Comparative Media Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, he taught mathematics and computer science for grades 6-12 at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, MA.

Recent courses as listed in the Student Information System (SIS) Course Catalog:
MDST 3050: History of Media
Credits: 3
This is a survey, lecture-format, course on the history of media forms, institutions, and technology from the origins of writing, invention of print technology, through the development of digital media. Attention to the specific characteristics of individual media, the changing role of media as a force in culture, and the continually transforming institutions and business of media will all be touched on. The role of media forms in the creation of public discourse and the social controls on media through censorship, legal constraints, and economic policies will also be examined, largely from within the context of the United States. Students will create a case study of a media work or artifact from a historical perspective.
MDST 3500: Topics in the History of Media
Credits: 3
Topics have historical breadth and cover the historical development of media institutions, technology, or forms in areas of television, journalism, graphic media, film, print and publication history, digital media or other relevant areas. These courses may be repeated for credit if course content is sufficiently distinct to merit. Decision about repeated credit is at the discretion of the Director of Media Studies. Prerequisite: MDST 2000 or instructor permission.
MDST 3504: Topics in Global Media
Credits: 3
This course offers historical, comparative, critical, and media industry perspectives on global media. It explores how capital, geopolitics, new technologies and forms of production and consumption impact global media flows. Topics include studies of media systems, textual traditions, media circulation, globalization, the role of media technologies in international affairs, and the role of transnationalism in national and international affairs.
MDST 4010: Distinguished Majors Thesis Writing or Research Project
Credits: 3
Writing of a thesis or production or a project with appropriately researched documentation, under the supervision of the faculty DMP thesis readers or project supervisor.
MDST 4559: New Course in Media Studies
Credits: 1–4
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Media Studies.
MDST 4803: Computational Media
Credits: 3
Computers are universal media. Our intimacy with computers shapes how we think about our communities, histories, cultures, society, and ourselves. Learn to program these "thinking machines" as an act of philosophical inquiry and personal expression, challenging your beliefs about creativity, intelligence, randomness, and communication. Students with no previous experience are especially welcome!
MDST 7559: New Course in Media Studies
Credits: 1–4
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Media Studies.
MDST 7803: Computational Media
Credits: 3
Computers are universal media. Our intimacy with computers shapes how we think about our communities, histories, cultures, society, and ourselves. Learn to program these "thinking machines" as an act of philosophical inquiry and personal expression, challenging your beliefs about creativity, intelligence, randomness, and communication. Students with no previous experience are especially welcome!
MDST 8900: Graduate Independent Study
Credits: 3
A single semester of independent study under faculty supervision for MA or PhD students doing intensive research on a subject not covered in available courses. Requires approval by a Media Studies faculty member who has agreed to supervise a guided course of reading and research.