2025 Annual Report - mediastudies.press docs

# 2025 Annual Report 2025 was a year of significant growth and operational stability for mediastudies.press. Building on our goals from the previous year, we successfully hired a part-time Publishing Project Manager. Following a period of uncertainty, we formally recommitted to the PubPub platform, securing our ability to use its excellent multi-modal support for future projects. A major focus for the press this year was accessibility; working alongside other Open Book Collective publishers, we enhanced our HTML editions, completed our first VPAT, and released a new Accessibility Statement. We launched the new Goffman in the Open series and continued to expand our catalog with important new books and contributions to our *History of Media Studies* journal. With the continued support of the Open Book Collective and its member libraries, we remain committed to bibliodiversity, scaling small, mutual aid, and the campaign to reclaim scholarly publishing and its supporting infrastructure from the oligopolists. *** ## Table of Contents * [[#1. Publications in 2025]] * [[#2. News & initiatives]] * [[#3. Looking ahead 2026]] * [[#4. Finances]] *** ## 1. Publications in 2025 ### A. Books Published #### 1. *Mapping Goffman’s Invisible College* <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/mapping-goffman"><img src="https://books.mediastudies.press/10.64629/3f8575cb.08e7ds7_frontcover.jpg?1776438778632" alt="Cover" style="float:left;width:250px;padding-right:20px;" /></a> Erving Goffman is often remembered as a solitary thinker—famously private, and never a co-author. This book offers a counterpoint by tracing Goffman’s connections to a network of colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania between 1968 and 1982, including Dell Hymes, William Labov, John Szwed, Ray Birdwhistell, and Sol Worth. It follows five major collaborations that emerged in that setting, along with others that never quite came together. The analysis also considers Goffman’s earlier work at institutions including the University of Chicago, the National Institute of Mental Health, the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University, alongside related initiatives at Indiana University and the University of Texas. Beyond documenting Goffman’s intellectual network, the book uses his connections as a case study to examine interdisciplinarity, invisible colleges, and disciplinary history. By examining both the productive and faltering collaborations in Goffman’s orbit, the book sheds light on the complex, often unpredictable pathways through which academic ideas take shape. This work will appeal to scholars across disciplines seeking to understand the collaborative foundations of academic life. *Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz* is Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Professor Emerita of Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. Her previous books include *Erving Goffman: A Critical Introduction to Media and Communication Theory* (2011) and *Rolling in Ditches with Shamans: Jaime de Angulo and the Professionalization of American Anthropology* (2004). #### 2. *From the Chilean Laboratory to World-Communication: Armand Mattelart’s Intellectual Journey* <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/from-the-chilean-laboratory-to-world-communication-armand-mattelarts-intellectual-journey"><img src="https://books.mediastudies.press/10.64629/3f8575cb.dwb73w6d_frontcover.jpg?1776438419541" alt="Cover" style="float:left;width:250px;padding-right:20px;" /></a> *From the Chilean Laboratory to World-Communication* follows Armand Mattelart’s intellectual trajectory through Cold War geopolitics and the rise of critical communication studies in Latin America and Europe. First published in Spanish, Mariano Zarowsky’s study traces Mattelart’s path from his early work in demography and law, through his political engagement in Salvador Allende’s Chile, to his later role in shaping debates in France and globally on media, cultural politics, and transnational communication. The book offers a rich account of Mattelart’s life and work, and the shifting political, institutional, and epistemological contexts that shaped his thinking and progressive activism. Along the way, it illuminates his distinctive style of research in relation to Anglophone political economy and other strands of critical research. In doing so, Zarowsky positions Mattelart as a theorist whose work emerged from—and continues to speak to—global struggles over culture, knowledge, and power and relations between the Global North and South. As the first English edition of Zarowsky’s landmark study, *From the Chilean Laboratory to World-Communication*, will appeal to scholars of critical communication studies, Latin American and transnational cultural theory, and those working on the history of the social sciences across global contexts. *Mariano Zarowsky* is a researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and teaches at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). His research intersects the history of intellectuals, communication studies, and political culture in Argentina and Latin America. He is the author of *Allende en la Argentina: intelectuales, prensa y edición entre lo local y lo global (1970–1976)* (2023), *Los estudios en comunicación en la Argentina: ideas, intelectuales, tradiciones político-culturales, 1956–1985* (2017). *William Quinn* (translator) is a translator based in Guadalajara, Mexico. He holds a master’s degree in the Communication of Science and Culture from ITESO, where he taught for over 25 years. His translations span topics from data science and Nietzsche to the World Wide Web and childrearing in Mazahua communities. *Peter Simonson* (translator) is Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder and co-editor of the journal *History of Media Studies*. He has authored or edited five books, including *The International History of Communication Study* (2015, with David W. Park) and in recent years has been involved in various international projects on the history of communication studies across the Americas. #### 3. *Defund Culture: A Radical Proposal* <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/from-the-chilean-laboratory-to-world-communication-armand-mattelarts-intellectual-journey"><img src="https://books.mediastudies.press/10.64629/3f8575cb.67ab11w2_frontcover.jpg?1776439403860" alt="Cover" style="float:left;width:250px;padding-right:20px;" /></a> Calls to expand public investment in the arts often treat the existing cultural and institutional landscape as a given. *Defund Culture* challenges this assumption, asking instead what kinds of culture are being supported, through which institutions, and to whose benefit. In pursuing these questions, the book turns attention to the structural inequalities that shape Britain’s creative and intellectual life. Drawing on critical theory, political philosophy, and cultural policy, Gary Hall shows how the dominance of white, male, middle- and upper-class voices in the arts, media, and academy is sustained through longstanding funding arrangements and institutional hierarchies. Expanding access within this system—however well intentioned—will not, on its own, produce structural change. Rather than offering a programme of reform, *Defund Culture* explores what it might mean to disinvest from cultural institutions as they currently operate. Taking cues from abolitionist calls to defund the police, Hall proposes redistributing resources away from elite institutions and toward more collective, commons-oriented, and radically relational alternatives grounded in redistribution, institutional transformation, and epistemic pluriversality. *Gary Hall* is Professor of Media and Performing Arts and Executive Director of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University. His work sits at the intersection of critical theory, media philosophy, and cultural politics. He is the author of *Culture in Bits* (2002), *Digitize This Book!* (2008), and *Pirate Philosophy* (2016), and co‑founder of the open-access journal *Culture Machine* and Open Humanities Press. ### B. *History of Media Studies* *HMS* published a Special Section on the [Susanne Langer on Film](https://hms.mediastudies.press/volume-5---2025), in concert with two Latin American OA journals and based on a [2022 roundtable](https://hms.mediastudies.press/americas-roundtable) sponsored by *HMS*: * [“A Note on Langer: An Introduction to the Susanne Langer on Film Special Section”](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/langer-introduction/release/2?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) - Jefferson Pooley and Sue Curry Jansen * [“A Note on the Film”](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/langer-note-film/release/3?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) [republication] - Susanne K. Langer * [“Susanne Langer’s Film Theory: Elaboration and Implications”](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/beinhorn-langer/release/5?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) [republication] - Courtenay Wyche Beinhorn * [“Film as a Dream of the Modern Man: Interpretation of Susanne Langer’s ‘Note on the Film’”](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/hadravova-langer/release/3?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) [republication] - Tereza Hadravova ![[langer-film.png]] The Special Section *HMS* also published a standalone research article in 2025: * [“Perspectivas en torno a la configuración histórica de los estudios sobre medios indígenas en Argentina”](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/ortega-medios-indigenas/release/2?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) - Mariana de los Ángeles Ortega The journal, finally, published a [review essay](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/ryan-review/release/3?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) and [book review](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/bauer-review/release/3?readingCollection=28dc5d8f) in 2025. ![[2025-book-reviews.png]] Review essay and book review *** ## 2. News & Initiatives ### A. Natascha Chtena Named Publishing Project Manager [Natascha Chtena](https://nataschachtena.com/) was named the press’s inaugural Publishing Project Manager in March 2025. In the part-time role, Chtena has transformed our workflows and operations across everything we do: accessibility, typesetting, cover design, metadata management, and writing marketing copy. She is research associate at the Scholarly Communication Lab and research affiliate with the Public Knowledge Project—two of our favorite institutions. We are grateful to the Open Book Collective, whose funding through the ScholarLed Package has made Chtena’s hiring possible. The warmest welcome to Natascha! ![[natascha-chtena.png]] ### B. New Goffman in the Open Series The press created a new series, Goffman in the Open, to publish public domain texts, monographs, translations, and other original scholarly works centered on the Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman. Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz’s [*Mapping Goffman’s Invisible College*](https://www.mediastudies.press/mapping-goffman) (2025) was published in the series, as was Yves Winkin’s [*From Erving to Goffman: A Work in Performance?*](https://www.mediastudies.press/from-erving-to-goffman-a-work-in-performance) (2026). We are working to reassure our 2022 publication of Goffman’s dissertation, [*Communication Conduct in an Island Community*](https://www.mediastudies.press/pub/ns-ccic?readingCollection=6d4e1d8a), in a new edition in 2026. A launch event for the series, featuring the Leeds-Hurwitz and Winkin books alongside the new dissertation edition, is planned for summer 2026. ![[goffman-in-open.png]] ### C. Open Book Collective The [Open Book Collective](https://openbookcollective.org), the nonprofit funding exchange, remained the largest source of funding for the press. We have our [own appeal](https://openbookcollective.org/view/package/11/summary/), and we are included in the OBC’s [ScholarLed bundle](https://openbookcollective.org/view/collections/2/). Last year we received funding from {{xx}} universities and their libraries, and this year we added {{xx}} more universities to that list; {{xx}} universities renewed their previous subscriptions on top of that. These libraries are still mostly located in the US and UK, but we also added subscriptions from institutions in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada. We give thanks to the subscribers on [our site](https://www.mediastudies.press/obc-supporters) and on our [blog](https://www.mediastudies.press/blog) ![[open-book-collective-2023.png]] ### D. Accessibility In cooperation with other presses in the [Open Book Collective](https://openbookcollective.org), mediastudies.press worked to enhance the [accessibility](https://www.mediastudies.press/accessibility) of our books throughout the year. Our initial focus was on our version-of-record HTML editions; we added alt-text to images and buttons, among other changes. From May 2026 onward, our plan is to release accessible PDF and ePub editions of new books. Over time, our aim is to make our back-catalog PDF and ePub editions accessible too. As a part of this effort to comply with [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/) and [Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)](https://www.ada.gov/assets/pdfs/web-rule.pdf), we recently completed our first [VPAT](https://github.com/mediastudiespress/organization/raw/master/operations/VPAT_mediastudies.press.pdf#L0) and updated our [Accessibility Statement](https://www.mediastudies.press/accessibility). ![[accessibility-statement.png]] Accessibility Statement ### E. Author Pages, Engagement Tracking, and Thoth In 2023, we introduced [[Author Pages]], which track engagement for each book we’ve published, for the most recent month and for all time. The pages are intended for authors, but are also public, on the press’s [[home|msp-docs site]]. Recent enhancements to our metrics-collection process have permitted the press to update authors on a monthly, rather than quarterly, basis. A major overhaul of Thoth Open Metadata has helped in this regard, and based on those improvements we plan to include citations, reviews, and other materials on these [[Authors Pages]] in 2026. ![[author-page-2025.png]] An example Author Page ### F. Bluesky and Mastodon mediastudies.press formally abandoned X in 2024, after earlier suspending activity in the aftermath of the Elon Musk takeover. We have created accounts on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/mediastudiespress.bsky.social) and [Mastodon](https://hcommons.social/@mediadotpress) (on the [Humanities Commons instance](https://hcommons.social/about)), with regular posts on both platforms. ![[mastodon-2024.png]] The mediastudies.press Mastodon ### G. Other Activity and Updates *History of Media Studies* co-sponsored a bilingual [Symposium on the History of Communication Studies in the Portuguese-Speaking World](https://hms.mediastudies.press/mundo-de-lingua-portuguesa), papers from which will be published in a future Special Section. The journal also hosted [five sessions](https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/wg-past-sessions/release/30), under the leadership of co-editor/co-director Dave Park, of the [Working Group on the History of Media Studies](https://hms.mediastudies.press/working-group), and published ten issues of the *[History of Media Studies Newsletter](https://hms.mediastudies.press/newsletter)*. The press hosted an October book launch event for [*From the Chilean Laboratory to World-Communication*](https://www.mediastudies.press/from-the-chilean-laboratory-to-world-communication-armand-mattelarts-intellectual-journey). Co-director Jeff Pooley published [“The Modal Mode of Thinking about Scholarly Publishing”](https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/jep/article/id/8757/) in the 30th anniversary issue of the *Journal of Electronic Publishing*. Pooley is serving on the [OACIP Advisory Board](https://lyrasis.org/oacip-board/), the Academic Advocacy Board of the new [Open Journals Collective](https://www.openjournalscollective.org), and on the Board of the [ScholarLed](https://scholarled.org) consortium. *** ## 3. Looking Ahead: 2026 Among the press’s major goals and priorities for 2026: **A. Publish five books:** We aim to publish five books in 2026: (1) _From Erving to Goffman: A Work in Performance?_ (History of Media Studies) [[published in February](https://www.mediastudies.press/from-erving-to-goffman-a-work-in-performance)], (2) *Communication Conduct in an Island Community* [re-publication in the Goffman in the Open Series], (3) *Independent, Alternative, and Community Media: An Open Reader* (Open Reader), (4) *Mobile Personalization: The History and Theory of Mobile Streaming Media* (Media Manifold), and (5) *Media Literacy for a New Britain* (History of Media Studies). **B. Recommitting to PubPub:** After some [uncertainty](https://www.knowledgefutures.org/updates/2025-06-update/) about [PubPub](https://www.pubpub.org)’s future, we were thrilled to learn that the [platform will live on](https://www.knowledgefutures.org/updates/2026-01-update/), with a long-term sustainability plan, updates, and ongoing support. Thus we aim to maintain our longstanding commitment to [PubPub](https://www.pubpub.org), with the aim to benefit from its excellent multi-modal support in future projects. Co-director Jeff Pooley has joined the Board of [Knowledge Futures](https://www.knowledgefutures.org), the nonprofit that makes PubPub. **C. Accessibility:** We released our new [Accessibility Statement](https://www.mediastudies.press/accessibility) and [VPAT](https://github.com/mediastudiespress/organization/raw/master/operations/VPAT_mediastudies.press.pdf#L0) in April 2026. As noted in the [Statement](https://www.mediastudies.press/accessibility), our commitment is to publish new titles’ PDF and ePub editions with support for accessibility best practices. Our long-term plan is to make back-catalog PDF and ePub editions accessible too. **D. Explore Lightning Source and a GOBI consortium:** The press currently publishes its paperback publish-on-demand through [Kindle Direct Publishing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle_Direct_Publishing) (Amazon). We aim to explore the other duopolist, Ingram’s [Lightning Source](https://www.ingramcontent.com/publishers/print-on-demand), based on the distribution experiences of our peer presses. We also aim to form a consortium of small scholar-led presses to approach [GOBI](https://www.ebsco.com/products/gobi-library-solutions), the EBSCO-owned for-profit that manages most North American library book purchases. **E. Author manual and in-production notices:** The press plans to develop a guide for authors, to be hosted on [msp-docs.org](https://msp-docs.org). We have, in addition, developed a [book production flow chart](https://msp-docs.org/images/msp-flow-chart.png) that we plan to use to provide monthly updates to contracted authors on their book’s place in the production process. **F. OACIP renewal:** The mediastudies.press journal, [*History of Media Studies*](https://hms.mediastudies.press), was a second-year participant in LYRASYS’s [Open Access Community Investment Program](https://my.lyrasis.org/s/product-details?id=a1BUh000001GTTYMA4) (OACIP). From 2022 through to 2026, the journal’s investments were $12,500 per year (less a 6.5% LYRASIS fee). The OACIP support has enabled the journal to underwrite Spanish and Portuguese-language translation and interpretation, linked symposia, superb copy-editing, and other operations of the journal. [*History of Media Studies*](https://hms.mediastudies.press) is slated to enter a renewal process beginning in fall 2026, with the aim to secure investment for an additional three-year term. **G. Latin American Translation Fund:** [*History of Media Studies*](https://hms.mediastudies.press) is working to establish at Latin American Translation Fund, on the basis of the journal’s foundational commitment to scholarship on, and scholars working in, the history of Latin American communication studies. Our plan is to use this proposed Fund, supported by remaining first-round [OACIP](https://my.lyrasis.org/s/product-details?id=a1BUh000001GTTYMA4) investment, to finance translations of new articles and also major collections of existing articles and book excerpts, most of which have received limited attention outside of Latin America. The aim will be to expose these works and their tradition to the English-speaking academy. **H. *History of Media Studies* Special Sections:** The *History of Media Studies* journal is slated to publish a number of Special Sections in 2026: (1) a collection of articles on the history of communication studies in the Portuguese-speaking world; (2) a re-publication of the *Journal of Communication*’s iconic 1983 “Ferment in the Field,” with a new introduction by special issue’s main editor, Marsha Siefert; and (3) a re-publication of the prefaces and introductions by Seth Siegelaub and Armand Mattelart in their landmark two-volume *Communication and Class Struggle*, with a new introduction and accompanying research articles. Plans for 2027 include a (1) collection of articles curated by the Europe-based Network for the Study of Practices of Influence (Le réseau d’étude des pratiques d’influence, REPINE) on Propaganda and Influence: New Historiographical Perspectives, and (2) a Special Section on histories of publishing in media studies, with a mix of solicited and submitted contributions. *** ## 4. Finances *Though mediastudies.press is a single nonprofit corporation, the organization includes both overall financial reporting as well as financial reporting broken into two categories: (1) mediastudies.press books and (2) *History of Media Studies*. The reason for the separate reporting is that (1) and (2) are, substantially but not exclusively, funded through separate revenue streams. mediastudies.press books receives a majority of revenue from the [Open Book Collective](https://openbookcollective.org/view/package/11/summary/) (OBC), while *History of Media Studies* receives most of its revenue from the [Open Access Community Investment Program]([https://www.lyrasis.org/content/Pages/product-details.aspx?pid=FA72D255-4C12-EC11-80F2-00155D0A2721](https://my.lyrasis.org/s/product-details?id=a1BUh000001GTTYMA4)) (OACIP). **Important note:** The revenue from OACIP is front-loaded: Many of the library investors provided their full five-years of pledged investment in 2022, while other library investors have provided their five-years of pledged investment year by year, beginning in 2022. *** * [[#A. Balance - overall]] * [[#B. Income & expenses - overall]] * [[#C. Balance - mediastudies.press books]] * [[#D. Income & expenses - mediastudies.press books]] * [[#E. Balance - *History of Media Studies*|E. Balance - History of Media Studies]] * [[#F. Income & expenses - *History of Media Studies*|F. Income & expenses - History of Media Studies]] * [[#G. Income by category - overall]] * [[#H. Expenses by category - overall]] * [[#I. Income by category - mediastudies.press books]] * [[#J. Expenses by category - mediastudies.press books]] * [[#K. Income by category - *History of Media Studies*|K. Income by category - History of Media Studies]] * [[#L. Expenses by category - *History of Media Studies*|L. Expenses by category - History of Media Studies]] * [[#M. Income & expenses by month]] *** ### A. Balance - Overall #### *1. End of 2023 - overall* **December 31, 2023:** $50,354.98 #### *2. End of 2024 - overall* **December 31, 2024:** $61,148.06 *** ### B. Income & Expenses - Overall #### *1. 2024 Income - overall* $24,024.65 #### *2. 2024 Expenses - overall* $13,236.07 *** ### C. Balance - mediastudies.press Books #### *1. End of 2023 - mediastudies.press books* **December 31, 2023:** $9,349.15 #### *2. End of 2024 - mediastudies.press books* **December 31, 2024:** $22,829.69 *** ### D. Income & Expenses - mediastudies.press Books #### *1. 2024 Income - mediastudies.press books* $19,817.15 #### *2. 2024 Expenses - mediastudies.press books* $6,336.61 *** ### E. Balance - *History of Media Studies* #### *1. End of 2023 - History of Media Studies* **December 31, 2023:** $41,010.33 #### *2. End of 2024 - History of Media Studies* **December 31, 2024:** $38,318.37 *** ### F. Income & Expenses - *History of Media Studies* #### *1. 2024 Income - *History of Media Studies $4,207.50 #### *2. 2024 Expenses - *History of Media Studies $6,899.46 *** ### G. Income by Category - Overall * **OBC:** $17,976.27 * **OACIP:** $4,207.50 * **grants:** $1,400.00 * **donations:** $235.30 * **book sales:** $205.58 ![[overall-income-2024.png]] *** ### H. Expenses by Category - Overall * **translation:** $4,955.23 * **proofing & copyediting:** $4,712.09 * **subscriptions/dues/memberships:** $1,821.19 * **software:** $1,091.98 * **online services:** $393.11 * **author copies:** $41.15 * **office space:** $120.00 * **reviewing:** $41.14 * **taxes and licenses:** $25.00 * **permissions:** $25.00 * **other expenses (general):** $9.45 ![[overall-expenses-2024.png]] *** ### I. Income by Category - mediastudies.press Books * **OBC:** $17,976.27 * **grants:** $1,400.00 * **donations:** $235.30 * **book sales:** $205.58 ![[msp-income-2024.png]] *** ### J. Expenses by Category - mediastudies.press Books * **translation:** $4,713.98 * **proofing & copyediting:** $563.23 * **software:** $445.08 * **online services:** $180.06 * **subscriptions/dues/memberships:** $332.94 * **author copies:** $41.87 * **taxes and licenses:** $25.00 * **permissions:** $25.00 * **other expenses (general):** $9.45 ![[msp-expenses-2024.png]] *** ### K. Income by Category - *History of Media Studies* * **OACIP:** $4,207.50 ![[hms-income-2024.png]] *** ### L. Expenses by Category - *History of Media Studies* * **proofing & copyediting:** $4,148.86 * **subscriptions/dues/memberships:** $1,488.25 * **software:** $646.90 * **translation:** $241.25 * **online services:** $213.05 * **office space:** $120.00 * **reviewing:** $41.15 ![[hms-expenses-2024.png]] *** ### M. Income & Expenses by Month * *[[finance-report-2024-01|January 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-02|February 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-03|March 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-04|April 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-05|May 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-06|June 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-07|July 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-08|August 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-09|September 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-10|October 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-11|November 2024]]* * *[[finance-report-2024-12|December 2024]]* *** [[#2024 Annual Report|Top of report]]