Nicholas Garnham

Interview

• "What are the remaining limitations of the great information network?" (Venice, 17/03/1998)

Biography

Nicholas Garnham is Head of the Media Studies School of Communication and Director of the Centre for Communication and Information at the University of Westminster, London(waym@westminster.ac.uk). He began at Westminster University when it was still the Polytechnic of Central London as a lecturer in ‘Aesthetics & Film Theory History’ at the Department of Photography.
A Cambridge graduate, Garnham is an expert in the political economy of communication and communication regulations.

After a spell in the Royal Navy, Garnham worked in television before starting on his academic career. He was a film editor for the BBC from 1961 to 1964 and director and producer from 1964 to 68. As a freelance Director/Producer his credits include: Through the Eye of a Needle, Border Country, In Search of Paradise and The British Museum.

In 1979 he was founding editor of Media Culture and Society (Sage Publications, formerly Academic Press).

He has been governor of the British Film Institute (1973-77) and was a member of the BFI’s Higher Education Grants Committee in 1974.

He has been a member of the executive board of the Broadcasting Research and a consultant to the Greater London Council Economic Policy Group Has also acted as an advisor and assessor of communication research projects to the CRNS and Ministry of Research in France

He has worked as a consultant for the ICCP and OECD on universal services in telecommunications, on the future of radio for the World Bank and for the European commission (DGXIII) and the Dutch government.

He has been a member of the Communications and Cultural Studies board of the Council for National Academic Awards, of the Committee for UK Chapter of the International Institute of Communication. He is also a member of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy, the International Association of Mass Communication Research,l’International Institute of Communication, and the Joseph Schumpeter Society.

He has been a member of the board of Sage Mass Communications Review Yearbook, Journal of Communication, IKON, and is currently on the editorial board of: Technologies de l'Information et Societé, Kritischer Jahrbuch der Telekommunikation, The Journal of Media Economics Telecommunications Policy, Reseaux and Information Economics and Policy.

Bibliography

Among his recent publications:

• ‘Universal Service’ pp207-212, Ch 16 in William Melody (ed) Telecom Reform: Principles, Policies and Regulatory Practices, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, 1997
• ‘Political Economy and the Practice of Cultural Studies’ pp56-73. Ch 4 in M.Ferguson and P.Golding (eds) Cultural Studies in Question. London/New Delhi/Newbury Park: Sage, 1997.
• ‘Media policy’ in Adam Briggs and Paul Cobley (eds) The Media: An Introduction. London: Longmann, 1997.
• Telecommunications and Audio-Visual Convergence: regulatory issues’ pp284-287 in The Computer Law and Security Report, Vol 12. Issue 5, 1996.
• ‘Constraints on Multi-media Convergence’ pp103-120, Chapter 6 in William Dutton (ed), Information and Communication Technologies; Visions and Realities. Oxford University Press, 1996
• 'La développement du Multimédia: un deplacement du rapporte de force' in La Société face au Multimédia: Enjeux économiques et culturels pour les Européens. Alain Minc (Ed.). Fondation Idate Rapport 1995.
• 'Political Economy and Cultural Studies' in Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Vol.12 No.1, March 1995, pp.62-71.
• ‘From soap operas to video games: technical change and the re-invention of television’ pp98-110 in Franco Guglielmelli (ed) Reinventing Television, Association Television et Culture, Paris., 1995
• ‘Service universel dans les telecommunications europeennes’ pp91-101 in Les Autoroutes de l’Information, Gresea, Brussels, 1995.
• ‘The media and narratives of the intellectual’ Media, Culture and Society Vol 17 p359-384, 1995
• Economic, Institutional and Cultural Barriers to Convergence. Paper presented to the Conference on "The Convergence of Communication Technologies", University of Québéc à Montréal, September 29th-1st October, 1994.
• What is Multi-Media? Paper presented to the Conference on Legal Aspects of Multi-Media and GIS, Lisbon 27th-28th October, 1994.