newms-theory-building
Use when building the conceptual argument of a New Media & Society (NM&S) manuscript — turning a platform finding into a portable concept or mechanism drawing on media, communication, and social theory. Builds the argument; it does not collect data or run analyses.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill newms-theory-building --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Theory Building (newms-theory-building) NM&S publishes empirical, critical, and computational work, but it consistently rewards papers that deliver a **concept or mechanism that travels** beyond the studied platform. "Theory" here is broad: it can be a new construct, a re-specification of a travelling concept, a critical/normative argument, or a mechanism that explains *how* a digital-media phenomenon works socially. It is rarely a formal model. ## When to trigger - Your draft has a finding but no portable idea ("X is associated with Y" and stop) - A reviewer called the work "atheoretical," "descriptive," or "a-just-so story" - You need to state what concept a reader in another field could carry elsewhere ## What counts as theory at NM&S | Mode | What it delivers | Example shape | |------|------------------|---------------| | New construct | a named thing the field lacked | "context collapse," "networked privacy" | | Re-specified concept | sharper definition + scope | redefining "affordance" relationally | | Mechanism | *how/why* a process works | datafication → self-discipline | | Critical / normative | what is at stake and for whom | platform power as a justice problem | | Typo
- When to trigger
- What counts as theory at NM&S
- The portability test (NM&S-specific)
- Build sequence
- For critical / theoretical papers (no original data)
- Worked micro-example (illustrative)
- Calibration anchors
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the newms-theory-building skill do?
Use when building the conceptual argument of a New Media & Society (NM&S) manuscript — turning a platform finding into a portable concept or mechanism drawing on media, communication, and social theory. Builds the argument; it does not collect data or run analyses.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill newms-theory-building --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.