MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

This course introduces the student to the history, philosophy, epistemology and analysis of media and mass communication. The class covers social, cultural, and political changes triggered by new media and communication technologies and presents current theory and research models. Students will specifically focus on the implications of the phonetic alphabet, the invention of the printing press, television, and cyberspace and will participate in a mixture of lectures, readings, discussions, experiments and projects.

• CLASS INFORMATION
  
• CLASS SCHEDULE
  • CLASS INFORMATION
    
  • CLASS SCHEDULE
    • Week 1 - Introduction
    • Week 2 - History of Communication Media
    • Week 3 - History and Definitions
      Plato/ Vannemar Bush/ Claude Elwood Shannon
    • Week 4 - Mass Media/ Marshall McLuhan
    • Week 5 - Mass and New Media I
      Marshall McLuhan, ArpaNet and WWW
    • Week 6 - Mass and New Media II
      Jürgen Habermas
    • Week 7 - Mass and New Media III
      Neil Postman and Jean Baudrillard
    • Week 8 - Mass and New Media IV
      Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson
    • Week 9 - Social Aspects of Media and Communications I
      Propaganda and Censorship
    • Week 10 - Social Aspects of Media and Communications II
      Bias, Ownership, and Monopoly
    • Week 11 - Social Aspects of Media and Communications III
      Social Implications
    • Week 12 - Social Aspects of Media and Communications IV
      Social Aspects of Media and Communications
    • Week 13 - Body/Gender and Reality/Virtuality
    • Week 14 - Final Exam
    • Week 15 - Conclusion and Evaluation
  • MATERIAL
    
  • REQUIREMENTS
  
  
  
  
  

  WEEK 13 - Body/Gender and Reality/Virtuality

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  Reading
  Dibell, Julian. A Rape in Cyberspace. (1993)

  Experiment
  Gender Related Chat Communication (Evening Class)

  Reading
  Cyborg. Haraway, Donna. A Cyborg Manifesto. (1991)

  Movie
  Scott, Ridley. Blade Runner. (1982)

  Reading
  Viirilio, Paul. Cyberwar, God and Television. (1994)

  Book
  Gibson, Williams. Neuromancer. Neuromancer Script. (1990)

  Movie
  Nolan, Christopher. Memento. (2000).

  Resources
  European Graduate School. Donna Haraway.
  The Blade Zone.
  BBC. Bladerunner
  Memento.
  

  
  

  WEEK 14 - Final Exam

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  Official, photo-bearing identification is required and will be checked for the final exam. Seats will be assigned to all participants of the test; eating, drinking or using tobacco is not allowed during the administration. Video, photographic, and electronic devices of any kind, including cellular phones, beepers, pagers, watch alarms, as well as books, papers, rulers, stereos, radios, electronic dictionaries, and translators are not permitted. No testing aids or materials are permitted at any time during the testing session. Scratch paper and writing material will be provided and must be returned to the exam administrator. Once the time has ended for the final exam, writing must stop and all testing material must be handed back. Examinees may not leave the exam room during the videotaped test session. Shall at any time during the test for any reasons a problem arise, the administrator will promptly respond to the signal of raised hands.

  
  

  WEEK 15 - Conclusion and Evaluation

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  Movie
  Wenders, Wim. Until the End of the World. (1991)

  Resources
  Movie Index. Until the End of the World.