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
  • 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

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.

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.

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

Resources
Movie Index. Until the End of the World.

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