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

History and Definitions of Media and Communications
Barlow, John Perry. Independence Declaration of Cyberspace. (1996)
Speck, Hendrik. Timeline of Media/ Hypermedia. (2001)

Resources
Electronic Frontier Foundation. John Perry Barlow.
Hobbes Internet Timeline.

Reading
History. Kittler, Friedrich: The History of Communication Media. (1996)

Reading
Writing. Plato Phaedrus. (Begin at: “Shall we discuss the rules of writing …?”)
Bush, Vannemar. As we may think. (1945)
Analysis. Shannon, Claude Elwood. A Mathematical Theory of Communication. (1963)

Resources
Claude Elwood Shannon and Infotheory.
Claude Shannon Orbituary.

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