This course is designed to introduce some of
the basic terms and concepts in the field of media and communication studies in
the global context. Over the course of the semester, we will examine key themes
in the discipline involving the social, political, economic, cultural, and
technological contexts in which media objects and devices are produced and
consumed. Reading canonical and contemporary texts in the field, we will ask:
What is communication? What are media? What is the implication of
“globalization”? How do communication media operate both as material formats
and institutional forces? And how, in turn, do these formats and forces
generate a frame of reference for people’s everyday lives? Formulating
responses to such questions will involve considering how media help to maintain
the status quo while at the same time exploring how the media also routinely
invested as agents or conduits for social change.
Learning objectives
· Explain,
define, and apply the fundamental concepts for media and communication studies.
· Illustrate
how media and communication technologies produce a relation to the world
through their design, implementation, and underlying infrastructure.
· Apply
various perspectives on media and communication discussed in class to your own
everyday mediated, communicative experiences, as well as to your use of media
devices.