Communication via media 15-KZPM-JIK-11

The seminar will address the question of how media, facilitated by modern technologies, mediate communication between the sender and the recipient. The characteristics of this type of communication will be discussed, demonstrating new potential for identity construction, rapport building and manipulation. By referring to the students’ personal experience as media consumers as well as, importantly, media producers, we will examine the increasingly participatory nature of today’s media consumption. In fact, students will be invited to co-construct the course by contributing topics, readings and activities.

The course will draw on (and question) the distinction between new media and traditional ones, and show how the convergence of media and technologies calls for new skills and has produced new literacies. We will highlight such features of mediated communication as interactivity, non-sequentiality, synchronicity and multimodality. Issues of privacy and safety will also be addressed. Finally, sample data on the use of modern technologies in new contexts will be collected and analysed.

Some topics include

· media convergence
· (digital) media literacy
· new communication platforms
· social networking for social action
· social media ethics; privacy and safety

Evaluation

Students’ evaluation will be based on

(1) the continuous assessment of class participation, in-class task completion and homework
(2) the completion of an individual project involving data collection and analysis