COM 3106 Media and Society
Lecture:
Dr. Katrien Jacobs (Tel 2788 8873)
Class
Time: Tuesdays 12:30-3:20pm
Classroom: G5-315
Office: Y7613
Aims
and Objectives
This
course will give an overview of mass media and digital media networks and how
they affect social and political issues, economics, and cultural trends in
contemporary society. A major part of the course will make us critically analyze
the development of media from historical and theoretical ideologies and design
or activist practices. The course will focus on topics such as such as
democracy, globalization, sexual identities, free speech, social networks, net
activism, web communities, and ‘diy’ media making. We will also explore the
(re) construction of human identity, the body, social networks and acts of
communication. The course will enable students to explore and respond to
theories of media and communication and investigate basic ethical issues by
participating in an in-class debate by closely investigating Internet domains
in a final project.
Teaching Format
The class consists of lectures and discussion periods.
Students will do an in-class presentation on some of the themes covered by the
course material.
Assessment Method
There will be:
_ an exam at
the end of the semester
-
a group assignment consisting of a research
blog, an in-class presentation, and an essay.
The research blog will be a
Facebook group maintained by various members of the group who post information
relevant to the project. The blog will be opened in week three and will be
closed at the end of the semester. The information can include links to
relevant websites and newspaper articles, your own opinion articles, as well as
your own photographs and video clips. I would strongly encourage you to be
creative and imaginative in how you maintain your blog.
The in-class
presentations will be held as we move along in the course. A sign-up
sheet will be distributed to you after you get an idea of what issues your
groups would be interested in. Each group consists of 8-9 students, and all
students in the group should contribute equally to the project. Each
group should submit a 3-to 4-page typed discussion outline with the URL of the
research blog and cited references to all class members. On the date the
group signs up for, two students in the group will give the presentation.
Additionally each group of students is required to
hand in an essay related to the theme. The research project is a summary of
research activities carried out by group members, including
- 1 page bibliography of books project and the blog to
the class and be responsible for leading discussion, articles and websites
consulted by the group members
- 5 page summary of research blog activities
- 5 page essay with major findings and conclusion
Grades for the debates will be handed at the end of
the semester.
Exam 50&
Research Project
30 %
Quiz, Attendance and Participation 20%
Total
100%
According to departmental policy, no grade above a “C”
will be awarded unless the quality of English communication demonstrated in the
exercises and the final report is at an acceptable level with regard to syntax,
grammar and the use of cohesive devices to ensure coherence of ideas.
Late submission of assignments (including exercises) will be marked down by one
full letter grade for a 24-hour delay, 40% of the original scale for 2- to
7-days’ delay, and failure for any longer delay.
Course Materials
All course materials can be found on the Blackboard
course site. Do not download all these materials at the beginning of the
semester, as I will be making changes throughout the semester.
You will find a list of powerpoint lectures and
readings for each week. Additionally, you will find other readings on websites
that are indicated on the course syllabus. You have to be familiar with these
readings for the mid-semester reading quiz (readings weekone--week eight) and
the final exam (all readings).
Students are required to complete the designated readings (see the
schedule) before attending the corresponding lectures and tutorials. The
corresponding lectures and tutorials. They will be examined on the contents of
the readings during the final exam.
Week-By-Week Outline
|
1 13 january |
|
Introduction to course content Facebook group projects Overview of presentation topics |
|
2 20 january |
|
-Sign-up for project presentations - Internet Studies: History and
Major Issues; Philosophy of Humanoids and Virtual Spaces - Screening Phie Ambo Mechanical Love |
|
3 3 february |
- -David Gauntlett: |
-Cyberspace architectures and
Governance -Digital Media and
Democracy/Free Speech -Free Software
and Open Source -Media Activism Screening; David
Cronenberg, Existenz |
|
4 10 february |
Matthew Johnson, “Lust, Camera,
Action” http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/2008/04/lust-camera-action-how-ang-lees-risqu.html Overview of other film reviews http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lust_caution/ |
Media regulation on obscene content in media. Screening: Lust,Caution |
|
5 17 february |
Matthew Chew: “Reading Hong Kong Entertainment’s Decline From the Bottom-Up” |
Media and Celebrity Culture Screening: What's wrong with your
pr0n, PRESENTATION TEAMS Celebrity Culture |
|
6 24 february |
James
Farrer: « |
Blogging and DIY media PRESENTATION TEAMS
Blogging Culture |
|
7 4 march |
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8 11 march |
|
Pornography Debates PRESENTATION TEAM Pornography Debates |
|
9 17 march |
David Gauntlett: |
Music, Art and the Aeshetics of Sampling PRESENTATION TEAMS Music Aesthetics
and Distribution |
|
10 24 march |
Katrien Jacobs “Queer Voyeurism
and the Pussy Matrix in Shu Lea Cheang’s Japanese Pornography” http://www.libidot.org/katrien/tester/articles/iku-print.html |
Queer Media in Screening; Shu Lea Cheang I.K.U PRESENTATION TEAMS Queer identity and queer media |
|
11 31 march |
Henry Jenkins: “Nine Propositions Towards a Cultural Theory of
Youtube” http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/05/9_propositions_towards_a_cultu.html |
Social Networks: Youtube PRESENTATION TEAMS
Social Networks |
|
12 7 april |
Judith Donath and Danah Boyd:
“Public Display of Connection” |
- Social networks: Facebook DEBATE TEAM Social
Networks |
|
13 21 april |
Revision Period |
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