Networked Media and Communication (Autumn 2019)

Abstract

The course introduces students to the ways that networked media affect different people and organisations, and their communication.

Description

Networked media services such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Grindr have profoundly changed the ways in which people and organizations communicate and interact. Changes occur on the material level, with networked media technologies spreading quickly but unevenly across nations and the Globe. On a political level, active citizenship is increasingly intertwined with digital literacy and mediated forms of action. And socially, notions of private and public are reshaped as social networking sites become primary sites for the performance of identity and organisation of community.

The students will learn how networked media affect different people and organizations, and their communication.

In this class, we will examine the effects of networked media and communication on such different areas of society. To learn how to make sense of this, we will read media and communication theories, and in order to think about what kinds of knowledge each theory produces, and apply them to case material.

Formal prerequisites

This course is part of the first semester in the bachelor's degree in Global Business Informatics.

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Identify and present central matters of concern within the field of new media and communication
• Critically assess how communication is mediated through and with digital technology
• Reflect on challenges and opportunities of new media and their social implications in a global context

Learning activities

The course is an introduction to networked media communication and consists of 14 weeks of lectures, exercises, presentations, and supervision. The lectures will focus theoretically on reading and discussing various approaches. During the exercises you will work in groups on the themes brought up in the lecture. Here you will both train your analytical skills, ability to collaborate, give oral presentations, and give constructive feedback.

Course literature

The course literature is published in the course page in LearnIT.

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, external (7-trinsskala)
Exam variation:
D22: Submission of written work with following oral exam supplemented by the work submitted. The oral exam will be supplemented by the submitted work, i.e. the submitted work supplements a fixed syllabus from the course base.
Exam description:

Hand-in: Synopsis of 2-4 pages.

A synopsis is a short text that gives an overview of the different elements of a topic you would like to talk about, including an overview of a specific case and possible theoretical and methodological approaches in the analysis of this case. There will be time during the course to work and get feedback on your synopsis.  

Oral Exam:  will last 20 minutes including assessment.

For the first part of the oral exam you have to prepare a short presentation (5-7 minutes), which builds on the synopsis. In the second part of the oral exam we will have a short discussion in relation to media & communication theory and you will be assessed according to the intended learning outcomes.

Time and date