Lecture: 2 hours/week
and
Seminar: 2 hours/week
In this course, students engage with a variety of learning activities including, lecture, seminar-style discussion and group work. Students will also be asked to participate in research and debate.
Some or all of the following methods will be used:
- Lecture/seminar
- Debate
- Production of written/audio/visual production across a variety of platforms
Students will be exposed to an array of theories and topics that pertain to the bigger category of "New Media and Society." The goal is to provide students with an opportunity to gain a broad understanding of new media as a terrain marked by diverse struggles for communication, power, capitalism, and control.
A sample of topics may include:
- Social media and mobile technologies
- eSports and gamification
- Network infrastructure and its relationship to: representation, identity, political engagement and social ties
- Participatory culture and remixing
- Consumption, capitalism, and influencer behaviour
- Commodification of personhood and wearable technology
- Algorithms and big data
- Surveillance capitalism and data colonialism
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Develop a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes the new media landscape
- Identify the key communication theories that may apply to a study of new media
- Identify and critically evaluate key areas of concern that pertain to the rise of new media
- Identify and interpret the various sides of a media debate without resorting to binaries
or dualities of "right" or "wrong" - Defend their positions on several media debates using scholarly sources as well as their
own experiences, while considering opposing viewpoints in a debate - Defend a viewpoint in a casual debate, respecting the other viewpoints and providing
clear evidence to support their own viewpoint
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule will be presented at the beginning of the course. The exact means of assessment will be responsive to the adjusting media landscape.
An example of assessment types and weights is below:
- Final research project: 25%
- Assignments and journals: 20%
- Video presentation: 10%
- Midterm exam: 15%
- Final exam: 20%
- Attendance and participation: 10%
There is no assigned textbook for this course. Readings will be made available to students and will cover canonical readings and recent per-reviewed journal articles.