COMM 1A:
Mass Media, Society, and Democracy (COMM 211)
(Graduate students register for COMM 211.) Open to non-majors. This course examines the role of the news media in contemporary society, with particular attention to cross-national variation in the relationships between journalists, politicians, and citizens. We further consider the potentially transforming effects of technology on the media-politics nexus.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 1B:
Media, Culture, and Society (AMSTUD 1B)
The institutions and practices of mass media, including television, film, radio, and digital media, and their role in shaping culture and social life. The media's shifting relationships to politics, commerce, and identity.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
COMM 86SI:
College Media Lab: digital and reporting skills for student journalists
Journalism, especially college journalism, is undergoing rapid change in the 21st century. As native digital users, we are uniquely positioned to create and innovate in the new media landscape. This class is designed to provide students with a hands-on education in digitally-fluent college media reporting. Topics include photo, video and data reporting, media rights and responsibilities, and communications careers outside of journalism. The 'basics' of writing, blogging, and reporting the news will be taught and applied throughout the quarter. Guest lectures from professional reporters, academics, and communications professionals. Work completed for this class can be submitted to The Stanford Daily for publication. Pizza provided.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 1-2
COMM 100S:
Self-Representation in Digital Media
Digital media allows ordinary people to document, publicize and reinvent themselves in ways previously only available to the elite. In the first half of this course, we will examine how Westerners have represented themselves as individuals. We will focus on photography, as indicative of a shift in prevalence of self-representation to the masses. In the second half of the course, we will examine how the ways in which individuals are represented may affect their understanding of themselves. Students will experiment with self-representation in different media, including creating virtual representations (avatars) of themselves to be inhabited in immersive virtual reality in the Virtual Human Interaction Lab. In the process, they will learn how the shared digital world shadows, interprets and sometimes overwrites the physical world and day-to day life.
Last offered: Summer 2014
| Units: 3
COMM 101S:
Growing up Digital: Technology's role in Cognitive and Social Development
Interactive digital technology infiltrates homes, schools, and entertainment venues, changing how people think, and socialize. What is the impact of growing up with greater access? How might age influence its use? This course focuses on technology's role in cognitive and social development and how that impacts its design. Topics include brain development, social cognition, symbolic processing, media usage, and self-representation. Coursework includes interacting with digital technologies such as virtual reality and social networking websites and completing a design project.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
COMM 103S:
Media Entertainment
The impact of media entertainment on individuals, social groups, and societies. Sources include a diverse cross-section of entertainment. Introduction to psychological and socio-psychological theories. Empirical findings relating to media entertainment as a stimulus and a reception phenomenon. What renders diverse genres of media content and format enjoyable? Why do individuals pursue entertainment experiences in ever-increasing numbers? What is the political impact of apolitical media entertainment?
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
COMM 104W:
Reporting, Writing, and Understanding the News
Techniques of news reporting and writing. The value and role of news in democratic societies. Gateway class to journalism. Prerequisite for all COMM 177/277 classes. Limited enrollment. Preference to COMM majors.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 105S:
Media Power in American Culture
An exploration of media power, focused on both digital and mass media. This course aims to interrogate what it means to claim that media are powerful, with an eye toward power dynamics in an era of Edward Snowden, National Security Agency surveillance of Americans, and constant online tracking by Internet companies. The objective of this course is to develop a framework and vocabulary for critically understanding media power and its role in setting the conditions of everyday life.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
COMM 106:
Communication Research Methods (COMM 206)
(Graduate students register for COMM 206.) Conceptual and practical concerns underlying commonly used quantitative approaches, including experimental, survey, content analysis, and field research in communication. Pre- or corequisite: STATS 60 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
COMM 106S:
Communication Research Methods
An introduction to social science research methods for those who have little or no prior experience in statistics. Designed to provide students with a critical framework and a set of tools to examine social problems - especially those related to the area of communication and the media. Students will be guided through the process of formulating real-world research questions, parsing them into analyzable statements, engaging in systematic data collection and analysis, and finally, thinking about value and limits of its outcome. Hands-on research experience provided.
Last offered: Summer 2012
| Units: 3-5
COMM 108:
Media Processes and Effects (COMM 208)
(Graduate students register for COMM 208.) The process of communication theory construction including a survey of social science paradigms and major theories of communication. Recommended: 1 or PSYCH 1.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 109S:
Psychology of Technology & Human-Technology Interaction
Products of design surround us, and shape our lives. This course will explore the human relationship with technology from a psychological point of view, and probe how technology can be designed to work in concert with those who use it. To survey this vast space, the course will cover seminal readings in the areas of human factors, human-computer interaction, product design, and psychology. The course will also delve into the area of design, with a collaborative final project integrating design and psychology.
Last offered: Summer 2014
| Units: 3
COMM 111S:
Creative Industries: The Business of Popular Culture
Examines the processes, institutions and cultural forces that shape production in creative industries. Examines book publishing, journalism, music, video/film, and games. Explores how these industries are organized, how work is structured and how technology and social media affect the production, distribution and discovery of products (like books, songs and videos) and experiences (like concerts). Asks how user-created content, like fan fiction and youtube videos, affect existing media institutions, and asks how digital technologies change the way culture is made.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
COMM 113:
Computational Methods in the Civic Sphere (COMM 213)
The widespread availability of public data provides a rich opportunity for those who can efficiently filter, interpret, and visualize information. Course develops necessary technical skills for data collection, analysis, and publication, including data mining and web visualization, with a focus on civic affairs and government accountability. Open to all majors and a range of technical skill levels. Involves tackling new tools and technical concepts in the pursuit of engaging, public-facing projects. (Graduate students enroll in 213).
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-EngrAppSci
COMM 115S:
Fun & Games: Motivational Design of User Experiences
Various interventions are employing virtual rewards, teams, and badges to incentivize real world behavior ranging from commercial purchases to reductions in home energy use. These are examples of motivational design, in which the engaging qualities common to games and other enjoyable activities are leveraged to drive particular behaviors. Using scientific research and industry examples we will examine the key processes and concepts that make up such designs. Along the way we will compare different theoretical approaches to motivation, consider the potential application of emerging technologies for new motivational designs, and discuss the ethics of designing for behavior change.
Last offered: Summer 2012
| Units: 3-5
COMM 116:
Journalism Law (COMM 216)
(Graduate students register for 216.) Laws and regulation impacting journalists. Topics include libel, privacy, news gathering, protection sources, fair trial and free press, theories of the First Amendment, and broadcast regulation. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or advanced Communication major.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 117:
Digital Journalism (COMM 217)
(Graduate students register for COMM 217.) Seminar and practicum. The implications of new media for journalists. Professional and social issues related to the web as a case of new media deployment, as a story, as a research and reporting tool, and as a publishing channel. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or consent of instructor.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 119S:
Social Psychology of Large-Scale Media Interventions
As Internet use continues to increase around the globe, social and entertainment media are quickly becoming the preferred modes of communication among the new generation of learners. A growing body of literature suggests that leveraging the psychologically powerful elements of these new forms of media and relevant content can be an effective way to motivate positive behavior and attitude change. Theory-based examples of using media for positive change can be found in areas such as energy consumption, health maintenance, driving safety, and classroom performance. Many other potential applications of this approach have also been identified.nThrough a review of social psychology and media effects literature, this course will provide an introduction to the social science of new media and its potential to affect positive change on a large scale. The first half of the course will be spent exploring psychological processes and associated media effects research to equip students with a fundamental understanding of how humans process interactive media. The second half of the course will leverage this foundation to explore highly social new media and innovative applications of this technology for positive social change. The course will conclude with a group project and presentation that discusses the possibility of using new media to address critical issues in society. Along the way, we will compare different theoretical approaches to media psychology, varying concepts of what constitutes a psychological intervention, and how social media might be used to overcome weaknesses in historical social systems.
Last offered: Summer 2014
| Units: 3
COMM 120W:
Digital Media in Society (AMSTUD 120, COMM 220)
(Graduate students register for 220.) Contemporary debates concerning the social and cultural impact of digital media. Topics include the historical origins of digital media, cultural contexts of their development and use, and influence of digital media on conceptions of self, community, and state. Priority to Juniors and Seniors.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 121S:
The Human Relationship with Machines
This course will survey ways in which people have thought about machines, in social and moral terms, from the late 18th century to the mid-20th century. Students will read mostly primary and secondary historical sources, originally published among industrial countries including France, Holland, England, Germany, and the United States, that illustrate major points of contention between actors brought into contact with one another through machine technologies. By the end of the course, students will have a greater understanding of the particular stances taken toward machines throughout modernity, how communication between people during this period has been shaped and occasioned by machines, the variety of forms taken by that communication, and what this history could mean for the role played by machines in our own lives. Topics include the censorship of Julien Offray de la Mettrie, automata and industrialization in 18th century England, the English and French Luddite movements, the literary dystopias of Samuel Butler and Charles Dickens, the American machine breakers movement, Taylorism and technocracy, and the post-war perspectives of Norbert Wiener and Martin Heidegger.
Last offered: Summer 2014
| Units: 3
COMM 122:
Content Analysis: Studying Communication Artifacts (COMM 222)
An empirical and systematic investigation of documented messages in print, graphical, and audio-visual forms and observed human communication behaviors. Focuses on the design and execution of content analytic studies, including manifest vs. latent content, measurement issues, reliability and validity assessment, computer text analysis, and traditional human-coder techniques. Prerequisite: junior, senior or grad standing; COMM 106/206 or an equivalent course in basic social science research. Limited enrollment.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 123:
Argumentation and Persuasion (COMM 223)
We all know that appeals based on logic and sound evidence often fail where less rational appeals that "shouldn't" work, succeed. This course examines persuasion, the influencing of attitudes, beliefs or behavior, and locates within that broad subject argumentation, the process of reasoning methodically from evidence. Argumentation, the socially acceptable method of persuasion, typically confines itself to the rules of logic and has as its goal the recognition of states and causal relationships held by the arguer to objectively exist. Other methods of persuasion can succeed while flouting those rules, but only within limits, as the story of the Emperor's New Clothes reminds us. This course will explore whether those limits be accounted for by the capacity limitations and heuristics and biases of human information processing. Topics to be covered include evolutionary explanations; the central and peripheral routes to persuasion; source, channel and receiver factors; attitude-behavior consistency; the roles of involvement, elaboration, affect and social influence; critical thinking skills and logical fallacies. Limited enrollment; preference to juniors, seniors and graduate students, and within these, to Communication majors.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 124:
Digital Deception (COMM 224)
Deception is one of the most significant and pervasive social phenomena of our age. Lies range from the trivial to the very serious, including deception between friends and family, in the workplace, and in security and intelligence contexts. At the same time, information and communication technologies have pervaded almost all aspects of human communication, from everyday technologies that support interpersonal interactions to, such as email and instant messaging, to more sophisticated systems that support organization-level interactions. Given the prevalence of both deception and communication technology in our personal and professional lives, an important set of questions have recently emerged about how humans adapt their deceptive practices to new communication and information technologies, including how communication technology affects the practice of lying and the detection of deception, and whether technology can be used to identify deception.
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 125:
Perspectives on American Journalism (COMM 225)
(Graduate students register for COMM 225.) An examination of the practice of American journalism, focusing on the political, social, cultural, economic and technological forces that have shaped the U. S. press since the early 1800s. Aimed at consumers as well as producers of news, the objective of this course is to provide a framework and vocabulary for judging the value and quality of everyday journalism.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 130N:
The idea of a free press
Preference to freshmen. An examination of the meaning of freedom of the press, tied to but not bound by various Supreme Court rulings on the scope and purpose of the First Amendment's speech and press clauses. Discussions will include a look at the recent and rapid computerization of communication and what it portends for the future of a free press.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
COMM 131:
Media Ethics and Responsibility (COMM 231)
(Graduate students register for COMM 231.) The development of professionalism among American journalists, emphasizing the emergence of objectivity as a professional and the epistemological norm. An applied ethics course where questions of power, freedom, and truth autonomy are treated normatively so as to foster critical thinking about the origins and implications of commonly accepted standards of responsible journalism.
Last offered: Winter 2011
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-ER
COMM 133:
Need to Know: The Tension between a Free Press and National Security Decision Making (COMM 233)
This seminar will examine the dynamic interaction at the highest levels of government and the media when news coverage of secret national security policy and operations impinges on United States defense, diplomatic and intelligence activities and decision making. A prime example: the torrent of secret NSA programs disclosed by Edward Snowden in newspapers and other media. Students will explore attitudes, practices and actions by the media and the government through a series of case studies and simulations. Former editors, reporters and government officials will appear as guest speakers. The goal of the course is to inform students about the vital but often fraught relationship between a free press and the government in a democratic society, especially in the management of national security affairs. For advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. The instructor is a former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. Please email Anne Stickells (annees7@stanford.edu) to request an application. Completed applications are due by 6pm on March 21, 2015. (Grad students register for COMM 233)
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 135:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 235, COMM 335, POLISCI 234P, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. In spring quarter 2015, this course will have a special focus on deliberative democracy in the the Greater China region. The course will discuss whether a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age. What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Case studies from the Deliberative Polling method and other deliberation methods, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a cases studies for discussion. Some course sessions will utilize the case method to examine public consultations, the media, and civil society. Throughout the course, students will address how public participation is currently conducted around the world. As we have all seen successful, but more likely unsuccessful attempts to consult the public and this course will examine the various ways of consulting the public and how governments, media, and the public have responded and used the results.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER, WAY-SI
COMM 137W:
The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 237, POLISCI 232T, POLISCI 332T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
COMM 140:
Digital Media Entrepreneurship (COMM 240)
(Graduate students register for COMM 240.) Primarily for graduate journalism and computer science students. Silicon Valley's new media culture, digital storytelling skills and techniques, web-based skills, and entrepreneurial ventures. Guest speakers. Prerequisite: Instructor consent/completed application. Application can be found at: http://dme.stanford.edu
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
COMM 142W:
Media Economics (COMM 242)
Uses economics to examine the generation and consumption of information in communication markets. Covers concepts that play a large role in information economics, including public goods, economies of scale, product differentiation, and externalities. Looks at individuals¿ information demands as consumers, producers, audience members, and voters. Topics include economics of Internet, sustainability of accountability journalism, and marketplace of ideas.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 143W:
Communication Policy and Regulation (COMM 243)
Focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting communication markets. Policy issues include universal service, digital divide, Internet regulation, intellectual property, privacy, television violence, content diversity, media ownership, antitrust, and impact of news on government accountability. Examines political economy of communication policy and the evolution of policies across time.
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 151:
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press (COMM 251, POLISCI 125P)
Introduction to the constitutional protections for freedom of speech, press, and expressive association. All the major Supreme Court cases dealing with issues such as incitement, libel, hate speech, obscenity, commercial speech, and campaign finance. There are no prerequisites, but a basic understanding of American government would be useful. In addition to a final and midterm exam, students participate in a moot court on a hypothetical case. (Grad students register for COMM 251)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 160:
The Press and the Political Process (COMM 260, POLISCI 323R)
(Graduate students register for COMM 260.) The role of mass media and other channels of communication in political and electoral processes.
Last offered: Spring 2010
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 162:
Campaigns, Voting, Media, and Elections (COMM 262, POLISCI 120B)
This course examines the theory and practice of American campaigns and elections. First, we will attempt to explain the behavior of the key players -- candidates, parties, journalists, and voters -- in terms of the institutional arrangements and political incentives that confront them. Second, we will use current and recent election campaigns as "laboratories" for testing generalizations about campaign strategy and voter behavior. Third, we examine selections from the academic literature dealing with the origins of partisan identity, electoral design, and the immediate effects of campaigns on public opinion, voter turnout, and voter choice. As well, we'll explore issues of electoral reform and their more long-term consequences for governance and the political process.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 164:
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America (COMM 264, POLISCI 224L, PSYCH 170)
Focus is on how politicians and government learn what Americans want and how the public's preferences shape government action; how surveys measure beliefs, preferences, and experiences; how poll results are criticized and interpreted; how conflict between polls is viewed by the public; how accurate surveys are and when they are accurate; how to conduct survey research to produce accurate measurements; designing questionnaires that people can understand and use comfortably; how question wording can manipulate poll results; corruption in survey research.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 166:
Virtual People (COMM 266)
(Graduate students register for COMM 266.) The concept of virtual people or digital human representations; methods of constructing and using virtual people; methodological approaches to interactions with and among virtual people; and current applications. Viewpoints including popular culture, literature, film, engineering, behavioral science, computer science, and communication.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 168:
Experimental Research in Advanced User Interfaces (COMM 268, COMM 368, ME 468)
Project-based course involves small (3-4) person teams going through all parts of the experimental process: question generation, experiment design, running, and data analysis. Each team creates an original, publishable project that represents a contribution to the research and practicum literatures. All experiments involve interaction between people and technology, including cars, mobile phones, websites, etc. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 1-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 169:
Computers and Interfaces (COMM 269)
(Graduate students register for COMM 269.) Interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary. User responses to interfaces and design implications of those responses. Theories from different disciplines illustrate cognitive, emotional, and social responses to textual, voice-based, pictorial, metaphoric, conversational, adaptive, agent-based, intelligent, and anthropomorphic interfaces. Group design project applying theory to the design of an interactive interface.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-CE, WAY-SI
COMM 171:
Moving Pictures: How the Web, Mobile and Tablets are Revolutionizing Video Journalism (COMM 271)
(Graduate students register for 271.) Examine the emerging role of video journalism across web, tablet and mobile platforms. What are the specific needs of these platforms? How can new reporting tools be integrated to efficiently produce video news content? We'll examine case studies and hear from guest speakers about innovations in video journalism on these platforms. Students will produce video journalism pieces using mobile tools, optimized for viewing on mobile devices. Prerequisite: Journalism MA student or instructor's consent.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 172:
Media Psychology (COMM 272)
(Graduate students register for COMM 272.) The literature related to psychological processing and the effects of media. Topics: unconscious processing; picture perception; attention and memory; emotion; the physiology of processing media; person perception; pornography; consumer behavior; advanced film and television systems; and differences among reading, watching, and listening.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 176:
Advanced Digital Media Production (COMM 276)
In-depth reporting and production using audio, images and video. Focus on an in-depth journalism project with appropriate uses of digital media: audio, photography, graphics, and video. Topics include advanced field techniques and approaches (audio, video, still) and emphasis on creating a non-fiction narrative arc in a multimedia piece of 10-12 minutes. Prerequisite: COMM 275 or consent of instructor
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 177A:
Computational Journalism (COMM 277A)
Focuses on using data and algorithms to lower the cost of discovering stories or telling stories in more engaging and personalized ways. Project based assignments based on real-world challenges faced in newsrooms. Prior experience in journalism or computational thinking helpful. Prerequisite: Comm 273D, COMM 113/213, or the consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
COMM 177C:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Environmental Journalism (COMM 277C, EARTHSYS 177C, EARTHSYS 277C, ENVRES 277C)
(Graduate students register for COMM / ENVRES 277C.) Practical, collaborative, writing-intensive course in science-based environmental journalism. Science and journalism students learn how to identify and write engaging stories about environmental issues and science, how to assess the quality and relevance of environmental news, how to cover the environment and science beats effectively, and how to build bridges between the worlds of journalism and science. Limited enrollment: preference to journalism students and students in the natural and environmental sciences. Prerequisite: COMM 104, ENVRES 200 or consent of instructor. Admissions by application only, available from thayden@stanford.edu.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 177D:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Magazine Journalism (COMM 277D)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277D.) How to report, write, edit, and read magazine articles, emphasizing long-form narrative. Tools and templates of story telling such as scenes, characters, dialogue, and narrative arc. How the best magazine stories defy or subvert conventional wisdom and bring fresh light to the human experience through reporting, writing, and moral passion. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 177G:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Covering Silicon Valley (COMM 277G)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277G.) Business reporting basics in the context of Silicon Valley's technology scene. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 177I:
Becoming a Watchdog: Investigative Reporting Techniques (COMM 277I)
Graduate students register for COMM 277I.) Learn how to apply an investigative and data mindset to journalism, from understanding how to background an individual or entity using online databases to compiling or combining disparate sets of information in ways that unveil wrongdoing or mismanagement. Focuses on mining texts, tracking associations, and using visualizations. Stories produced apply investigative techniques to beat reporting, breaking news, and long form journalism. Prerequisite: COMM 104W, or consent of instructor
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 177S:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Sports Journalism (COMM 277S)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277S.) Workshop. An examination of American sports writing from the 1920's Golden Age of Sports to present. Students become practitioners of the sports writing craft in an intensive laboratory. Hones journalistic skills such as specialized reporting, interviewing, deadline writing, creation of video projects, and conceptualizing and developing stories for print and online. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 177Y:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Foreign Correspondence in the Middle East and Asia (COMM 277Y)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y.) What's involved in working as a foreign correspondent in these important and volatile parts of the world, where in many cases journalists are not respected and may face danger -- taught by a journalist who has worked extensively in both regions. (no pre-requisites)
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 4-5
COMM 182:
Social Media Issues (COMM 282)
(Graduate students register for COMM 282.) Students will take away from this course a set of conceptual tools, a vocabulary, and an analytical framework with which to recognize, understand, and more effectively manage new social practices online, together with a familiarity with the literature regarding social media and identity, community, collective action, public sphere, social capital, networks, and social networks. Students will also develop skills at using online forums, blogs, microblogs, wikis for research, collaboration, and communication. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Please see http://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-rheingold/ for application instructions. Contact instructor at: howard@rheingold.com
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 183:
Social Media Literacies (COMM 283)
Today's personal, social, political, economic worlds are all affected by digital media and networked publics: viral videos, uprisings from Tahrir to #OWS, free search engines, abundant inaccuracy and sophisticated disinformation online, indelible, and searchable digital footprints, laptops in lecture halls and BlackBerries at the dinner table, 20-something social media billionaires, massive online university courses. Introduction to the literature about and direct experience of these new literacies: research foundations and practical methods to control attention, attitudes and tools necessary for critical consumption of information, best practices of individual digital participation and collective participatory culture, the use of collaborative media and methodologies, and the application of network know-how to life online. Contrasting perspectives through readings and classroom and online discussion. Students collaborate and cooperate in their learning during and between classes through small group discussions and face to face exercises, forums, blogs, mindmaps and wikis. Prerequisite: instructor consent. See http://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-rheingold/ for application instructions; contact instructor at howard@rheingold.com.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 195:
Honors Thesis
Qualifies students to conduct communication research. Student must apply for department honors thesis program during Spring Quarter of junior year.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 5
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 15 units total)
COMM 199:
Individual Work
For students with high academic standing. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Brenner, R. (PI);
Brinkley, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Phillips, C. (PI);
Pomerantz, G. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Rheingold, H. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI);
Voelker, D. (PI);
Wheaton, J. (PI)
COMM 206:
Communication Research Methods (COMM 106)
(Graduate students register for COMM 206.) Conceptual and practical concerns underlying commonly used quantitative approaches, including experimental, survey, content analysis, and field research in communication. Pre- or corequisite: STATS 60 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 208:
Media Processes and Effects (COMM 108)
(Graduate students register for COMM 208.) The process of communication theory construction including a survey of social science paradigms and major theories of communication. Recommended: 1 or PSYCH 1.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 211:
Mass Media, Society, and Democracy (COMM 1A)
(Graduate students register for COMM 211.) Open to non-majors. This course examines the role of the news media in contemporary society, with particular attention to cross-national variation in the relationships between journalists, politicians, and citizens. We further consider the potentially transforming effects of technology on the media-politics nexus.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 213:
Computational Methods in the Civic Sphere (COMM 113)
The widespread availability of public data provides a rich opportunity for those who can efficiently filter, interpret, and visualize information. Course develops necessary technical skills for data collection, analysis, and publication, including data mining and web visualization, with a focus on civic affairs and government accountability. Open to all majors and a range of technical skill levels. Involves tackling new tools and technical concepts in the pursuit of engaging, public-facing projects. (Graduate students enroll in 213).
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 216:
Journalism Law (COMM 116)
(Graduate students register for 216.) Laws and regulation impacting journalists. Topics include libel, privacy, news gathering, protection sources, fair trial and free press, theories of the First Amendment, and broadcast regulation. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or advanced Communication major.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 217:
Digital Journalism (COMM 117)
(Graduate students register for COMM 217.) Seminar and practicum. The implications of new media for journalists. Professional and social issues related to the web as a case of new media deployment, as a story, as a research and reporting tool, and as a publishing channel. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student or consent of instructor.
Last offered: Winter 2014
| Units: 4-5
COMM 220:
Digital Media in Society (AMSTUD 120, COMM 120W)
(Graduate students register for 220.) Contemporary debates concerning the social and cultural impact of digital media. Topics include the historical origins of digital media, cultural contexts of their development and use, and influence of digital media on conceptions of self, community, and state. Priority to Juniors and Seniors.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4-5
COMM 222:
Content Analysis: Studying Communication Artifacts (COMM 122)
An empirical and systematic investigation of documented messages in print, graphical, and audio-visual forms and observed human communication behaviors. Focuses on the design and execution of content analytic studies, including manifest vs. latent content, measurement issues, reliability and validity assessment, computer text analysis, and traditional human-coder techniques. Prerequisite: junior, senior or grad standing; COMM 106/206 or an equivalent course in basic social science research. Limited enrollment.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 223:
Argumentation and Persuasion (COMM 123)
We all know that appeals based on logic and sound evidence often fail where less rational appeals that "shouldn't" work, succeed. This course examines persuasion, the influencing of attitudes, beliefs or behavior, and locates within that broad subject argumentation, the process of reasoning methodically from evidence. Argumentation, the socially acceptable method of persuasion, typically confines itself to the rules of logic and has as its goal the recognition of states and causal relationships held by the arguer to objectively exist. Other methods of persuasion can succeed while flouting those rules, but only within limits, as the story of the Emperor's New Clothes reminds us. This course will explore whether those limits be accounted for by the capacity limitations and heuristics and biases of human information processing. Topics to be covered include evolutionary explanations; the central and peripheral routes to persuasion; source, channel and receiver factors; attitude-behavior consistency; the roles of involvement, elaboration, affect and social influence; critical thinking skills and logical fallacies. Limited enrollment; preference to juniors, seniors and graduate students, and within these, to Communication majors.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 224:
Digital Deception (COMM 124)
Deception is one of the most significant and pervasive social phenomena of our age. Lies range from the trivial to the very serious, including deception between friends and family, in the workplace, and in security and intelligence contexts. At the same time, information and communication technologies have pervaded almost all aspects of human communication, from everyday technologies that support interpersonal interactions to, such as email and instant messaging, to more sophisticated systems that support organization-level interactions. Given the prevalence of both deception and communication technology in our personal and professional lives, an important set of questions have recently emerged about how humans adapt their deceptive practices to new communication and information technologies, including how communication technology affects the practice of lying and the detection of deception, and whether technology can be used to identify deception.
| Units: 4-5
COMM 225:
Perspectives on American Journalism (COMM 125)
(Graduate students register for COMM 225.) An examination of the practice of American journalism, focusing on the political, social, cultural, economic and technological forces that have shaped the U. S. press since the early 1800s. Aimed at consumers as well as producers of news, the objective of this course is to provide a framework and vocabulary for judging the value and quality of everyday journalism.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 231:
Media Ethics and Responsibility (COMM 131)
(Graduate students register for COMM 231.) The development of professionalism among American journalists, emphasizing the emergence of objectivity as a professional and the epistemological norm. An applied ethics course where questions of power, freedom, and truth autonomy are treated normatively so as to foster critical thinking about the origins and implications of commonly accepted standards of responsible journalism.
Last offered: Winter 2011
| Units: 4-5
COMM 233:
Need to Know: The Tension between a Free Press and National Security Decision Making (COMM 133)
This seminar will examine the dynamic interaction at the highest levels of government and the media when news coverage of secret national security policy and operations impinges on United States defense, diplomatic and intelligence activities and decision making. A prime example: the torrent of secret NSA programs disclosed by Edward Snowden in newspapers and other media. Students will explore attitudes, practices and actions by the media and the government through a series of case studies and simulations. Former editors, reporters and government officials will appear as guest speakers. The goal of the course is to inform students about the vital but often fraught relationship between a free press and the government in a democratic society, especially in the management of national security affairs. For advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. The instructor is a former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. Please email Anne Stickells (annees7@stanford.edu) to request an application. Completed applications are due by 6pm on March 21, 2015. (Grad students register for COMM 233)
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 235:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 135, COMM 335, POLISCI 234P, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. In spring quarter 2015, this course will have a special focus on deliberative democracy in the the Greater China region. The course will discuss whether a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age. What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Case studies from the Deliberative Polling method and other deliberation methods, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a cases studies for discussion. Some course sessions will utilize the case method to examine public consultations, the media, and civil society. Throughout the course, students will address how public participation is currently conducted around the world. As we have all seen successful, but more likely unsuccessful attempts to consult the public and this course will examine the various ways of consulting the public and how governments, media, and the public have responded and used the results.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
COMM 237:
The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 137W, POLISCI 232T, POLISCI 332T)
All forms of democracy require some kind of communication so people can be aware of issues and make decisions. This course looks at competing visions of what democracy should be and different notions of the role of dialogue in a democracy. Is it just campaigning or does it include deliberation? Small scale discussions or sound bites on television? Or social media? What is the role of technology in changing our democratic practices, to mobilize, to persuade, to solve public problems? This course will include readings from political theory about democratic ideals - from the American founders to J.S. Mill and the Progressives to Joseph Schumpeter and modern writers skeptical of the public will. It will also include contemporary examinations of the media and the internet to see how those practices are changing and how the ideals can or cannot be realized.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 4-5
COMM 240:
Digital Media Entrepreneurship (COMM 140)
(Graduate students register for COMM 240.) Primarily for graduate journalism and computer science students. Silicon Valley's new media culture, digital storytelling skills and techniques, web-based skills, and entrepreneurial ventures. Guest speakers. Prerequisite: Instructor consent/completed application. Application can be found at: http://dme.stanford.edu
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
COMM 242:
Media Economics (COMM 142W)
Uses economics to examine the generation and consumption of information in communication markets. Covers concepts that play a large role in information economics, including public goods, economies of scale, product differentiation, and externalities. Looks at individuals¿ information demands as consumers, producers, audience members, and voters. Topics include economics of Internet, sustainability of accountability journalism, and marketplace of ideas.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 243:
Communication Policy and Regulation (COMM 143W)
Focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting communication markets. Policy issues include universal service, digital divide, Internet regulation, intellectual property, privacy, television violence, content diversity, media ownership, antitrust, and impact of news on government accountability. Examines political economy of communication policy and the evolution of policies across time.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4-5
COMM 251:
The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press (COMM 151, POLISCI 125P)
Introduction to the constitutional protections for freedom of speech, press, and expressive association. All the major Supreme Court cases dealing with issues such as incitement, libel, hate speech, obscenity, commercial speech, and campaign finance. There are no prerequisites, but a basic understanding of American government would be useful. In addition to a final and midterm exam, students participate in a moot court on a hypothetical case. (Grad students register for COMM 251)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 260:
The Press and the Political Process (COMM 160, POLISCI 323R)
(Graduate students register for COMM 260.) The role of mass media and other channels of communication in political and electoral processes.
Last offered: Spring 2010
| Units: 4-5
COMM 262:
Campaigns, Voting, Media, and Elections (COMM 162, POLISCI 120B)
This course examines the theory and practice of American campaigns and elections. First, we will attempt to explain the behavior of the key players -- candidates, parties, journalists, and voters -- in terms of the institutional arrangements and political incentives that confront them. Second, we will use current and recent election campaigns as "laboratories" for testing generalizations about campaign strategy and voter behavior. Third, we examine selections from the academic literature dealing with the origins of partisan identity, electoral design, and the immediate effects of campaigns on public opinion, voter turnout, and voter choice. As well, we'll explore issues of electoral reform and their more long-term consequences for governance and the political process.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 264:
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America (COMM 164, POLISCI 224L, PSYCH 170)
Focus is on how politicians and government learn what Americans want and how the public's preferences shape government action; how surveys measure beliefs, preferences, and experiences; how poll results are criticized and interpreted; how conflict between polls is viewed by the public; how accurate surveys are and when they are accurate; how to conduct survey research to produce accurate measurements; designing questionnaires that people can understand and use comfortably; how question wording can manipulate poll results; corruption in survey research.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 266:
Virtual People (COMM 166)
(Graduate students register for COMM 266.) The concept of virtual people or digital human representations; methods of constructing and using virtual people; methodological approaches to interactions with and among virtual people; and current applications. Viewpoints including popular culture, literature, film, engineering, behavioral science, computer science, and communication.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 268:
Experimental Research in Advanced User Interfaces (COMM 168, COMM 368, ME 468)
Project-based course involves small (3-4) person teams going through all parts of the experimental process: question generation, experiment design, running, and data analysis. Each team creates an original, publishable project that represents a contribution to the research and practicum literatures. All experiments involve interaction between people and technology, including cars, mobile phones, websites, etc. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 269:
Computers and Interfaces (COMM 169)
(Graduate students register for COMM 269.) Interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinary. User responses to interfaces and design implications of those responses. Theories from different disciplines illustrate cognitive, emotional, and social responses to textual, voice-based, pictorial, metaphoric, conversational, adaptive, agent-based, intelligent, and anthropomorphic interfaces. Group design project applying theory to the design of an interactive interface.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 271:
Moving Pictures: How the Web, Mobile and Tablets are Revolutionizing Video Journalism (COMM 171)
(Graduate students register for 271.) Examine the emerging role of video journalism across web, tablet and mobile platforms. What are the specific needs of these platforms? How can new reporting tools be integrated to efficiently produce video news content? We'll examine case studies and hear from guest speakers about innovations in video journalism on these platforms. Students will produce video journalism pieces using mobile tools, optimized for viewing on mobile devices. Prerequisite: Journalism MA student or instructor's consent.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
COMM 272:
Media Psychology (COMM 172)
(Graduate students register for COMM 272.) The literature related to psychological processing and the effects of media. Topics: unconscious processing; picture perception; attention and memory; emotion; the physiology of processing media; person perception; pornography; consumer behavior; advanced film and television systems; and differences among reading, watching, and listening.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 273D:
Public Affairs Data Journalism I
Even before the ubiquity of Internet access and high-powered computers, public accountability reporting relied on the concerted collection of observations and analytical problem-solving. We study the methods, and the data, used to discover leads and conduct in-depth reporting on public affairs, including election finance and safety regulations. Students gain practical experience with the digital tools and techniques of computer-assisted reporting. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 4 units total)
COMM 274D:
Public Affairs Data Journalism II
Learn how to find, create and analyze data to tell news stories with public service impact. Uses relational databases, advanced queries, basic statistics, and mapping to analyze data for storytelling. Assignments may include stories, blog posts, and data visualizations, with at least one in-depth project based on data analysis. Prerequisites: COMM 273D or Journalism M.A. student.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 4 units total)
COMM 275:
Multimedia Storytelling: Reporting and Production Using Audio, Still Images, and Video
Multimedia assignments coordinated with deadline reporting efforts in COMM 273 from traditional news beats using audio, still photography, and video. Use of digital audio recorders and audio production to leverage voice-over narration, interviews, and natural sound; use of digital still cameras and audio to produce audio slideshows; and the combination of these media with video in post-production with Final Cut Pro. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student. Corequisite: COMM 273.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-4
COMM 276:
Advanced Digital Media Production (COMM 176)
In-depth reporting and production using audio, images and video. Focus on an in-depth journalism project with appropriate uses of digital media: audio, photography, graphics, and video. Topics include advanced field techniques and approaches (audio, video, still) and emphasis on creating a non-fiction narrative arc in a multimedia piece of 10-12 minutes. Prerequisite: COMM 275 or consent of instructor
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277A:
Computational Journalism (COMM 177A)
Focuses on using data and algorithms to lower the cost of discovering stories or telling stories in more engaging and personalized ways. Project based assignments based on real-world challenges faced in newsrooms. Prior experience in journalism or computational thinking helpful. Prerequisite: Comm 273D, COMM 113/213, or the consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
COMM 277C:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Environmental Journalism (COMM 177C, EARTHSYS 177C, EARTHSYS 277C, ENVRES 277C)
(Graduate students register for COMM / ENVRES 277C.) Practical, collaborative, writing-intensive course in science-based environmental journalism. Science and journalism students learn how to identify and write engaging stories about environmental issues and science, how to assess the quality and relevance of environmental news, how to cover the environment and science beats effectively, and how to build bridges between the worlds of journalism and science. Limited enrollment: preference to journalism students and students in the natural and environmental sciences. Prerequisite: COMM 104, ENVRES 200 or consent of instructor. Admissions by application only, available from thayden@stanford.edu.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277D:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Magazine Journalism (COMM 177D)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277D.) How to report, write, edit, and read magazine articles, emphasizing long-form narrative. Tools and templates of story telling such as scenes, characters, dialogue, and narrative arc. How the best magazine stories defy or subvert conventional wisdom and bring fresh light to the human experience through reporting, writing, and moral passion. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277G:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Covering Silicon Valley (COMM 177G)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277G.) Business reporting basics in the context of Silicon Valley's technology scene. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277I:
Becoming a Watchdog: Investigative Reporting Techniques (COMM 177I)
Graduate students register for COMM 277I.) Learn how to apply an investigative and data mindset to journalism, from understanding how to background an individual or entity using online databases to compiling or combining disparate sets of information in ways that unveil wrongdoing or mismanagement. Focuses on mining texts, tracking associations, and using visualizations. Stories produced apply investigative techniques to beat reporting, breaking news, and long form journalism. Prerequisite: COMM 104W, or consent of instructor
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277S:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Sports Journalism (COMM 177S)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277S.) Workshop. An examination of American sports writing from the 1920's Golden Age of Sports to present. Students become practitioners of the sports writing craft in an intensive laboratory. Hones journalistic skills such as specialized reporting, interviewing, deadline writing, creation of video projects, and conceptualizing and developing stories for print and online. Prerequisite: 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277Y:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Foreign Correspondence in the Middle East and Asia (COMM 177Y)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y.) What's involved in working as a foreign correspondent in these important and volatile parts of the world, where in many cases journalists are not respected and may face danger -- taught by a journalist who has worked extensively in both regions. (no pre-requisites)
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 4-5
COMM 279:
News Reporting & Writing Fundamentals
Learn beat reporting and writing skills including source development, interviewing, and story structure for news and features. Emphasis on developing news judgment, clear writing skills, and an ability to execute stories on deadline. Exercises and assignments mimic a newsroom. Students pursue local beats with a focus on public issues and complement written pieces with relevant data analyses and multimedia components. Prerequisite: Journalism M.A. student. Corequisite: COMM 275.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 3-4
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 8 units total)
COMM 282:
Social Media Issues (COMM 182)
(Graduate students register for COMM 282.) Students will take away from this course a set of conceptual tools, a vocabulary, and an analytical framework with which to recognize, understand, and more effectively manage new social practices online, together with a familiarity with the literature regarding social media and identity, community, collective action, public sphere, social capital, networks, and social networks. Students will also develop skills at using online forums, blogs, microblogs, wikis for research, collaboration, and communication. Limited enrollment. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Please see http://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-rheingold/ for application instructions. Contact instructor at: howard@rheingold.com
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 283:
Social Media Literacies (COMM 183)
Today's personal, social, political, economic worlds are all affected by digital media and networked publics: viral videos, uprisings from Tahrir to #OWS, free search engines, abundant inaccuracy and sophisticated disinformation online, indelible, and searchable digital footprints, laptops in lecture halls and BlackBerries at the dinner table, 20-something social media billionaires, massive online university courses. Introduction to the literature about and direct experience of these new literacies: research foundations and practical methods to control attention, attitudes and tools necessary for critical consumption of information, best practices of individual digital participation and collective participatory culture, the use of collaborative media and methodologies, and the application of network know-how to life online. Contrasting perspectives through readings and classroom and online discussion. Students collaborate and cooperate in their learning during and between classes through small group discussions and face to face exercises, forums, blogs, mindmaps and wikis. Prerequisite: instructor consent. See http://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-rheingold/ for application instructions; contact instructor at howard@rheingold.com.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 289P:
Journalism Thesis
MA thesis course. Focuses on development of in-depth journalism project, culminating in work of publishable quality.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
COMM 290:
Media Studies M.A. Project
Individual research for coterminal Media Studies students.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-2
| Repeatable
2 times
(up to 4 units total)
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Brinkley, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Frankel, G. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Nass, C. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI);
Voelker, D. (PI)
COMM 291:
Graduate Journalism Seminar
Required of students in the graduate program in Journalism. Forum for current issues in the practice and performance of the press. The seminar frequently features Bay Area Journalists as guest speakers. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 3 units total)
COMM 299:
Individual Work
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-4
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Bettinger, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Nguyen, D. (PI);
Pomerantz, G. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Rheingold, H. (PI);
Taubman, P. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI);
Voelker, D. (PI);
Wheaton, J. (PI)
COMM 301:
Communication Research, Curriculum Development and Pedagogy
Designed to prepare students for teaching and research in the Department of Communication. Students will be trained in developing curriculum and in pedagogical practices, and will also be exposed to the research programs of various faculty members in the department. Required of all Ph.D. students.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1
COMM 307:
Summer Institute in Political Psychology
Lectures, discussion groups, and workshops addressing many applications of psychology to the analysis of political behavior. Public opinion, international relations, political decision-making, attitudes and beliefs, prejudice, social influence and persuasion, terrorism, news media influence, foreign policy, socialization, social justice.
Last offered: Summer 2014
| Units: 3
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 308:
Graduate Seminar in Political Psychology (POLISCI 324)
For students interested in research in political science, psychology, or communication. Methodological techniques for studying political attitudes and behaviors. May be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 311:
Theory of Communication
Basic communication theory for first-year Ph.D. students in the Department of Communication. Introduction to basic writings and concepts in communication research. The goal is an introduction to issues in the field that are common in communication research. First half of the class will emphasize classic literature about field organization, history and theory. Second half will emphasize contemporary theory in areas that students select.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 1-5
COMM 314:
Qualitative Social Science Research Methods
Part of the doctoral research methods sequence. Focus is on the logic of qualitative research methods and modes of inquiry relevant to the study of communication and meaning. Prerequisite: Communication Ph.D. student, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-5
COMM 318:
Quantitative Social Science Research Methods
An introduction to a broad range of social science research methods that are widely used in PhD work. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 1-5
COMM 326:
Advanced Topics in Human Virtual Representation
Topics include the theoretical construct of person identity, the evolution of that construct given the advent of virtual environments, and methodological approaches to understanding virtual human representation. Prerequisite: PhD student or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 335:
Deliberative Democracy and its Critics (AMSTUD 135, COMM 135, COMM 235, POLISCI 234P, POLISCI 334P)
This course examines the theory and practice of deliberative democracy and engages both in a dialogue with critics. In spring quarter 2015, this course will have a special focus on deliberative democracy in the the Greater China region. The course will discuss whether a democracy which emphasizes people thinking and talking together on the basis of good information be made practical in the modern age. What kinds of distortions arise when people try to discuss politics or policy together? The course draws on ideas as well as criticisms from the jury literature, from the psychology of group processes and from the most recent normative and empirical literature on deliberative forums. Case studies from the Deliberative Polling method and other deliberation methods, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a cases studies for discussion. Some course sessions will utilize the case method to examine public consultations, the media, and civil society. Throughout the course, students will address how public participation is currently conducted around the world. As we have all seen successful, but more likely unsuccessful attempts to consult the public and this course will examine the various ways of consulting the public and how governments, media, and the public have responded and used the results.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
COMM 339:
Questionnaire Design for Surveys and Laboratory Experiments: Social and Cognitive Perspectives (POLISCI 421K, PSYCH 231)
The social and psychological processes involved in asking and answering questions via questionnaires for the social sciences; optimizing questionnaire design; open versus closed questions; rating versus ranking; rating scale length and point labeling; acquiescence response bias; don't-know response options; response choice order effects; question order effects; social desirability response bias; attitude and behavior recall; and introspective accounts of the causes of thoughts and actions.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
COMM 360G:
Political Communication (POLISCI 425)
An overview of research in political communication with particular reference to work on the impact of the mass media on public opinion and voting behavior. Limited to Ph.D. students. Prerequisite: 260 or consent of instructor.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 361:
Regulation of the Political Process (POLISCI 327C)
Combined with LAW 577. This course is intended to give students a basic understanding of the themes in the legal regulation of elections and politics. We will cover all the major Supreme Court cases on topics of voting rights, reapportionment/redistricting, ballot access, regulation of political parties, campaign finance, and the 2000 presidential election controversy. The course pays particular attention to competing political philosophies and empirical assumptions that underlie the Court's reasoning while still focusing on the cases as litigation tools used to serve political ends. Elements used in grading: Class participation and one day take home final exam. (POLISCI 327C; LAW 577)
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
COMM 362:
Topics in Political Communication: Media Bias, Selective Exposure, and Political Polarization (POLISCI 425S)
This course surveys theories of media bias, biased processing of information, and the empirical challenges facing researchers attempting to link changes in the composition of audiences to attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. (Limited to PhD students)
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1-5
COMM 368:
Experimental Research in Advanced User Interfaces (COMM 168, COMM 268, ME 468)
Project-based course involves small (3-4) person teams going through all parts of the experimental process: question generation, experiment design, running, and data analysis. Each team creates an original, publishable project that represents a contribution to the research and practicum literatures. All experiments involve interaction between people and technology, including cars, mobile phones, websites, etc. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 372G:
Seminar in Psychological Processing
Limited to Ph.D. students. Advanced topics. Prerequisite: 272 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 380:
Curriculum Practical Training
Practical experience in the communication industries. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Meets requirements for Curricular Practical Training for students on F-1 visas. (Staff)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-5
| Repeatable
4 times
(up to 20 units total)
COMM 397:
Minor Research Project
Individual research for Ph.D. candidates. Course may be repeated for credit.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-6
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 18 units total)
COMM 398:
Major Research Project
Individual research for Ph.D. candidates.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-6
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 18 units total)
COMM 399:
Advanced Individual Work
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-9
| Repeatable
for credit
(up to 72 units total)
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hayden, T. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Nass, C. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI);
Voelker, D. (PI)
COMM 802:
TGR Dissertation
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 102S:
Political Communication and Social Media
This course will explore how social media and mobile computing platforms affect the modern political landscape. Topics: how these technologies change the mix of news, information and campaign materials we get; structure our relationships with candidates and representatives; augment modern politicians' fundraising and campaign efforts; and make possible new forms of political organization and collective action. Possible case studies: the Obama campaign's successful use of social/mobile technology to campaign in 2008 and 2012; how constituents use social media to communicate with their representatives; and the role of social-mobile technologies in modern revolutionary movements.
| Units: 3
COMM 107S:
Engendering Compassion with Interactive Digital Media
This course will draw on research regarding behavioral, cognitive, and physiological indicators and predictors of compassion, as well as computer-mediated communication, intimate and ubiquitous computing, social networking, and multitasking to better understand how interactive digital media affects compassionate behaviors, including altruism and helping. For their final project, students will either (1) propose an experiment for future research investigating compassion in HCI, or (2) propose a design change for an extant technology to engender compassionate responses.
| Units: 3
COMM 134:
Public Participation and Public Policy (COMM 234)
Examines the role of public participation in public policy making. Around the world, policymakers seek to engage their publics. But, even though public participation is important, it is also problematic. Public meetings can become dysfunctional and turn into media spectacles instead of actually gathering the opinions of the public. The question becomes, when and how should the public be consulted in order to effectively impact public policies? There are consequences of engaging the public, and this seminar explores the methods used to engage publics around the world.
| Units: 4-5
COMM 147:
Modern History and Future of Journalism (COMM 247)
(Graduate students register for COMM 247.) The birth and evolution of local and national television news. The modern history of newspapers. Can they survive in the era of online journalism?
| Units: 4-5
COMM 161:
Research Seminar on Political Campaigns
This seminar will provide students with the opportunity to design and implement a research project concerning the effects of campaigns on public opinion/voting preference. The first half of the course will expose students to principles of research design (including field experiments, surveys and content analysis) and major repositories of election and campaign data including the American National Election Studies, the Wisconsin Advertising Database, and other compilations of national and statewide polls. The second half of the course will cover recent scholarship into the effects of exposure to political campaigns on vote choice, turnout, polarization, and related outcomes. Prerequisite: COMM162/Polisci 120b
| Units: 4
COMM 163:
Running Time: Running and Winning Elections (POLISCI 229R)
This course aims to teach you the nuts-n-bolts of political campaigning. How do campaign consultants organize a campaign, draft a strategy, come up with a theme, target voters, raise money, write and produce ads and get voters to the ballot? Drawing upon academic writings in the fields of political science and communication, articles by campaign consultants, TV ads, and documentaries, you will learn all about how elections are won and lost. You will master, and yet learn to be critical of, current electoral politics with their emphasis on money, polls, and sound bites. Finally, you will harness this new knowledge to do some good, by promoting a worthy cause.
| Units: 5
COMM 167:
Advanced Seminar in Virtual Reality Research
Restricted to students with previous research experience in virtual reality. Experimental methods and other issues.
| Units: 1-3
COMM 212:
Models of Democracy (COMM 312)
Ancient and modern varieties of democracy; debates about their normative and practical strengths and the pathologies to which each is subject. Focus is on participation, deliberation, representation, and elite competition, as values and political processes. Formal institutions, political rhetoric, technological change, and philosophical critique. Models tested by reference to long-term historical natural experiments such as Athens and Rome, recent large-scale political experiments such as the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, and controlled experiments.
| Units: 3-5
COMM 234:
Public Participation and Public Policy (COMM 134)
Examines the role of public participation in public policy making. Around the world, policymakers seek to engage their publics. But, even though public participation is important, it is also problematic. Public meetings can become dysfunctional and turn into media spectacles instead of actually gathering the opinions of the public. The question becomes, when and how should the public be consulted in order to effectively impact public policies? There are consequences of engaging the public, and this seminar explores the methods used to engage publics around the world.
| Units: 4-5
COMM 247:
Modern History and Future of Journalism (COMM 147)
(Graduate students register for COMM 247.) The birth and evolution of local and national television news. The modern history of newspapers. Can they survive in the era of online journalism?
| Units: 4-5
COMM 273:
Public Issues Reporting I
Reporting and writing on government and public policies and issues; their implications for the people and the press. Required for journalism M.A. students.
| Units: 3-4
COMM 274:
Public Issues Reporting II
Almost everything a journalist writes about involves government, either directly or indirectly. In this course we learn about the hidden forces that control government decisions: lobbying, campaign finance, budgets and more. Students write stories and do two accompanying multimedia pieces. Prerequisites: 273, Journalism M.A. student.
| Units: 3-4
COMM 278:
Journalism and Imaginative Writing in America (AMSTUD 257)
Walt Whitman spent twenty-five years as a journalist before publishing his first book of poems. Mark Twain was a journalist for twenty years before publishing his first novel. Topics include examination of how writers¿ backgrounds in journalism shaped the poetry or fiction for which they are best known; study of recent controversies surrounding writers who blurred the line between journalism and fiction. Writers include Whitman, Fanny Fern, Twain, Pauline Hopkins, Theodore Dreiser, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ernest Hemingway, Meridel LeSueur.
| Units: 5
COMM 289:
Journalism Master's Project
| Units: 4
COMM 289C:
Projects for Publication
In-depth journalism projects are not products of happenstance. They require thorough planning and coordination at every stage of the process -- from refinement of ideas, to the creation of "back-out" schedules and precise outlines, to strategies for pitching the story and its author to skeptical editors. In this course, students will workshop and pitch MA journalism projects for placement and publication. Required for MA Journalism students; registration Comm 289 required.
| Units: 2
COMM 310:
Method of Analysis Program in the Social Sciences (ANTHRO 446A)
Colloquium series. Creation and application of new methodological techniques for social science research. Presentations on methodologies of use for social scientists across departments at Stanford by guest speakers from Stanford and elsewhere. See http://mapss.stanford.edu.
| Units: 1
| Repeatable
for credit
COMM 312:
Models of Democracy (COMM 212)
Ancient and modern varieties of democracy; debates about their normative and practical strengths and the pathologies to which each is subject. Focus is on participation, deliberation, representation, and elite competition, as values and political processes. Formal institutions, political rhetoric, technological change, and philosophical critique. Models tested by reference to long-term historical natural experiments such as Athens and Rome, recent large-scale political experiments such as the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, and controlled experiments.
| Units: 3-5
COMM 317:
The Philosophy of Social Science
Approaches to social science research and their theoretical presuppositions. Readings from the philosophy of the social sciences. Research design, the role of experiments, and quantitative and qualitative research. Cases from communication and related social sciences. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 320G:
Advanced Topics in New Media and American Culture
This course deals with advanced issues in computing and American cultural history since World War II. Primarily for Ph.D. students. Prerequisite: 220 or consent of instructor.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 325G:
Comparative Studies of News and Journalism
Focus is on topics such as the roles and responsibilities of journalists, news as a genre of popular literature, the nexus between press and state, and journalism's commitment to political participation.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 331G:
Communication and Media Ethics
Limited to Ph.D. students. Advanced topics in press ethics and responsibility. Prerequisite: 231 or consent of instructor.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 379:
History of the Study of Communication
The origins of communication/media theory and research emphasizing the rise of communication as a separate field of study. The influence of schools of thought concerning the scope and purpose of the study of communication. Readings include foundational essays and studies. Prerequisite: Ph.D. student or consent of instructor.
| Units: 1-5
COMM 384:
Media Technology Theory (ARTHIST 465)
This course surveys major theoretical approaches to the study of media technologies, including Frankfurt School critical theory, media archaeology, actor network theory, science and technology studies, platform studies and theories of critical making. By the end of the course, students should have a rich familiarity with the literature in this area, as well as with exemplary empirical studies conducted within each tradition. Preference to Ph.D. students in Communication and Art and Art History. Consent of instructor required for non-PhD students.
| Units: 3-5
