COMM 1:
Introduction to Communication
Our world is being transformed by media technologies that change how we interact with one another and perceived the world around us. These changes are all rooted in communication practices, and their consequences touch on almost all aspects of life. In COMM 1 we will examine the effects of media technologies on psychological life, on industry, and on communities local and global through theorizing and demonstrations and critiques of a wide range of communication products and services.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 5
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.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| 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.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| Units: 1-2
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.
Last offered: Summer 2015
| 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 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 107S:
Media, Culture, and the Politics of Gender
This course aims to provide a survey of various media and their role in the discursive construction of gender in and through culture. The first three weeks serve as an introduction to the historical and sociopolitical dimensions of gender, its intersection with media, and theoretical approaches to understanding it and political approaches to challenging it. Beginning with historical constructions of the gender binary, Foucault's Herculine Barbin an unearthed diary of a French hermaphrodite who lived an adolescent life in a Catholic orphanage for girls from about 1860-1870, is reclassified as a man, and commits suicide ¿ provides a provocative look at the historical construction of gender binaries. nThe remainder of the course then tackles a range of media and examples of how they portray gender as well as examples of how they may be used to subvert oppressive gender roles or binaries, focusing on: the novel, film, music videos, news, and social media. Far from exhaustive, the readings and the topics covered are to provide a better, broader, but still-limited understanding of how media and culture construct gender, and how this also dramatically impacts the lives of queer and gender nonconforming individuals. For this reason, while the course does deal extensively with notions of masculinity, sexualization and objectification of, or the effects of sexism on, cisgendered women, a heavy focus of the course across many topics is on transgender individuals in media. These individuals, like Herculine in her time, unsettle this simplistic opposition through their very being and representation in public
| Units: 3
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 2016
| Units: 3
COMM 110S:
Social Media and Information Sharing
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace, are used as platforms to share information about oneself and others. These new media provide a variety of novel ways to share information (e.g. 'Like', 'Re-tweet', 'Share', etc.) and change the way individuals maintain and create relationships. The goal of this course is to understand emotional and motivational aspects of social media use and examine its potential consequences on individuals' opinions and preferences. In the first half of the course, students will be introduced to theories in communication and psychology to have the foundation for understanding the mechanisms underlying media use. In the second half of the course, students will develop original research ideas and have group discussions to further explore and refine those ideas. At the end of the course, students will demonstrate their knowledge of psychological and emotional processes underlying media use and be able to evaluate the individual/social implications of social media use.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3
COMM 112S:
Welcome to Cyberspace
This class is designed to interrogate the spatial metaphors often used to describe the Internet. What is "cyberspace" and where do we go when we go "offline"? What is gained through thinking of the Internet as a space and what opportunities are missed? What does this have to do with our physical bodies, capitalism, and the government? During this course we will use historical and contemporary academic writing and literature to interrogate the Internet as a space and a communication technology, and think through the meaning of digital spaces in American culture, business and government.
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). Prerequisite COMM 273D, CS 106A, or CS 106B.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-EngrAppSci
COMM 114S:
Media and Identities in the Globalizing Era
Globalization, as an imperfect but veritable buzzword, has been used both popularly and academically to describe how the world has become increasingly interconnected in multiple ways. As the Canadian media scholar Marshall McLuhan's famous coined phrase--the "Global Village"-- suggests, the advancement of media technology revolutionizes the ways human beings connect and communicate with one another. By the word "globalizing" (in the title), the course construes trends of globalization both as on-going and deepening processes, and as an ensemble of powerful cultural, economic and social forces productively shaping our lived experiences. With the booming circulation of media/cultural products worldwide and the surging mobility of populations across boundaries, new questions arise: to what extent is the globalization of media production and consumption molded in the Western, especially American, culture? How do non-Western audience consume, interpret and appropriate American products? How do transnational migrants/diaspora negotiate their identities in relation to media representations? What role do new media and digital technology play in the deepening of the globalization processes?nnThrough a critical/cultural examination of the relevant literature and cases, the course helps students better understand topics and issues related to media and identities in the globalizing era. The first half of the course will concentrate on the globalization/localization of media production, the transnational media flows and cultural consumption. The interlocking economic, cultural and political factors that drive these processes are unpacked. The latter half of the course will be devoted to issues about cultural identities, migration and diaspora as well as media representation in multicultural societies. Throughout the course, the roles of both old and new media will be studied in the transnational and global contexts.
Last offered: Summer 2016
| Units: 3
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 117S:
Machines as Media
Technological change has always been surrounded by two competing narratives: that of opportunity and human flourishing, versus that of displacement and alienation. This course explores the idea that machines themselves are media in terms of which people - to use the words of James Carey - represent, maintain, adapt, and share their hopes and fears about the world. By the end of the course, students will have developed a vocabulary for thinking about technology's role in the ways that people have made sense of utopia and dystopia. Readings will include a mix of theory and historical case studies. From the first category, possible authors include Jacques Ellul, Leo Marx, Norman O. Brown, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, and Jessica Riskin. From the second category, possible topics include 18th-century automata, the English and French Luddite movements, the American Machine Breakers movement, Taylorism and technocracy. Note: preparation and participation in discussion are the primary course requirements. Enrollment at 3 units requires a short final paper, while a more substantial paper is required at 4 units.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 3-4
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 2016
| Units: 3
COMM 120W:
Digital Media in Society (AMSTUD 120, COMM 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, seniors, and graduate students.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 121:
Behavior and Social Media
This course examines behavioral approaches to understanding social media. The course will begin by discussing the design factors that shape behavior online, considering research in human-computer interaction that reflects and reveals communication practices and contexts. Next, the course will examine the psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication and virtual collaboration, including impression formation and management, deception, audience and social networks. Finally, the course will explore the ways in which human behavior is situated inside of social and institutional structures and cultural formations; and with that in mind, it will examine the complex interactions between behavior, society, and information technology.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 5
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 124:
Lies, Trust, and Tech (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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 125:
Perspectives on American Journalism (AMSTUD 125, COMM 225)
An examination of American journalism, focusing on how news is produced, distributed, and financially supported. Emphasis on current media controversies and puzzles, and on designing innovations in discovering and telling stories. (Graduate students register for COMM 225.)
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 127X:
The Ethics of Anonymity (CSRE 127X, ETHICSOC 2)
When is it ethical to conceal your identity or to permit another to remain anonymous? What is the value to remaining unknown, and what might be the cost? Does anonymity free you to think, act, or be in ways you wouldn't otherwise? What else might it allow or constrain? How might your answers differ depending on the circumstances or context? In this one-unit lunchtime seminar, guest speakers will discuss topics that might include: anonymous sources in journalism; anonymity online; the history of anonymous authorship and attribution; whistleblowers and confidential informants; anonymous egg or sperm donors and birth parents; anonymity vs. confidentiality for research participants; anonymity and art; technology and anonymity.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 1
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.
Terms: Aut
| 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 examines 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 and affects the American political system. Prime examples: intelligence information about Russian hacking operations during the 2016 presidential election campaign, the unverified intelligence dossier on Donald Trump's Russian connections, the torrent of secret NSA programs disclosed by Edward Snowden. Students 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 appear as guest speakers, including Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA. 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. For advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. The instructor is a former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. Email Kiley Roache (kiley@stanford.edu) to request an application. Completed applications are due by 6pm (pacific) on March 25, 2017. Early applications welcome.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
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. Can 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 of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas 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. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
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 2016
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER, WAY-SI
COMM 138:
Deliberative Democracy Practicum: Applying Deliberative Polling (COMM 238, CSRE 38)
In this course, students will work directly on a real-world deliberative democracy project using the method of Deliberative Polling. Students in this course will work in partnership with the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford, a research center devoted to the research in democracy and public opinion around the world. This unique practicum will allow students to work on an actual Deliberative Polling project on campus. In just one quarter, the students will prepare for, implement, and analyze the results for an Deliberative Polling project. This is a unique opportunity that allows students to take part in the entire process of a deliberative democracy project. Through this practicum, students will apply quantitative and qualitative research methods in a local community or local high school and subsequently, analyze the relevant quantitative and qualitative data. Students will explore the underlying challenges and complexities of what it means to actually do community-engaged research in the real world. As such, this course will provide students with skills and experience in research design in deliberative democracy, community and stakeholder engagement, and the practical aspects of working in local communities. This practicum is a collaboration between the Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Bill Lane Center for the American West and the Haas Center for Public Service.nnCDD website: http://cdd.stanford.edunBill Lane Center website: http://west.stanford.edunHass Center website: https://haas.stanford.edu
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 15 units total)
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: Win
| 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.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| 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)
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
COMM 152:
Constitutional Law (COMM 252, POLISCI 126P)
This course covers Supreme Court case law concerning governmental powers, equal protection, and certain fundamental rights. The course investigates the constitutional foundation for democratic participation in the United States, covering topics such as the Fourteenth Amendment's protections against discrimination on grounds of race, gender, and other classifications, as well as the individual rights to voting and intimate association, and an introduction to First Amendment rights of free speech and press. Students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm moot court with both a written and oral component, and a take-home final exam. Lectures will be twice per week and a discussion section once per week.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 153:
Political Campaigning in the Internet Age (COMM 253)
This course will acquaint students with the changing environment for campaigns posed by the rise of the Internet. So much of the traditional way analysts have understood campaigns has revolved around television as the primary mode of campaign communication. The rise of the Internet, nonlinear television programming, and mobile communication enables new forms of campaigning. This course will examine the relevant social science on these topics, while at the same time bringing in guest lecturers from industry, campaigns, and media. Requirements: Students will be required to complete a 25 page research paper on a topic relevant to the course.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
COMM 153A:
Policy, Politics, and the Presidency: Understanding the 2016 Campaign from Start to Finish (COMM 253A, POLISCI 72, PUBLPOL 146, PUBLPOL 246)
(Same as LAW 7057). In 2016, Americans will once again go to the polls to select a new president. But what will actually happen behind-the-scenes between now and then is largely a mystery to most. This course will introduce students to the nuts-and-bolts of a presidential campaign. Each week, we will explore a different topic related to running for the presidency -- policy formation, communications, grassroots strategy, digital outreach, campaign finance -- and feature high-profile guest speakers who have served in senior roles on both Democratic and Republican campaigns. Students, guests, and faculty will also participate in discussions on how these topics will relate to the 2016 presidential contest, which will begin in earnest over the course of the quarter.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
COMM 154:
The Politics of Algorithms (COMM 254, SOC 154)
Algorithms have become central actors in today's digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 157:
Information Control in Authoritarian Regimes (COMM 257, COMM 357)
Does information help autocrats and dictators stay in power? Or does information help topple authoritarian regimes? This course will examine how authoritarian regimes try to control information through surveillance, propaganda, and censorship, what influences the effectiveness of these information control measures, and how changes in technology (Internet, social media, mobile) affect the dynamics of information control.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
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: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
COMM 164:
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America (COMM 264, POLISCI 124L, 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: Spr
| 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 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: Win
| 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: 4-5
COMM 177C:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Environmental Journalism (COMM 277C, EARTHSYS 177C, EARTHSYS 277C)
Advanced reporting and writing course in the specific practices and standards of environmental journalism. This course begins with the assumption that students already know how to research and relay the essential facts of almost any environmental story. Students will go beyond the basics of journalistic practice, both as reporters and storytellers. Emphasis on magazine-style writing, with the goal of producing stories that stand on fact but move like fiction, that have protagonists and antagonists, that create suspense, that reveal character through dialogue and action, and that pay off with resonant finales. Limited enrollment: preference to students in the Earth Systems Master of Arts, Environmental Communication Program and the Graduate Journalism Program. Prerequisite: COMM 104, or EarthSys 191, or consent of instructor. Admission by application only, available from thayden@stanford.edu. Applications due Nov. 30, 2016. (Meets Earth Systems WIM requirement.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 177D:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Narrative Journalism (COMM 277D)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277D.) How to report, write, edit, and read long-form narrative nonfiction, whether for magazines, news sites or online venues. Tools and templates of story telling such as scenes, characters, dialogue, and narrative arc. How the best long-form narrative 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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
COMM 177E:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Telling the Story (COMM 277E)
This workshop will offer secrets to good storytelling, and constructive feedback every step of the way on a significant piece of journalism you want to publish. The instructor, a senior editor who has helped New York Times reporters win 10 Pulitzer Prizes, will teach the course along with some of those reporters as well as other journalists with expertise in various aspects of storytelling. The sessions will include 1) elements of a great story; 2) finding a great story; 3) reporting a story; 4) writing the proposal; 5) making a story come alive online; 6) giving feedback on and editing a story; 7) assuring your story gets maximum readership online. Your piece could be one you conceive for this class, or one you have already begun reporting. Prerequisite: COMM 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| 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 (COMM 277Y)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y.) Study how being a foreign correspondent has evolved and blend new communication tools with clear narrative to tell stories from abroad in a way that engages a diversifying American audience in the digital age. Prerequisite: COMM 104W, COMM 279, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, 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)
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
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);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Phillips, C. (PI);
Pomerantz, G. (PI);
Reeves, B. (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.
Last offered: Autumn 2015
| Units: 4-5
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.
Last offered: Spring 2010
| Units: 3-5
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). Prerequisite COMM 273D, CS 106A, or CS 106B.
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 220:
Digital Media in Society (AMSTUD 120, COMM 120W)
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, seniors, and graduate students.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 224:
Lies, Trust, and Tech (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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 225:
Perspectives on American Journalism (AMSTUD 125, COMM 125)
An examination of American journalism, focusing on how news is produced, distributed, and financially supported. Emphasis on current media controversies and puzzles, and on designing innovations in discovering and telling stories. (Graduate students register for COMM 225.)
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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 233:
Need to Know: The Tension between a Free Press and National Security Decision Making (COMM 133)
This seminar examines 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 and affects the American political system. Prime examples: intelligence information about Russian hacking operations during the 2016 presidential election campaign, the unverified intelligence dossier on Donald Trump's Russian connections, the torrent of secret NSA programs disclosed by Edward Snowden. Students 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 appear as guest speakers, including Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA. 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. For advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Application for enrollment required. The instructor is a former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. Email Kiley Roache (kiley@stanford.edu) to request an application. Completed applications are due by 6pm (pacific) on March 25, 2017. Early applications welcome.
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. Can 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 of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas 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. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
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 2016
| Units: 4-5
COMM 238:
Deliberative Democracy Practicum: Applying Deliberative Polling (COMM 138, CSRE 38)
In this course, students will work directly on a real-world deliberative democracy project using the method of Deliberative Polling. Students in this course will work in partnership with the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford, a research center devoted to the research in democracy and public opinion around the world. This unique practicum will allow students to work on an actual Deliberative Polling project on campus. In just one quarter, the students will prepare for, implement, and analyze the results for an Deliberative Polling project. This is a unique opportunity that allows students to take part in the entire process of a deliberative democracy project. Through this practicum, students will apply quantitative and qualitative research methods in a local community or local high school and subsequently, analyze the relevant quantitative and qualitative data. Students will explore the underlying challenges and complexities of what it means to actually do community-engaged research in the real world. As such, this course will provide students with skills and experience in research design in deliberative democracy, community and stakeholder engagement, and the practical aspects of working in local communities. This practicum is a collaboration between the Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Bill Lane Center for the American West and the Haas Center for Public Service.nnCDD website: http://cdd.stanford.edunBill Lane Center website: http://west.stanford.edunHass Center website: https://haas.stanford.edu
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3-5
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 15 units total)
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: Win
| 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: Winter 2016
| 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)
Last offered: Winter 2015
| Units: 4-5
COMM 252:
Constitutional Law (COMM 152, POLISCI 126P)
This course covers Supreme Court case law concerning governmental powers, equal protection, and certain fundamental rights. The course investigates the constitutional foundation for democratic participation in the United States, covering topics such as the Fourteenth Amendment's protections against discrimination on grounds of race, gender, and other classifications, as well as the individual rights to voting and intimate association, and an introduction to First Amendment rights of free speech and press. Students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm moot court with both a written and oral component, and a take-home final exam. Lectures will be twice per week and a discussion section once per week.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| Units: 3
COMM 253:
Political Campaigning in the Internet Age (COMM 153)
This course will acquaint students with the changing environment for campaigns posed by the rise of the Internet. So much of the traditional way analysts have understood campaigns has revolved around television as the primary mode of campaign communication. The rise of the Internet, nonlinear television programming, and mobile communication enables new forms of campaigning. This course will examine the relevant social science on these topics, while at the same time bringing in guest lecturers from industry, campaigns, and media. Requirements: Students will be required to complete a 25 page research paper on a topic relevant to the course.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
COMM 253A:
Policy, Politics, and the Presidency: Understanding the 2016 Campaign from Start to Finish (COMM 153A, POLISCI 72, PUBLPOL 146, PUBLPOL 246)
(Same as LAW 7057). In 2016, Americans will once again go to the polls to select a new president. But what will actually happen behind-the-scenes between now and then is largely a mystery to most. This course will introduce students to the nuts-and-bolts of a presidential campaign. Each week, we will explore a different topic related to running for the presidency -- policy formation, communications, grassroots strategy, digital outreach, campaign finance -- and feature high-profile guest speakers who have served in senior roles on both Democratic and Republican campaigns. Students, guests, and faculty will also participate in discussions on how these topics will relate to the 2016 presidential contest, which will begin in earnest over the course of the quarter.
Terms: Win
| Units: 2
COMM 254:
The Politics of Algorithms (COMM 154, SOC 154)
Algorithms have become central actors in today's digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
COMM 257:
Information Control in Authoritarian Regimes (COMM 157, COMM 357)
Does information help autocrats and dictators stay in power? Or does information help topple authoritarian regimes? This course will examine how authoritarian regimes try to control information through surveillance, propaganda, and censorship, what influences the effectiveness of these information control measures, and how changes in technology (Internet, social media, mobile) affect the dynamics of information control.
Terms: Aut
| 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: Aut
| Units: 4-5
COMM 264:
The Psychology of Communication About Politics in America (COMM 164, POLISCI 124L, 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: Spr
| 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 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: Win
| 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: 4-5
COMM 277C:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Environmental Journalism (COMM 177C, EARTHSYS 177C, EARTHSYS 277C)
Advanced reporting and writing course in the specific practices and standards of environmental journalism. This course begins with the assumption that students already know how to research and relay the essential facts of almost any environmental story. Students will go beyond the basics of journalistic practice, both as reporters and storytellers. Emphasis on magazine-style writing, with the goal of producing stories that stand on fact but move like fiction, that have protagonists and antagonists, that create suspense, that reveal character through dialogue and action, and that pay off with resonant finales. Limited enrollment: preference to students in the Earth Systems Master of Arts, Environmental Communication Program and the Graduate Journalism Program. Prerequisite: COMM 104, or EarthSys 191, or consent of instructor. Admission by application only, available from thayden@stanford.edu. Applications due Nov. 30, 2016. (Meets Earth Systems WIM requirement.)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277D:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Narrative Journalism (COMM 177D)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277D.) How to report, write, edit, and read long-form narrative nonfiction, whether for magazines, news sites or online venues. Tools and templates of story telling such as scenes, characters, dialogue, and narrative arc. How the best long-form narrative 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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
COMM 277E:
Specialized Writing and Reporting: Telling the Story (COMM 177E)
This workshop will offer secrets to good storytelling, and constructive feedback every step of the way on a significant piece of journalism you want to publish. The instructor, a senior editor who has helped New York Times reporters win 10 Pulitzer Prizes, will teach the course along with some of those reporters as well as other journalists with expertise in various aspects of storytelling. The sessions will include 1) elements of a great story; 2) finding a great story; 3) reporting a story; 4) writing the proposal; 5) making a story come alive online; 6) giving feedback on and editing a story; 7) assuring your story gets maximum readership online. Your piece could be one you conceive for this class, or one you have already begun reporting. Prerequisite: COMM 104 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| 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 (COMM 177Y)
(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y.) Study how being a foreign correspondent has evolved and blend new communication tools with clear narrative to tell stories from abroad in a way that engages a diversifying American audience in the digital age. Prerequisite: COMM 104W, COMM 279, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
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.
Last offered: Spring 2011
| Units: 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 280:
Virtual Reality Journalism in the Public Sphere
The immersive space (cinematic VR and virtual reality) is journalism's newest and most exciting reporting and storytelling tool. We survey best practices and methods in this emerging medium and learn 360-degree video production and postproduction. Teams will illuminate issues and provoke conversation in the public sphere. Prerequisite: Preference to Journalism M.A. students.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
COMM 281:
Exploring Computational Journalism (CS 206)
This course will explore the evolving field of computational journalism. Students will research and discuss the state of field in five areas where computation is affecting journalism: AI, Data Science, and Info Viz; Emerging Hardware Tech, including Drones, Sensors, and VR; Audience Participation and Diverse Viewpoints; Free Speech and Democracy; and News Ecosystems and Business Models. Admission by application; please email James Hamilton at jayth@stanford.edu to request an application.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
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);
Christin, A. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Frankel, G. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Grimes, A. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Pan, J. (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);
Christin, A. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Migielicz, G. (PI);
Nguyen, D. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Phillips, C. (PI);
Pomerantz, G. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Taubman, P. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI);
Wheaton, J. (PI);
Zacharia, 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 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.
Last offered: Spring 2010
| Units: 3-5
COMM 314:
Ethnographic Methods (SOC 319)
This course offers an introduction to the practice and politics of ethnographic fieldwork. It provides a "how to" of ethnographic research, in which students will conduct an ethnographic project of their own, complemented by weekly readings and discussions. In the process, we will discuss the theory and epistemology of fieldwork, along with the practicalities and politics of fieldwork in different domains. We will examine different stages of ethnographic research (entering the field, conducting and recording fieldwork, exiting the field and writing it up), different methods (observations, interviews, "going along"), as well as distinct styles of ethnographic work (virtual ethnography, organizational ethnography, narrative ethnography, etc.). The course will serve as a participative workshop for students to exchange field notes, share practical advice, and consolidate their research interests. Prerequisite: Communication Ph.D. student, or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-5
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.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| 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 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.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| Units: 1-5
COMM 324:
Language and Technology
In this course we develop a model of how language reflects social and psychological dynamics in social media and other technologically-mediated contexts. The course lays out the main stages of analyzing language to understand social dynamics, including using theory to identify key discourse features, feature extraction, and classification and prediction. The course will draw on action-oriented language approaches to understand how people use language (e.g., grounding and joint action models), and then build on this approach to understand how discourse features from natural language can be used to answer questions from a wide range of social science questions, and ultimately, to the design of new technologies.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
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.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| 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 331G:
Communication and Media Ethics
Limited to Ph.D. students. Advanced topics in press ethics and responsibility. Prerequisite: 231 or consent of instructor.
Last offered: Spring 2013
| Units: 1-5
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. Can 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 of deliberation from Madison and Mill to Rawls and Habermas 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. Deliberative Polling, its applications, defenders and critics, both normative and empirical, will provide a key case for discussion.
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: Win
| Units: 4
COMM 350:
New Media and Journalism (SOC 326)
New media technologies are transforming how people create and consume information. In this course, we study journalism as an organized field of practice to examine what digital technologies change -- and what they don't change -- about production, diffusion, and reception of news around the globe. The course will cover topics such as changing professional boundaries in a networked environment; the decentralization of news production with social media platforms; the changes in editorial judgement related to automation; the construction of algorithmic audiences; and the promises and challenges associated with data journalism. Moving beyond simplistic analyses of the internet as a universal explanation for all changes in journalism, this course explores how new technologies interact with existing practices, representations, and institutions.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-5
COMM 357:
Information Control in Authoritarian Regimes (COMM 157, COMM 257)
Does information help autocrats and dictators stay in power? Or does information help topple authoritarian regimes? This course will examine how authoritarian regimes try to control information through surveillance, propaganda, and censorship, what influences the effectiveness of these information control measures, and how changes in technology (Internet, social media, mobile) affect the dynamics of information control.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-5
COMM 361:
Law of Democracy (POLISCI 327C)
Combined with LAW 7036 (formerly 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)
Last offered: Spring 2015
| Units: 1-5
COMM 372G:
Seminar in Psychological Processing
Limited to Ph.D. students. Advanced topics. Prerequisite: 272 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Spr
| 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 382:
Big Data and Causal Inference
Massive datasets of text, images, video, so-called big data, are increasingly available for research because of the pervasive adoption of new information communication technologies such as social media. These data represent new opportunities for social science research, but prominent examples of big data and data science bear little resemblance to the research designs of social scientific inquiry for causal inference. In this course, we harness the power of big data for causal inference by using machine learning and statistical tools on large-scale digital media datasets to answer social science questions of cause and effect. Familiarity with Python recommended. Enrollment limited to PhD students in COMM or Social Science who have completed or are currently taking graduate quantitative methods sequences in Economics, Political Science, Sociology, or Statistics. Contact blazzari@stanford.edu for a permission number to enroll.
Terms: Win
| 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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3-5
COMM 386:
Media Cultures of the Cold War (ARTHIST 475)
The intersection of politics, aesthetics, and new media technologies in the U.S. between the end of WW II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Topics include the aesthetics of thinking the unthinkable in the wake of the atom bomb; abstract expressionism and 'modern man' discourse; game theory, cybernetics, and new models of art making; the rise of television, intermedia, and the counterculture; and the continuing influence of the early cold war on contemporary media aesthetics. Readings from primary and secondary sources in art history, communication, and critical theory.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| Units: 3-5
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)
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
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)
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
COMM 399:
Advanced Individual Work
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-9
| Repeatable
for credit
(up to 72 units total)
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Phillips, C. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
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);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Hayden, T. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
COMM 802:
TGR Dissertation
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 0
| Repeatable
for credit
Instructors: ;
Bailenson, J. (PI);
Fishkin, J. (PI);
Glasser, T. (PI);
Hamilton, J. (PI);
Hancock, J. (PI);
Iyengar, S. (PI);
Ju, W. (PI);
Krosnick, J. (PI);
Pan, J. (PI);
Reeves, B. (PI);
Turner, F. (PI)
