Results for COMM

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.

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.

Each class will be focused on a different topic and have guest speakers. This class will be open to students, faculty and staff to attend and also be recorded. Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over immigration, gun control, abortion, and the Middle East crisis, to the function of elite higher education and the value of free speech itself. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness and humility seem in short supply among politicians and citizens alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and to improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them.

Each class will be focused on a different topic and have guest speakers. This class will be open to students, faculty and staff to attend and also be recorded. Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over immigration, gun control, abortion, and the Middle East crisis, to the function of elite higher education and the value of free speech itself. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness and humility seem in short supply among politicians and citizens alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and to improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them.

American democracy is increasingly polarized and dysfunctional. Levels of public trust in the Congress and politicians are at virtually all-time lows, and so is the ability of members of different parties to work together in Washington, D.C., and in many state capitols, to find solutions to our major public policy problems. Much is written about the growing polarization of American society, yet public opinion polling suggests that the public is not as bitterly divided as the political class.<br>nOne perspective on the current crisis stresses the lack of opportunities for the American public to deliberate on key issues and challenges under good conditions - where they can receive balanced and informed briefings and talk with one another face to face, away from the glare of broadcast media and social networks that only reinforce their initial points of view. 'Good' conditions also provide trained moderators to encourage and ensure mutual respect for divergent points of view. When a representative, random sample of a population - be it a city or an entire nation - is brought together in this way to deliberate, while being polled on their opinions before and after deliberation, new insights emerge about what decisions 'the people' collectively might come to if they could talk in one room together as fellow citizens. We call this innovative method of democratic dialogue and opinion formation 'Deliberative Polling.' It has been used over 100 times in over 30 countries to help register public opinion in a more democratic and constructive fashion.nThis course will first examine basic theory on deliberative democracy, with emphasis on the state of polarization in American democracy and the issues that appear to most bitterly divide the American public. Then it will study the method of Deliberative Polling and look at a number of specific instances where it has been applied to help inform public policy dialogue or decision-making. We will read studies evaluating applications of Deliberative Polling in cities and countries around the world. We will watch documentary films describing the experience with deliberative polls in several settings. We will examine in detail some of the statistical polling results from previous Deliberative Polls to determine whether and why (and to what extent) people change their opinions on policy issues as a result of the deliberative process. As hands-on experience, students will prepare briefing materials and surveys for an upcoming Deliberative Polling experiment that will be implemented by a cross-institutional deliberative democracy practicum course that is being led by Stanford's Center for Deliberative Democracy and the Haas Center for Public Service. They may also contribute to the planned state wide deliberation on the future of California. In addition, students will engage in their own deliberations using the Stanford Platform for Online Deliberation, which has been deployed around the world. Students will complete background reading over the summer and will write short papers during the course analyzing specific previous experiences with Deliberative Polling.

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has become the second most visited website in the world, with more than 1 billion monthly users. It has influenced the worlds of entertainment, politics, and business alike. It has launched the careers of A-list celebrities while also creating an entirely new celebrity ecosystem. It has become a crucial political tool for presidential candidates and political subcultures alike. In the process, it has upended the entertainment industry and much of its business model. From the beginning, it has also been a source of controversy, raising questions about its role in promoting cyberbullying, radicalization, and harmful content. This course will provide an overview of the platform's cultural history. Drawing on communication studies, media theory, and science and technology studies, we will explore how the platform has evolved in its seventeen years of existence, and how it has influenced, and been influenced by, its cultural and social environment. Students will be introduced to concepts such as participatory culture, microcelebrity, and platform politics. We will grapple with questions such as: how have YouTube's new technological features shaped the culture of the platform, and vice versa? How does community function on the platform, and how has that changed over time? And how have YouTube's content policies affected each of these dynamics? As we address these questions, we will come to grapple with the broader concerns of what it means to be a platform online and why a history of platforms matters.

Deception has been around since the start of human history, but technology has affected the process of deceiving and being deceived in profound ways. This course provides an introduction to understanding deception as it is mediated by modern technologies. We will begin by reviewing theories and frameworks from psychology and interpersonal communication to build a basic understanding of how deception is produced and consumed, and how people determine what and whom to trust. The class will primarily focus on using these perspectives to understand contemporary online deception - including phenomena like mis/disinformation, deepfakes, scams, fake reviews, and more. We will also explore a number of potential solutions to lessening the prevalence and impact of online deception on society (e.g., interventions to reduce the spread of misinformation).

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.

This course is about the interrelationship between science and the public, where "science" is understood in a broad way including both social and natural sciences. It examines how communication about science (in classrooms, in the news media, etc.) influences how the public thinks and acts when it comes to scientific issues. This course explores public perceptions, representations, and assessments of science by drawing together studies from psychology, communication, political science, and environmental science.

(Graduate students register for COMM 206. COMM 106 is offered for 5 units, COMM 206 is offered for 4 units.) 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. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

Speaking, reading, and writing are integral parts of everyday life. In this course, students not only examine how identities and contexts shape each of these communicative acts, but will also learn to develop different context-dependent voices in speaking and writing exercises. The course will emphasize four main learning goals for students. One, students will be introduced to communication as a concept and a field by learning a selection of communication theories. Two, students will understand how different media influence communication, both in content and structure of messages. Three, students will explain how different social identities and contexts influence people's reading, writing, and speaking. Four, students will practice different styles of reading, writing, and speaking according to various hypothetical audience expectations and genre restrictions. In addition to weekly readings and frequent small homework assignments, students will be asked to propose (by week six) a final project (due week eight) in which they compare texts from a genre of choice and then emulate them in their own original work.

(Graduate students register for COMM 208. COMM 108 is offered for 5 units, COMM 208 is offered for 4 units.) The process of communication theory construction including a survey of social science paradigms and major theories of communication. Recommended: COMM 1 or PSYCH 1.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been the next big thing for a few decades, but it is finally becoming mainstream - we think. In this class, I provide an introduction to VR through multiple lenses: historical, technological, psychological, and social. We will discuss potential impacts of VR (and the metaverse) - both positive and negative - within important societal domains, such as health, education, business, and relationships. I will also introduce you to recent research on the psychological experience and effects of avatar use both in VR and other media. Most importantly, we will experience VR together, holding class discussions in virtual environments, with assignments that help you explore a multitude of VR experiences to apply course concepts and create new content.

Our social interactions and relationships are important. Who we communicate with, how we communicate, and the quantity and quality of our social relationships all have an impact on our psychological well-being. Today, many of our interactions and relationships play out online in digital media, like social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) and smartphones. In this course, we will explore (1) how communication behavior and social networks shape our lives online and offline, (2) the influence of personality and well-being on social life, and (3) social network approaches to studying interactions and relationships. By combining theory and research from communication and media psychology with social network analysis, we can understand how media platforms impact our psychological experiences and social environments. With communication technology playing an ever-increasing role in society, understanding how social interactions and relationships impact our lives has never been more critical.

This course provides an introduction to how the dynamics and properties of computer-mediated communication influence well-being. We will discuss foundational communication theories and research to examine how technologies like social media, smartphones, and AI influence the communication process. Outcomes include both positive and negative effects. Throughout, we will focus on the complexities of developing and executing media effects research.

(Graduate students register for 216. COMM 116 is offered for 5 units; COMM 216 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Email instructor for permission to enroll. Preference for enrollment will be: Communication majors and co-terms, then seniors from other disciplines. Total enrollment in COMM 116/216 combined will be limited to 20. Students pursuing a degree from the COMM department as an undergraduate or Masters student must take C116/216 and for a letter grade. All other students taking the class as an elective may also elect to take the class on either a grade or S/NC basis.

What will the future look like? One idea that is recently gaining attention is the Metaverse, a computer-generated simulation of a world in which people can meet and interact. In this course, students will critically evaluate the current landscape of such conceptualizations of virtual worlds. From the psychological and behavioral mechanisms of how people perceive virtual humans, to the design of virtual spaces and interactions, to the ethical considerations that shape how virtual worlds are regulated, this course will pull from multiple fields to provide a comprehensive understanding of virtual worlds. In the first week, the instructor will distribute Oculus Quest 2 headsets for each student to use and return at the end of the quarter. Using these headsets, we will go on virtual field trips to social worlds. Through in-VR experiences, academic papers and articles, and discussions, students will develop a toolset to learn how to approach designing future virtual worlds.

(Graduate students register for 220. COMM 120W is offered for 5 units, COMM 220 is offered for 4 units.From Snapchat to artificial intelligence, digital systems are reshaping our jobs, our democracies, our love lives, and even what it means to be human. But where did these media come from? And what kind of culture are they creating? To answer these questions, this course explores the entwined development of digital technologies and post-industrial ways of living and working from the Cold War to the present. Topics will include the historical origins of digital media, cultural contexts of their deployment and use, and the influence of digital media on conceptions of self, community, and state. Priority to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Trust and Safety is an emerging field of professional and academic effort to build technologies that allow people to positively use the internet while being safe from harm. This course provides an introduction to the ways online services are abused to cause real human harm and the potential social, operational, product, legal and engineering responses. Students will learn about fraud, account takeovers, the use of social media by terrorists, misinformation, child exploitation, harassment, bullying and self-harm. This will include studying both the technical and sociological roots of these harms and the ways various online providers have responded. The class is taught by a practitioner, a professor of communication, a political scientist, and supplemented by guest lecturers from tech companies and nonprofits. Cross-disciplinary teams of students will spend the quarter building a technical and policy solution to a real trust and safety challenge, which will include the application of AI technologies to detecting and stopping abuse. For those taking this course for CS credit, the prerequisite is CS106B or equivalent programming experience and this course fulfills the Technology in Society requirement. Content note: This class will cover real-world harmful behavior and expose students to potentially upsetting material.

The vast majority of photographs printed and consumed around the world appeared on the pages of magazines and newspapers. These pictures were almost always heavily edited, presented in carefully devised sequences, and printed alongside text. Through firsthand visual analysis of the picture presses of yesteryear, this course considers the ongoing meaning, circulation, and power of images as they shape a worldview in Russia as well as the US. In looking at points of contact between two world powers, we will cover the works of a wide array of authors, photographers, photojournalists and photographed celebrities (Lev Tolstoy, Margaret Bourke-White, Russian satirists Ilf and Petrov, John Steinbeck and Richard Capa, and many others). We will explore the relationship between photojournalistic practice of the past with that of our present, from the printed page to digital media, as well as the ethical quandaries posed by the cameras intervention into/shaping of modern history. No knowledge of Russian is required.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 224. COMM 124 is offered for 5 units, COMM 224 is offered for 4 units.) NOTE: offered only at Stanford in New York winter quarter 2022-23. 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.

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. COMM 125 is offered for 5 units, COMM 225 is offered for 4 units.)

(COMM 128 is offered for 5 units, COMM 228 is offered for 4 units. COMM 328 is offered for 3-5 units.)This seminar covers the intersection of politics, media and art in the U.S. from the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Topics include globalization and financialization; the rise of the New Right; the personalization of media technology, from television to computing; postmodernism and political art; feminism, queer, and sex-positive activism; identity politics and the culture wars. Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

This class provides students with an introduction to dark patterns, what they are and how to find/classify them, and challenges students to propose technological and design solutions, legal interventions, and opportunities for civil society participants to act to limit the harms of dark patterns. Students will conduct targeted research on dark patterns in civil society contexts, e.g. within fundraising practices for political and charitable action, media subscription practices, and service domains focused on vulnerable populations. The class uses the Dark Patterns Tip Line as a resource for finding and classifying dark patterns. We also will explore how dark patterns are extending beyond the realm of User Experience (UX) where they have been studied most thoroughly and into the realms of algorithmic decision making, physical interactions and disparate harms.

What does it mean to say that algorithms are racist? If they can be, what are the stakes? Who is accountable? And what are the levers for change? Students will explore these questions as they learn about multiple forms of algorithmic oppression throughout the past and present.

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.

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.

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 learn and apply quantitative and qualitative research methods. 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 and the Haas Center for Public Service. CDD website: http://cdd.stanford.edu; Hass Center website: https://haas.stanford.edu. Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center for Public Service.

In 2019, Stanford's Deliberative Democracy Lab brought together a national random sample of 523 Americans to deliberate on five major policy issues before the American electorate. We called it America in One Room (A1R). Using the methodology of a Deliberative Poll developed by Professor James Fishkin, the experiment recorded many significant changes in opinion after the participants deliberated, and a substantial decline in partisan polarization. This pattern of change in opinion and depolarization has been evidenced in two subsequent A1R's, in 2021 on Climate and Energy and in June 2023, on options for democratic reform in the US. This research practicum will expose students to the theory and methodology behind these grand experiments and offer students an opportunity to analyze and interpret data?both qualitative (the transcripts from the actual citizen deliberations) and quantitative (the statistical results of the deliberative polls). Students' research and analysis will advance the work of this vital collaborative research project and where possible, joint publications could be pursued. Note, in addition to the weekly course meetings, the teaching team highly recommends scheduling weekly office hours to have dedicated time for individual/group practicum projects.

Introduces students to the interdisciplinary intersection of data science and the social sciences through an in-depth examination of contemporary social problems. Provides a foundational skill set for solving social problems with data including quantitative analysis, modeling approaches from the social sciences and engineering, and coding skills for working directly with big data. Students will also consider the ethical dimensions of working with data and learn strategies for translating quantitative results into actionable policies and recommendations. Lectures will introduce students to the methods of data science and social science and apply these frameworks to critical 21st century challenges, including education & inequality, political polarization, and health equity & algorithmic design in the fall quarter, and social media, climate change, and school choice & segregation in the spring quarter. In-class exercises and problem sets will provide students with the opportunity to use real-world datasets to discover meaningful insights for policymakers and communities. This course is the required gateway course for the new major in Data Science & Social Systems. Preference given to Data Science & Social Systems B.A. majors and prospective majors. Course material and presentation will be at an introductory level. Enrollment and participation in one discussion section is required. Sign up for the discussion section will occur on Canvas at the start of the quarter. Prerequisites: CS106A (required), DATASCI 112 (recommended as pre or corequisite). Limited enrollment. Please complete the interest form here: https://forms.gle/8ui9RPgzxjGxJ9k29. A permission code will be given to admitted students to register for the class.

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.

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.

Personality describes people's characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. This course will introduce students to the ways personality is expressed in digital devices (e.g., computers, smartphones) and platforms (e.g., social networks, virtual worlds). Readings and lectures will introduce students to theories of personality, the practice of assessing personality, and the broader societal implications of having mediated personalities. Course assignments will require students to apply the course concepts to explore personality expression in various digitally mediated contexts.

In the cultural imagination, technological innovation has often been associated with social progress. But the history of fascism reveals the multitude of ways that technologies have been harnessed by, and have themselves helped shape, reactionary movements and regimes. In this course, we will explore the multifaceted relationship between technology and fascism, with a particular focus on the role of gender and race. We will approach these topics from a range of angles, drawing from the fields of history, gender studies, science and technology studies, and media studies. We will also engage with a wide range of technologies, from radio to guns to the birth control pill; and with a broad range of "fascisms," from the 20th century regimes of Italy and Germany to the online Manosphere. Ultimately, we will illuminate and untangle the strategic and symbolic roles of technologies as they relate to reactionary politics.

(Graduate students enroll in 251. COMM 151 is offered for 5 units, COMM 251 is offered for 4 units.) The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press (Law 7084): 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. This course is crosslisted in the university and undergraduates are eligible to take it. Elements used in grading: Law students will be evaluated based on class participation and a final exam. Non-law students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm and final exam, and nonlaw students will participate in a moot court on a hypothetical case. Non-law students will also have an additional one hour discussion section each week led by a teaching assistant. Cross-listed with Communication (COMM 151, COMM 251) and Political Science (POLISCI 125P).

Crosslisted with LAW 7082. This course will cover contemporary issues in regulation of the Internet. Topics will include disinformation, polarization, privacy, competition, transparency, advertising, security, and algorithmic ranking. Guest speakers from academia, NGOs, and industry will present on these topics in each class session, followed by a discussion. Students will be responsible for one-page papers each week on the readings and a research paper to be turned in at the fall paper deadline. This class is crosslisted in the university and undergraduates are eligible to take it. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Written Assignments, Final Paper.

An ensemble course with research components for making data-driven music. Improvised and composed pieces make use of large, time-based data sets chronicling humans' digital-life and real-life experiences, and explore how temporal data can be transformed into live musical performances. Data sets will include the Human Screenome Project and the music will go where it goes following the group's ears and instincts. A series of workshops with guest musicians will continue throughout the year and group members will be able to take part beyond the course.

(Graduate students enroll in 254. COMM 154 is offered for 5 units, COMM 254 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 258. COMM 158 is offered for 5 units, COMM 258 is offered for 4 units.) While the internet and other digital technologies have amplified the voice of ordinary citizens, the power of governments and other large organizations to control and to manipulate information is increasingly apparent. In this course, we will examine censorship and propaganda in the age of the internet and social media. What constitutes censorship and propaganda in the digital age? Who conducts censorship and propaganda, and how? What are the consequences and effects of censorship and propaganda in this era of information proliferation? How have censorship and propaganda changed from previous eras? Students will take a hands-on, project-based approach to exploring these questions.

We are living in extraordinary times. The historic convergence of social, economic, and public health challenges has profoundly impacted the lives of millions of Americans. In the midst of great uncertainty, the 2022 U.S. midterm elections will be among the most important in our lifetimes. Will the Trump wing of the Republican party dominate their approaching re-election amidst deep political polarization and the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended life as we know it? Or will a diverse yet fractured Democratic party prevail in the House and Senate? We will assemble a wide range of expert speakers-including preeminent political, business, foreign policy, and academic leaders-to explore these questions, and more, as we seek to cultivate a broad and informed view of these pivotal elections and the overall state of American politics and democratic institutions. Each week, the course will examine major topics at stake for the country. Anticipated topics include: widening inequality across America; the role of technology and media in the election and our democracy; the state of our economy; gender politics and racial violence; the Supreme Court and the rule of law; education policy; foreign policy; and the state of our democracy in a global context.

Join us for an immersive speaker series that delves into the core of American democracy. Prominent figures from a range of politic, business, foreign policy, academia, and media will analyze the implications of the 2024 elections and the challenges our nation faces. Led by James Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, explore topics such as harnessing the power of AI responsibly, addressing climate change at various levels, strengthening commitments to democracy and voting rights, safeguarding youth from the impacts of social media and technology on mental health, and ensuring accountability for wealth disparities. This series will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the elections and the broader American political landscape.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 262. COMM 162 is offered for 5 units, COMM 262 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

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.

(Graduate students register for COMM 266. COMM 166 is offered for 5 units, COMM 266 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Note for PhD students in programs other than Communication: instructor permission required.

(Graduate students register for COMM 272. COMM 172 is offered for 5 units, COMM 272 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(Graduate students register for 276. COMM 176 is offered for 5 units, COMM 276 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Comm 104 or some reporting experience OR audio/video production experience. Contact instructor: jrnicol@stanford.edu

In this course, students will learn about and experiment with a variety of advanced data and computational techniques used in the news industry to hold powerful individuals and institutions to account. Topics may include geospatial analysis, image classification and entity extraction. Students will learn how these techniques are used to develop and tell stories, and then apply that knowledge in small-scale, novel exercises.

(COMM 177B is offered for 5 units, COMM 277B is offered for 4 units.) This class will tackle data-driven journalism, in collaboration with other academic and journalistic partners. The class is centered around one or more projects rooted in local data-driven journalism but with potential for regional or national journalistic stories and impact. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to negotiate for public records and data, analyze data and report out stories. Some of the work may be published by news organizations or may be used to advance data journalism projects focused on public accountability. Students will gain valuable knowledge and skills in how to negotiate for public records, how to critically analyze data for journalistic purpose and build out reporting and writing skills. Students with a background in journalism (especially data journalism), statistics, computer science, law, or public policy are encouraged to participate. Enrollment is limited. May be repeated for credit. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

Practical, collaborative, hands-on exploration of environmental journalism as an agent of change. Students learn how to identify and execute engaging and impactful stories about environmental science, policy, and justice through critique of environmental journalism pieces and extensive workshopping of each other's work. Emphasis on a just transition to climate adaptation and mitigation through elevating marginalized voices by using the tools and practices of journalism to spur positive change. Limited class size, preference to Environmental Communication and Journalism MA students. Prerequisite: EARTHSYS 191/291, COMM 104W, or consent of instructor. Admission by application only (https://forms.gle/C84WQRqbTFtuEfM49). Email instructor Chloe Peterson-Nafziger with any questions; chloepn.biosphere@gmail.com. Meets Earth Systems WIM requirement. (Graduate students enroll in EARTHSYS 277C/COMM 277C for 4 units; Undergraduates enroll in 177C for 5 units.)

(Graduate students register for COMM 277D. COMM 177D is offered for 5 units, COMM 277D is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(COMM 177E is offered for 5 units, COMM 277E is offered for 4 units.) Whether covering news, culture or sports, journalism feature writers combine factual reporting with vivid storytelling in a variety of forms -- from profiles to essays to narratives. In a course designed as a writer's workshop, students will learn to think, report and write in scenes; to write from the point of view of one or more subjects; to report with a heightened sense of observation; and to focus on the most telling details in a story. Prerequisite: COMM 104W or consent of instructor.

Graduate students register for COMM 277I. COMM 177I is offered for 5 units, COMM 277I is offered for 4 units.) 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. Instructor permission required for freshmen and sophomores. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

(Graduate students register for COMM 277S. COMM 177SW is offered for 5 units, COMM 177S is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(Graduate students register for 277T. COMM 177T is offered for 5 units, COMM 277T is offered for 4 units.) This course introduces students to the process of building interactive web applications and visualizations for the news. Students will study examples from the news industry and gain proficiency in a range of technical languages, skills and tools: version control, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, web protocols, and web hosting and deployment. Class exercises and projects will focus on the use of these technologies to produce applications that tell a story and engage the public. Students must have basic proficiency in Python, SQL and the Unix shell.

(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y. COMM 177Y is offered for 5 units, COMM 277Y is offered for 4 units.) 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.

Examination of recent developments in computing technology and platforms through the lenses of philosophy, public policy, social science, and engineering.  Course is organized around five main units: algorithmic decision-making and bias; data privacy and civil liberties; artificial intelligence and autonomous systems; the power of private computing platforms; and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology sector.  Each unit considers the promise, perils, rights, and responsibilities at play in technological developments. Prerequisite: CS106A.

(Graduate students register for 284. COMM 184 is offered for 5 units, COMM 284 is offered for 4 units.) This course explores the co-construction of media practices and racial identity in the US. We will ask how media have shaped how we think about race. And we will explore the often surprising ways ideas about race have shaped media practices and technologies in turn. The course will draw on contemporary debates as well as historical examples and will cover themes such as representation and visual culture, media industries and audience practices, and racial bias in digital technology.

(Graduate and coterm students must register for COMM 286. COMM 186W is only for undergraduates and is offered for 5 units, COMM 286 is offered for 4 units.) This course considers major themes in the cultural analysis of the body in relation to media technologies. How do media and information technologies shape our understanding of the body and concepts of bodily difference such as race, gender, and disability? We will explore both classic theories and recent scholarship to examine how technologies mediate the body and bodily practices in various domains, from entertainment to engineering, politics to product design.

Qualifies students to conduct communication research. Student must apply for department honors thesis program during Spring Quarter of junior year.

For students with high academic standing. May be repeated for credit.

Supervised research with a faculty member of the Department of Communication to fulfill COMM major capstone requirement. See https://comm.stanford.edu/major for prerequisites of individual COMM faculty. For permission number to enroll, email a brief research proposal including the expected number of hours per week to the prospective faculty advisor.

(Graduate students register for COMM 206. COMM 106 is offered for 5 units, COMM 206 is offered for 4 units.) 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. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

(Graduate students register for COMM 208. COMM 108 is offered for 5 units, COMM 208 is offered for 4 units.) The process of communication theory construction including a survey of social science paradigms and major theories of communication. Recommended: COMM 1 or PSYCH 1.

(Graduate students register for 216. COMM 116 is offered for 5 units; COMM 216 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Email instructor for permission to enroll. Preference for enrollment will be: Communication majors and co-terms, then seniors from other disciplines. Total enrollment in COMM 116/216 combined will be limited to 20. Students pursuing a degree from the COMM department as an undergraduate or Masters student must take C116/216 and for a letter grade. All other students taking the class as an elective may also elect to take the class on either a grade or S/NC basis.

(Graduate students register for 220. COMM 120W is offered for 5 units, COMM 220 is offered for 4 units.From Snapchat to artificial intelligence, digital systems are reshaping our jobs, our democracies, our love lives, and even what it means to be human. But where did these media come from? And what kind of culture are they creating? To answer these questions, this course explores the entwined development of digital technologies and post-industrial ways of living and working from the Cold War to the present. Topics will include the historical origins of digital media, cultural contexts of their deployment and use, and the influence of digital media on conceptions of self, community, and state. Priority to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 224. COMM 124 is offered for 5 units, COMM 224 is offered for 4 units.) NOTE: offered only at Stanford in New York winter quarter 2022-23. 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.

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. COMM 125 is offered for 5 units, COMM 225 is offered for 4 units.)

(COMM 128 is offered for 5 units, COMM 228 is offered for 4 units. COMM 328 is offered for 3-5 units.)This seminar covers the intersection of politics, media and art in the U.S. from the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Topics include globalization and financialization; the rise of the New Right; the personalization of media technology, from television to computing; postmodernism and political art; feminism, queer, and sex-positive activism; identity politics and the culture wars. Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

This class takes a global perspective and historical approach to understanding digital civil society in democracies. 'Civil society' includes social movements, philanthropists, unions, nonprofits, informal associational life, individual activism, and cooperatives, among others. Students will interrogate how civil society is evolving in a world of pervasive digitization and data collection. This year's syllabus divides the class into three "clusters" of topics: Elections, Culture and Community, and Company Towns. Through these clusters we will study tech workers unionizing, digital ID systems, disinformation, voting and democracy in digital times, the human labor behind content moderation, digitization's effects on intellectual property and creativity, and community efforts to shift corporate and/or government power. Class includes guest speakers and an optional field trip.

Digital technologies have fundamentally changed how people come together to make change in the world, a sphere of action commonly called 'civil society'. How did this happen, what's being done about it, and what does it mean for democratic governance and collective action in the future? This course analyzes the opportunities and challenges technology presents to associational life, free expression, individual privacy, and collective action. Year-long seminar sequence for advanced undergraduates or master's students. Each quarter may be taken independently. Winter Quarter focuses on the 2000s and considers the emergence of social media platforms, the rise of mobile connectivity, institutional shifts in journalism, and major developments in intellectual property, state surveillance, and digital activism.

Digital technologies have fundamentally changed how people come together to make change in the world, a sphere of action commonly called 'civil society'. How did this happen, what's being done about it, and what does it mean for democratic governance and collective action in the future? This course analyzes the opportunities and challenges technology presents to associational life, free expression, individual privacy, and collective action. Year-long seminar sequence for advanced undergraduates or master's students. Each quarter may be taken independently. Spring focuses on emergent trends related to democracy and associational life, from the 2010s and into the future. Topics include the Arab Spring, global political propaganda, 'born digital' organizations, the development of electronic governments, and biotechnologies.

This class provides students with an introduction to dark patterns, what they are and how to find/classify them, and challenges students to propose technological and design solutions, legal interventions, and opportunities for civil society participants to act to limit the harms of dark patterns. Students will conduct targeted research on dark patterns in civil society contexts, e.g. within fundraising practices for political and charitable action, media subscription practices, and service domains focused on vulnerable populations. The class uses the Dark Patterns Tip Line as a resource for finding and classifying dark patterns. We also will explore how dark patterns are extending beyond the realm of User Experience (UX) where they have been studied most thoroughly and into the realms of algorithmic decision making, physical interactions and disparate harms.

Speaker series examining the history, theory, legal challenges, policy frameworks and economic choices that have shaped digital networks and technologies, and how those technologies have in turn changed the nature and role of civil society in democracies.

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.

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.

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 learn and apply quantitative and qualitative research methods. 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 and the Haas Center for Public Service. CDD website: http://cdd.stanford.edu; Hass Center website: https://haas.stanford.edu. Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center for Public Service.

In 2019, Stanford's Deliberative Democracy Lab brought together a national random sample of 523 Americans to deliberate on five major policy issues before the American electorate. We called it America in One Room (A1R). Using the methodology of a Deliberative Poll developed by Professor James Fishkin, the experiment recorded many significant changes in opinion after the participants deliberated, and a substantial decline in partisan polarization. This pattern of change in opinion and depolarization has been evidenced in two subsequent A1R's, in 2021 on Climate and Energy and in June 2023, on options for democratic reform in the US. This research practicum will expose students to the theory and methodology behind these grand experiments and offer students an opportunity to analyze and interpret data?both qualitative (the transcripts from the actual citizen deliberations) and quantitative (the statistical results of the deliberative polls). Students' research and analysis will advance the work of this vital collaborative research project and where possible, joint publications could be pursued. Note, in addition to the weekly course meetings, the teaching team highly recommends scheduling weekly office hours to have dedicated time for individual/group practicum projects.

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.

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.

Personality describes people's characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. This course will introduce students to the ways personality is expressed in digital devices (e.g., computers, smartphones) and platforms (e.g., social networks, virtual worlds). Readings and lectures will introduce students to theories of personality, the practice of assessing personality, and the broader societal implications of having mediated personalities. Course assignments will require students to apply the course concepts to explore personality expression in various digitally mediated contexts.

(Graduate students enroll in 251. COMM 151 is offered for 5 units, COMM 251 is offered for 4 units.) The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press (Law 7084): 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. This course is crosslisted in the university and undergraduates are eligible to take it. Elements used in grading: Law students will be evaluated based on class participation and a final exam. Non-law students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm and final exam, and nonlaw students will participate in a moot court on a hypothetical case. Non-law students will also have an additional one hour discussion section each week led by a teaching assistant. Cross-listed with Communication (COMM 151, COMM 251) and Political Science (POLISCI 125P).

Crosslisted with LAW 7082. This course will cover contemporary issues in regulation of the Internet. Topics will include disinformation, polarization, privacy, competition, transparency, advertising, security, and algorithmic ranking. Guest speakers from academia, NGOs, and industry will present on these topics in each class session, followed by a discussion. Students will be responsible for one-page papers each week on the readings and a research paper to be turned in at the fall paper deadline. This class is crosslisted in the university and undergraduates are eligible to take it. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Written Assignments, Final Paper.

(Graduate students enroll in 254. COMM 154 is offered for 5 units, COMM 254 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 258. COMM 158 is offered for 5 units, COMM 258 is offered for 4 units.) While the internet and other digital technologies have amplified the voice of ordinary citizens, the power of governments and other large organizations to control and to manipulate information is increasingly apparent. In this course, we will examine censorship and propaganda in the age of the internet and social media. What constitutes censorship and propaganda in the digital age? Who conducts censorship and propaganda, and how? What are the consequences and effects of censorship and propaganda in this era of information proliferation? How have censorship and propaganda changed from previous eras? Students will take a hands-on, project-based approach to exploring these questions.

(Graduate students enroll in COMM 262. COMM 162 is offered for 5 units, COMM 262 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

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.

(Graduate students register for COMM 266. COMM 166 is offered for 5 units, COMM 266 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Note for PhD students in programs other than Communication: instructor permission required.

(Graduate students register for COMM 272. COMM 172 is offered for 5 units, COMM 272 is offered for 4 units.) 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.

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: Only open to Journalism M.A. students.

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.

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: Only open to Journalism M.A. students. Corequisite: COMM 273. Email instructor for permission.

(Graduate students register for 276. COMM 176 is offered for 5 units, COMM 276 is offered for 4 units.) 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. Comm 104 or some reporting experience OR audio/video production experience. Contact instructor: jrnicol@stanford.edu

In this course, students will learn about and experiment with a variety of advanced data and computational techniques used in the news industry to hold powerful individuals and institutions to account. Topics may include geospatial analysis, image classification and entity extraction. Students will learn how these techniques are used to develop and tell stories, and then apply that knowledge in small-scale, novel exercises.

(COMM 177B is offered for 5 units, COMM 277B is offered for 4 units.) This class will tackle data-driven journalism, in collaboration with other academic and journalistic partners. The class is centered around one or more projects rooted in local data-driven journalism but with potential for regional or national journalistic stories and impact. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to negotiate for public records and data, analyze data and report out stories. Some of the work may be published by news organizations or may be used to advance data journalism projects focused on public accountability. Students will gain valuable knowledge and skills in how to negotiate for public records, how to critically analyze data for journalistic purpose and build out reporting and writing skills. Students with a background in journalism (especially data journalism), statistics, computer science, law, or public policy are encouraged to participate. Enrollment is limited. May be repeated for credit. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

Practical, collaborative, hands-on exploration of environmental journalism as an agent of change. Students learn how to identify and execute engaging and impactful stories about environmental science, policy, and justice through critique of environmental journalism pieces and extensive workshopping of each other's work. Emphasis on a just transition to climate adaptation and mitigation through elevating marginalized voices by using the tools and practices of journalism to spur positive change. Limited class size, preference to Environmental Communication and Journalism MA students. Prerequisite: EARTHSYS 191/291, COMM 104W, or consent of instructor. Admission by application only (https://forms.gle/C84WQRqbTFtuEfM49). Email instructor Chloe Peterson-Nafziger with any questions; chloepn.biosphere@gmail.com. Meets Earth Systems WIM requirement. (Graduate students enroll in EARTHSYS 277C/COMM 277C for 4 units; Undergraduates enroll in 177C for 5 units.)

(Graduate students register for COMM 277D. COMM 177D is offered for 5 units, COMM 277D is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(COMM 177E is offered for 5 units, COMM 277E is offered for 4 units.) Whether covering news, culture or sports, journalism feature writers combine factual reporting with vivid storytelling in a variety of forms -- from profiles to essays to narratives. In a course designed as a writer's workshop, students will learn to think, report and write in scenes; to write from the point of view of one or more subjects; to report with a heightened sense of observation; and to focus on the most telling details in a story. Prerequisite: COMM 104W or consent of instructor.

Graduate students register for COMM 277I. COMM 177I is offered for 5 units, COMM 277I is offered for 4 units.) 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. Instructor permission required for freshmen and sophomores. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

(Graduate students register for COMM 277S. COMM 177SW is offered for 5 units, COMM 177S is offered for 4 units.) 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.

(Graduate students register for 277T. COMM 177T is offered for 5 units, COMM 277T is offered for 4 units.) This course introduces students to the process of building interactive web applications and visualizations for the news. Students will study examples from the news industry and gain proficiency in a range of technical languages, skills and tools: version control, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, web protocols, and web hosting and deployment. Class exercises and projects will focus on the use of these technologies to produce applications that tell a story and engage the public. Students must have basic proficiency in Python, SQL and the Unix shell.

(Graduate students register for COMM 277Y. COMM 177Y is offered for 5 units, COMM 277Y is offered for 4 units.) 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.

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: Only open to Journalism M.A. students. Corequisite: COMM 275.

The immersive space (cinematic VR, virtual reality, and augmented 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. Please contact instructor for permission number to enroll.

This project-based course will explore the field of computational journalism, including the use of Data Science, Info Visualization, AI, and emerging technologies to help journalists discover and tell stories, understand their audience, advance free speech, and build trust. This course is repeatable for credit; enrollment priority given to students taking it for the first time.

(Graduate students register for 284. COMM 184 is offered for 5 units, COMM 284 is offered for 4 units.) This course explores the co-construction of media practices and racial identity in the US. We will ask how media have shaped how we think about race. And we will explore the often surprising ways ideas about race have shaped media practices and technologies in turn. The course will draw on contemporary debates as well as historical examples and will cover themes such as representation and visual culture, media industries and audience practices, and racial bias in digital technology.

(Graduate and coterm students must register for COMM 286. COMM 186W is only for undergraduates and is offered for 5 units, COMM 286 is offered for 4 units.) This course considers major themes in the cultural analysis of the body in relation to media technologies. How do media and information technologies shape our understanding of the body and concepts of bodily difference such as race, gender, and disability? We will explore both classic theories and recent scholarship to examine how technologies mediate the body and bodily practices in various domains, from entertainment to engineering, politics to product design.

MA thesis course. Focuses on development of in-depth journalism project, culminating in work of publishable quality.

Individual research for coterminal Media Studies students.

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. Email instructor for permission to enroll.

For students interested in research in political science, psychology, or communication. Methodological techniques for studying political attitudes and behaviors. May be repeated for credit.

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. Email instructor for permission to enroll.

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. Email instructor for permission to enroll.

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.

An introduction to a broad range of social science research methods that are widely used in PhD work. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

This course will focus on advanced research on social media with an emphasis on interpersonal dynamics. The course will emphasize key theories from psychology and communication that bear on behavior and social media. Students will develop a research project in the course that draws on one of the primary methods from the social media space. Email instructor for permission to enroll.

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. Email instructor for permission to enroll.

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.

(COMM 128 is offered for 5 units, COMM 228 is offered for 4 units. COMM 328 is offered for 3-5 units.)This seminar covers the intersection of politics, media and art in the U.S. from the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Topics include globalization and financialization; the rise of the New Right; the personalization of media technology, from television to computing; postmodernism and political art; feminism, queer, and sex-positive activism; identity politics and the culture wars. Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

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.

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.

Digital devices (e.g., computers, smartphones, wearables) and platforms (e.g., social media sites, forums, virtual worlds) mediate much of our daily life. Each time we use digital media for communication, information seeking, or entertainment, we leave behind psychologically revealing digital footprints. In this course, we will explore how digital footprints can be used to understand individual differences in thinking, feeling, and behaving. Class activities and assignments will require students to apply the concepts to their own research projects. Course enrollment limited to PhD-level students.

This will be a project-based course for graduate students to take a deep dive on a specific topic within media psychology. All topics will share an underlying focus on individual differences. Example topics include: describing individual differences in use of digital devices (e.g., computers, smartphones, wearables) and platforms (e.g., social media, forums, virtual worlds), explaining what may be driving such differences (e.g., psychological factors, contextual factors), applying and developing methodological approaches for understanding and assessing mediated personalities, and exploring applications of psychologically tailoring media to peoples characteristics and contexts. Students will work collaboratively with the instructor and other students in the course to produce a novel work by the end of the quarter.

Over the past decade, influencers and online content creators have become highly visible on social media platforms. From fashion and travel influencers posting glamourous pictures on Instagram to YouTubers and TikTokers sharing new dance moves, car repair tips, and beauty routines for different skin colors, the diversity and promise of social media creation turned the role of 'influencer' into a highly desirable - but deeply uncertain - career. In this course, we will draw on classical frameworks in communication, sociology, and organization studies to examine these forms of cultural production through the lenses of labor, power, and celebrity in contemporary societies. Please contact the instructor for permission to enroll.

This course presents a selection of influential ways of thinking about culture, media, technology, and institutions in contemporary societies. It is organized around different disciplinary and methodological traditions, including symbolic interactionism, Foucault, Bourdieu, feminist theory, neo-institutionalism, the sociology of translation, the e/valuation perspective, and racial capitalism, with a specific focus on how these concepts shed light on the interplay between media, culture, and institutions.

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.

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)

Internet platforms like Google and Facebook play an enormous role in our online speech and information environment today. This class will review the laws that shape platforms' decisions about online content, with a primary focus on intermediary liability laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Communications Decency Act Section 230 (CDA 230), and the EU's eCommerce Directive. The majority of course material will be from the U.S., but some will explore international models and in particular laws in the European Union. Some classes will explore the impact of related areas of law, including privacy law, and some will go beyond current legal models to explore forward-looking legislative and policy proposals. Important themes of the class include Constitutional and human rights constraints on intermediary liability laws; legal limits (or lack thereof) on platforms' enforcement of privatized speech rules under their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service; global enforcement of national laws requiring platforms to remove content; and tensions between the goals of intermediary liability law and those of privacy, competition, and other legal frameworks. Students will be encouraged to think pragmatically about the legal, operational, and product design choices platforms may make in response to particular laws, drawing on the instructor's experience handling such questions as Associate General Counsel at Google. Students will be responsible for (1) posting six reading response comments or questions to a class discussion board (these are due before class meets on six class days of your choice, they can be very brief and informal); (2) participating in class discussion, potentially including discussion of points raised in your written questions; and (3) completing a final examination.

This course offers a project-based orientation to methodological issues associated with the analysis of multivariate and/or longitudinal data in the social sciences. General areas to be covered include the manipulation/organization/description of the types of empirical data obtained in social science research, and the application/implementation of multivariate analysis techniques to those data. Students will, through hands-on analysis of their data, acquire experiences in the formulation of research questions and study designs that are appropriately tethered to a variety of advanced analytical methods.

This course is a survey of growth modeling methods useful for study of developmental and change processes. General areas to be covered include conceptualization and organization of longitudinal panel data, linear growth modeling, inclusion of time-invariant and time-varying covariates, nonlinear growth models (including a variety of exponential, sigmoid and spline models), multiple-group models, and growth mixture models. Students will work through application/implementation of the models through hands-on analysis of simulated and empirical data in both structural equation modeling (SEM) and multilevel modeling (MLM) frameworks, acquire experiences in the formulation of research questions and study designs that are appropriately tethered to the different theoretical perspectives invoked by the different models.

This course is a survey of methodological issues associated with the measurement of psychological constructs and processes of change. General areas to be covered include use of latent variable models (structural equation modeling), classical test theory, generalizability theory, principal component analysis, factor analysis, item response theory and how these models facilitate and/or constrain the study of change processes. Students will work through application/implementation of the models through hands-on analysis of simulated and empirical data, acquire experiences in the formulation of research questions and study designs that are appropriately tethered to the different theoretical perspectives invoked by the different models.

Media and Mental Health is the topic for the Comm 372G seminar in Winter Quarter 2022. The seminar will focus on new ways to define media interactions that can be linked to mental health, taking advantage of new methods and computational analytics that provide granular details about media use. We will consider both the role of media in diagnosing mental illness, as well as how media use may change the onset, course and treatment of mental illness. We will discuss and write about psychiatric illnesses including bipolar disorder, suicide and suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress disorders, anxiety, attention disorders, addiction, schizophrenia, post-partem depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders and eating disorders. Dr. Thomas Robinson (MD, Stanford Medical School) will join in instruction, and mental health experts will provide briefings on different diagnoses. The main focus of discussions (and writing), however, will be on media and technology content, applications, contexts, functions, sequences, rhythms, applications and services. We will be guided by new work and data from the Screenomics Lab that records moment-by-moment changes in screen use (see screenomics.stanford.edu for background). The seminar is open to MA and PhD students across the university, and with permission of the instructor, to advanced undergraduates.

As media technologies change, they radically restructure our experience of time. This course will bring together readings from media psychology and media history in order to understand this process. Students will explore issues such as the acceleration of everyday life, new modes of screen use, and the transformation of cultural categories such as narrative and the event. Ultimately the course aims to help prepare students to consider time in scholarship about media.

Practical experience in the communication industries. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Meets requirements for Curricular Practical Training for students on F-1 visas. (Staff). F-1 international students enrolled in this CPT course cannot start working without first obtaining a CPT-endorsed I-20 from Bechtel International Center (enrolling in the CPT course alone is insufficient to meet federal immigration regulations).

Massive datasets are increasingly available for research as digital technologies pervade our lives. These data represent new opportunities for social science research, but prominent examples of data science research bear little resemblance to the research designs of social scientific inquiry. In this course, we use machine learning and statistical tools on large-scale 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 ohtammy@stanford.edu for a permission number to enroll (please include a current CV).

Technological advances have generated massive datasets available to use for research. Graduate students are increasingly well trained in computational and statistical techniques, but often encounter resistance from publishers and reviewers when applying these techniques. This is a graduate research seminar in which students will carefully read cutting-edge works in computational social science, and discuss in detail their theory, data and empirical methods, and overall scientific contribution. We will consider what makes these works successful, and participants will present in the seminar. Instructor approval required for non-Ph.D. students to enroll. May be repeated for credit.

Repression research examines the causes and consequences of actions that are meant to, or actually do, raise the costs of activism, protest, and/or social movement activity. The rise of digital and social media has brought substantial increases in attention to the repression of digital activists and movements (e.g., violence against online activists), the deployment of new strategies for repression enabled by digital and social media (e.g., digital surveillance and social credit schemes), and the development of information strategies designed to diminish the effectiveness of social mobilization (e.g., influence campaigns). This Ph.D. seminar explores a fast growing body of research spread across disciplines and areas of study to better understand what constitutes digital repression and what is new about digital repression. Email instructor for consent.

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.

How do the tools and techniques of capturing, representing, storing, and transmitting information shape how and what we know? And how might such instruments influence the relationship between epistemic practices and forms social, cultural, and political life? This course will draw on scholarship across the history of science, science and technology studies, and media theory to consider the role media technologies play in how knowledge is produced, circulated, and authorized. Instructor consent required. Limited to PhD students or with consent of instructor.

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.

This course explores the mutual definition of human bodies and technical systems in the historical development and use of media technologies across scientific and cultural domains. Drawing on scholarship in media studies, history of science/technology, and STS, we will examine how bodies and machines were imagined and configured relative to one another and how these complex entanglements both shaped and were shaped by new media technologies and practices. Limited to PhD students or with consent of the instructor.

The Communication Colloquium is a monthly seminar held throughout the academic year, in which leading scholars present their research findings. The Colloquium is intended for PhD students in Communication, and priority will be given to COMM PhD students. Attendance of all sessions is required to receive credit.