printer friendly pageCOMM 142W: Media Economics (COMM 242)
Uses economics to examine the generation and consumption of information in communication markets. Covers concepts that play a large role in information economics, including public goods, economies of scale, product differentiation, and externalities. Looks at individuals' information demands as consumers, producers, audience members, and voters. Topics include economics of Internet, sustainability of accountability journalism, and marketplace of ideas.
Last offered: Autumn 2017
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 143W: Communication Policy and Regulation (COMM 243)
Focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting communication markets. Policy issues include universal service, digital divide, Internet regulation, intellectual property, privacy, television violence, content diversity, media ownership, antitrust, and impact of news on government accountability. Examines political economy of communication policy and the evolution of policies across time.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 145: Personality and Digital Media (COMM 245)
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.
Last offered: Spring 2021
COMM 149F: Technology and Fascism: History of a Paradox (FEMGEN 149)
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.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Lewis, R. (PI)
COMM 151: The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press (COMM 251, ETHICSOC 151, POLISCI 125P)
(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).
Last offered: Spring 2022
COMM 153B: Free Speech, Democracy and the Internet (COMM 253B)
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.
Last offered: Autumn 2022
COMM 153D: Ensemble Sonification of Temporal Data (MUSIC 153D)
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.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-3
| Repeatable
10 times
(up to 30 units total)
Instructors:
Chafe, C. (PI)
;
Ram, N. (PI)
COMM 154: The Politics of Algorithms (COMM 254, CSRE 154T, SOC 154, SOC 254C)
(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.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Chi, Y. (PI)
;
Christin, A. (PI)
;
Fetterolf, E. (PI)
...
more instructors for COMM 154 »
Instructors:
Chi, Y. (PI)
;
Christin, A. (PI)
;
Fetterolf, E. (PI)
;
Lepp, H. (PI)
;
Ross, R. (PI)
;
Chi, Y. (TA)
;
Fetterolf, E. (TA)
;
Lepp, H. (TA)
;
Ross, R. (TA)
COMM 158: Censorship and Propaganda (COMM 258)
(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.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
COMM 159A: Politics 2022: America at a Crossroads
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.
Last offered: Autumn 2022
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