21 - 30 of 46 results for: COMM

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.

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.

(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 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.

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.

(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

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 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.