1 - 10 of 125 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.

Digital technologies have had a profound influence on our economy, the ways we communicate, and the ways in which we work. This course will provide a lens through which to understand digital labor and digital work today. We will explore the ideological and cultural values of Silicon Valley and their role in shaping the new business models of the Internet Age (such as crowdsourcing, the sharing economy, and humans-as-a-service). We will examine the past, present, and future of mechanisms of workplace control (from clocks to algorithmic management) and the implications of the digital turn on spatial and material dimensions of labor. Finally, we will turn our attention toward possible futures of work, given the increasing presence of automation and artificial intelligence in the workplace. By engaging with social scientific analyses and popular media, students will leave the course with a greater appreciation of worker perspectives and challenges in the digital era.

This course will provide an introduction to information inequalities arising in the digital era. By working through various literature in media such as media economics and digital divide, we will explore how content personalization via the algorithms could reproduce or amplify long-standing inequalities in race, class, and gender. This course also functions as an introduction to entry-level data science whereby you develop basic programming skills (Python) and apply them to your group project. By the end of the course, you will have developed skills to think critically of technology¿s impact on our democracy and to present evidence-based analysis of your research interests. No prior programming experience is necessary to take this class.

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.

(Graduate students register for COMM 206.) Conceptual and practical concerns underlying commonly used quantitative approaches, including experimental, survey, content analysis, and field research in communication. Pre- or corequisite: STATS 60 or consent of instructor. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)

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

In this introductory-level class we will investigate the Internet as a material technology created in a specific historical and cultural context and explore how its architecture has shaped the ways we work, think, and relate to each other in 2018. First, we will learn what the Internet is, how it works, and why it came to be. Next, by working through a variety of historical and analytical texts, we will examine the reality and mythologies of cyberspace. Key areas of interest include economics, law, and how people use the Internet to connect. Over the course of the quarter, you will gain skills to think critically and analytically about issues related to the Internet in today's world and articulate your own positions on them.

This course will examine the concepts of propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation, primarily in the political sphere. The first part of the course will explore varying definitions of these concepts and how political actors have manipulated information to support their political aims in totalitarian, authoritarian, and democratic contexts. The second part of the course will examine how reliance on digital media has altered the landscape for political manipulation and current efforts to combat these phenomena. In addition to lectures, students will engage in class discussion and group work.