Intro to Media & Coms (Aug-Dec 2008)

Lectures in Room 1.3 Engineering Tower at 1 pm every Tuesday

Module Outline

12th August
Introduction to key concepts & Levels of communication

19th August
We carry on with the lecture on key concepts and levels of communication.
At 3pm, we will move to Lecture Theatre 2 (NAC) for the talk on Media and Governance.

26th August
I will not be able to lecture.

2nd September
No lecture due to the Sports & Activity Week and the Research Week. Next lecture is on 9th September.

9th September
History of writing, printing and newspapers

Some interesting online resources:
History of Writing
History of Print
History of Newspapers

16th September
History of telecommunications, radio, cinema and television

Interesting related online resources:
History of telecommunication from Wikipedia
History of television from Wikipedia

23rd September
History of CMC, Internet and mobile communication
Overview of theoretical models of communication – Information Theory

Interesting related online resources:
A Brief History of the Internet
The Shannon-Weaver Model

30th September
Lecture will start at 2.15 p.m.
Components and Functions of Communication
Important Themes & Issues in Mass Communication

Interesting related online resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Jakobson

6th October
We will carry on with the lecture on (i) Components & Functions of Communication and (ii) Important Themes & Issues in Mass Communication
Students have been requested to use Saville-Troike’s list of 10 components of communication to analyse any 2 communication events/acts of their choice just like we did for the example of the political rally vs the Budget speech. The results of their analysis should be brought in class.

14th October
- Perspectives on Media Theory and the concept of Mass
- People’s use of mass media and Debates on mass media
Students are expected to find out what FDI means and are also expected to read about the financial crisis.
As from this week, there will be short quizzes about current affairs. Students are expected to read, view or listen to the news to watch out for the key events on both the local and international scenes.

21st October
We will carry on with the lecture on People’s use of mass media and Debates on mass media.
Then, we will discuss Media market structures
As decided, there will also be a quiz on current affairs every week.
We will discuss the team assignment to be done for 4th November. Basically, each team of 3 students maximum will have to visit a media outlet and report on the findings of the visit in an oral presentation and a short written report.

4th November
We will have a round up on the team assignments.
We carry on with the lecture on Media Market structures.
We will also discuss about media, society and audiences, and media production characteristics. Handouts will be circulated in class.

Announcement:
Test scheduled for 18th November

11th November
We discuss about media, society and audiences, and media production characteristics. Refer to handouts that were circulated in class last week.
Then, lecture on Introduction to Semiotics + Complementary notes
Article for reading: La Rhétorique de l’Image by Roland Barthes

18th November
Test is scheduled.
Presentations by all teams of visit to media outlet (+submission of report).
If we have some time, we will also look at some newspaper ads and use semiotic analysis to decode their content.

25th November
Normative Theories of Press

Here are the final marks for Continuous Assessment

Reminder:
CA count for 40%
Exams count for 40%
Students need to attain 30% minimum in CA and exams respectively with 40% overall marks minimum to pass the module.

Exam is scheduled for Thursday 4th December from 1.30 to 3.30 p.m. in room 1.2
Good Luck to all!

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An invaluable portal to theories & writings about communication in general:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/sections/gen.html