Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A survey course which examines the problems, methods and theoretical assumptions in communication research using case studies of research design and methods. Students may design a research project and conduct a small pilot study in a selected area. Normally offered in the spring term and expected in the first year of graduate study.

COURSE DETAILS:

The course is designed as an in-depth examination of contemporary reality’s increasingly inextricable mediatization and to what extent theories and methodologies that align with social constructivism can provide insights into this condition. We will read a wide range of texts, both historical and contemporary, in order to understand how sociological, cultural, communication, and information perspectives theorize, research, and debate the social construction of communication technologies. The topics will cover a range of different technologies, from the mundane to the advanced, and especially consider the role of power, social inequality, agency, and difference. This course will also consider epistemological problematics that originate from sociological theory, such as the relationship of the individual to society and various levels of analysis (micro, meso, and macro) that will guide, whether explicitly or implicitly, your own inquiries. Technologies are indeed social and cultural and it is important to understand the political contexts and historical moments in which everyday people, social groups, organizations, and institutions shape technologies for self-expression and instrumental goals. Of particular interest will be how to research technological mediation without understanding it as somehow outside social reality. 

The key objectives of the seminars are:

1.         To familiarize participants with social construction as an ontological and epistemological orientation for the study of information and communication technologies.
2.         To give participants the opportunity to consider how other research traditions have critically questioned and/or adapted elements of social construction traditions for
            research onmedia and communication.

To review how phenomenological and anthropological methodologies are incorporated in this research paradigm.

Course Organization This course consists of a 3-hour seminar.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Attendance/Participation:   

This course covers a lot of ground in thirteen weeks and there is a lot of work to do together. First off (and so important), attendance is mandatory.
Making it to class and being present for the seminar is a large part of being successful in CMNS 815.
Second, group discussion is a central aspect of our daily class life, so please come prepared to talk about the readings and issues of the day.
Being a graduate seminar, it (almost) goes without saying that you need to read all the key readings for each week, and contribute meaningfully to the discussion.
You are encouraged to also have a look at the additional readings assigned for each week.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: