Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2025 - CMNS 488 D100

Selected Topics in Communication (4)

Reimagining Data

Class Number: 3757

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 12 – Jun 20, 2025: Tue, Thu, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Prerequisites:

    Depends on topic; published before enrollment.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Intensive analysis of a particular topic in the general area of communication. This course can be repeated for credit up to a maximum of three times, if topic studied is different.

COURSE DETAILS:

Reimaging Data: Research as Method, Design & Craft

Research has long been thought through the narrow lens of methodology: sets of abstract rules for producing knowledge. As research practices become increasingly interdisciplinary and interconnected, the traditional methodological divisions that present data as the product of disciplinarily systematized, immaterial protocols have become untenable. This transformation has led researchers to recognise the value of engaging with the communities that generate and are affected by data, yet the range of methods and tools required to initiate and foster such engagements — what we call data fluencies — are often difficult to develop as part of student training. The goal of this course is to help participants unlearn methodology and invite them to become data fluent by reimagining research as an entanglement of methods, designs, and craft.

This course is for you if:

  • You are a senior undergraduate student working in CMNS who is interested in finding more engaging and fulfilling ways to share data with publics.
  • You are a senior undergraduate student working in CMNS who is interested in working with data in ways that remain accountable to the individuals and communities that generated them.
  • You are a senior undergraduate student in CMNS, seeking to better understand how creative practices constitute knowledge production.
This course will transform participants’ approach to research by shifting their understanding of data from one in which data are raw matter to be extracted, refined, and systematically studied, to one in which working with data become opportunities to compose social, material, and aesthetic problems.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

The course has three main objectives:

  1. Participants will be introduced to epistemological frameworks; [social justice] visions, ideas and schools of thought pertaining to the collection and analysis of data, their possibilities and limits, and related theoretical debates and politics.
  2. Participants will experiment with creative methods through which to engage these epistemological frameworks including charrette, exhibition, and visualization.
  3. Participants will have an opportunity to advance their own research agenda through creative encounters with data from their undergraduate work.

Grading

  • Annotated Portfolio 35%
  • Capstone Project 40%
  • Participation 25%

NOTES:

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relationship to established university-wide practices. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 with regard to Student Discipline. For further information visit: www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Please note, all course readings will be available online through our course canvas page.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.