Key Cultural Issues in Media and Communication

Unit Code:HAM425

Credit Points	Duration	Contact Hours	Campus	Prerequisite	Corequisite
12.5 Credit Points	1 Semester	3 Hours per Week	Hawthorn	Nil	Nil

Related Course/s:

An elective unit of study in the Graduate Certificate of Arts (Applied Media), Graduate Diploma of Arts (Applied Media) and Master of Arts in Applied Media, Master of Arts (Communications) and Master of Multimedia (Honours).

NB: This unit will not be offered from 2008 onwards.

Aims & Objectives:

This unit of study aims to explore the cultural ramifications of the new information technologies which have become so integrated in contemporary post industrial societies. By placing emphasis on the social, political and cultural manifestations inherent in the application of new technologies, this unit aims to challenge widely accepted propositions put forward by both Technological Determinists and Utopians. Students will develop a deeper awareness of the ways in which new technologies in media and communication contributes to ongoing change in the workplace, in educational institutions, in the home and in our conception of leisure.

Teaching Methods:

Lectures and tutorials

Assessment:

Class presentation (20 minutes) 20%, Participation, Research Paper (3000 words) 80%

Content:

An Introduction into the world of the Virtual. Virtual Relationships, para-social relations, virtual reality and Reality TV.
Assessing the ideas and arguments presented in Peter Weir's The Truman Show.
The Future of Work: Surveillance and Privacy in the work place.
New Media coverage of the Political process, or How New Media continues to transform the political process in Australia.
Media Manipulations via cable and satellite. A Case Study of new media coverage of the September 11th Terrorist Attack on the US.
Pornography on the Internet. Dennis Altman's notion of 'Global Sex'.
New media representations of Medicine and Science. Critique on the role of the Internet.
New media and communications technologies and the future of Educational institutions, practices and pedagogy.
New media and communications technologies and the future of Leisure. Popular Music – Napster, Gambling – Nambling, video/computer games and organised sport.

Reading Materials:

Castells, M, The Power of Identity: The Information Age, Economy, Society and Culture vol. 2, Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
Mackay, H & O'Sullivan, T (eds), The Media Reader: Continuity and Transformation, Sage Publications, 1999.
Martin, HP & Schumann, H, The Global Trap: Globalisation and the Assault on Democracy and Prosperity, Pluto Press, 1997.
Rheingold, H, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, Addison Wesley, 1993.