COMMUNICATIONS POLICY, ADVOCACY, AND MEDIA MARKET STRUCTURE (AN) {COMM}
L/R 110. (ANTH123) Communication & Culture. (C) Society Sector. All classes. Agha. The course looks at varieties of human expression - such as art, film, language-
as communicative practices that connect persons together to form a common culture. Discussion is centered around
particular case studies and ethnographicexamples. Examination of communicative practices in terms of the
types of expressive signs they employ, their capacity to formulate and transmit culturalbeliefs and ideals (such as
conceptions of politics, nature, and self), and to define the size and characteristics of groups and communities sharing such
ideals. Discussion of the role of media, social institutions, and technologies of communication (print, electronic).
Emphasis on contemporary communicative practices and the forms of culture that emerge in the modern world.
123. Communication and Popular Culture. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Sender. Popular culture has been variously dismissed as mere trivia, "just
entertainment;" it has been condemned as propaganda,
a tool of mass deception; and its consumers have
been dubbed fashion victims and couch potatoes. This
course considers these critiques, as well as those
that suggest that popular culture offers valuable
material for the study of social life. We will consider
the meanings and impact of popular culture, including
its effects on how we see ourselves, others, and
American life; who makes distinctions between high,
middlebrow, and low or mass culture; and how power
and resistance structure the production and consumption
of popular texts.
L/R 125. Introduction to Communication Behavior. (B) Society Sector. All classes. This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of communication behavior.
It focuses on social science studies relating to the processes and effects of mass communication. Research reviewed
includes media use behavior and media influences on knowledge, perceptions of social reality, aggressive behavior,
and political behavior.
130. Mass Media and Society. (A) Society Sector. All classes. Turow. How might we think about the legal, political, economic, historical, and "cultural" considerations
that shape what we watch on TV, read in books, stare at in billboards? What ideas are relevant
for examining the enormous changes in the mass media system and the consequences of those changes? The aim of this course
is to begin to answer these questions by acquainting you with the workings of American mass media as an
integral part of American society.
140. (CINE203) Film Forms and Contexts. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Messaris. Movies as a form of audio-visual communication: their formal language, their
relationship to other means of communication (music, stories, theater, pictures), their place in the media
industry, their role in culture.
SM 205. Values in Technology. (C) Chen. This seminar is premised on the understanding that technology, society,
law, and are in constant interplay, each reflecting,
shaping, and reacting to the other. Values are embedded
in the design choices of different technologies and
are translated into, and changed by, law and society.
In this class, we will integrate theories from law,
communication, ethics, sociology, media theory, science
and technology studies, and information science to
build a conceptual framework for considering technology
as a conduit for change. The The latter half of the
course will focus on case studies such as iTunes,
Wikipedia, and Facebook as a pivot point for discussing
digital rights management, First Amendment speech,
privacy, and reputation in an information age.
221. Media and Militarism. HORNER. This seminar focuses on the representation of organized, state-sponsored violence
in American popular media. Militarism, defined as "a political condition characterized by the predominance
of the military in government or a reliance on military force in political or diplomatic matters," has been
evaluated by historians and social theorists in a variety of contexts, for a range of purposes. In this class, we assess American
militarism through imagery and narrative in popular media from 1968 to the present.
225. Children and Media. (D) Jordan. This course examines children's relationship to media in its historic, economic,
political and social contexts. The class begins with an exploration of the ways in which "childhood" is created
and understood as a time of life that is qualitatively unique and socially constructed over time. It continues with a
review of various theories of child development as they inform children's relationship with and understanding of
television and other household media. It next reviews
public policies designed to empower parents and limit
children's exposure to potentially problematic media
content and simultaneously considers the economic
forces that shape what children see and buy. Children
and Media concludes with a critical examination of
research on the impact of media on children's physical,
cognitive, social and psychological development.
226. (PSCI232) Introduction to Political Communication. (C) Jamieson. This course is an introduction to the field of political communication, conceptual
approaches to analyzing communication in various forms, including advertising, speech making, campaign
debates, and candidates' and officeholders' uses of news. The focus of this course is on the interplay in the U.S.
between television and politics. The course includes a history of televised campaign practices from the 1952 presidential
contest through the election of 2004.
237. Health Communication. (M) Hornik/Staff. An examination of the influence of public health communication on health behavior.
The course will consider: intervention programs addressing behaviors related to cancer, cardiovascular
disease, HIV/AIDS, drug use, obesity and others; theories of health behavior change; issues in the design of effective
health communication programs; concerns about the portrayal of health and medicine on mass media.
241. (CINE241) Featurelength Motion Pic. (C) Prerequisite(s): COMM140 or COMM262. This course gives students the opportunity to participate in the production
of a feature-length fiction film. Students engage in all aspects of production, including: screenplay writing, production
design, cinematography, production sound, acting, and directing. The course is intended as a follow-up to COMM
140, Film Forms and Contexts, and COMM 262, Visual Communication. Students who have not taken either of those
courses should consult with the instructor before enrolling. COMM 241 is followed by COMM 242. Students may
enroll in either or both.
L/L 242. (CINE242) Feature-Length Motion-Picture Production Laboratory II. (C) Messaris. This course gives students the opportunity to participate in the
production of a feature-length fiction film. Students
engage in all aspects of production, including: screenplay
writing, production design, cinematography, production
sound, acting, and directing. The course is intended
as a follow-up to COMM241, Feature-Length Motion-Picture
Production Laboratory I.
262. (CINE204) Visual Communication. (C) Messaris. Examination of the structure and effects of visual media (film, television,
advertising, and other kinds of pictures).
275. Communication and Persuasion. (C) Cappella/Staff. Theory, research and application in the persuasive effects of communication
in social and mass contexts. Primary focus on the effects of messages on attitudes, opinions, values, and behaviors.
Applications include political, commercial, and public service advertising; propaganda; and communication campaigns
(e.g. anti-smoking).
SM 291. (CINE392, ENGL291) Internet Policy & Culture. (M)
299. Communications Internship. (D) Staff. Seminar for students concurrently participating in department-approved
internships in communication-related organizations.
Students will develop independent research agendas
to investigate aspects of their internship experience
or industry. Building on written field notes, assigned
readings, and classroom discussion and evaluation,
students will produce final papers using ethnographic methods to describe communications within
their site or industry in order to understand and
critically examine their hands-on experiences.
300. Public Space, Public Life. (C) Marvin/Staff. Public space as a communicative arena. Historical aspects, varieties of public
space, public space as a cultural signifier, how
public space facilitates or hinders common life,
public space as a component of democracy.
308. Communication Research with Children and Families: Ethical, Theoretical, & Methodological Issues. (M) Linebarger/Jordan. Prerequisite(s): COMM 225 or COMM 340. This course is designed
to explore the unique issues that arise for communications
researchers who work with children. We begin by
considering the role of theory in designing research
by providing examples of theoretical paradigms
that shape research programs (e.g., developmental
theory, critical theory, ecological theory). We
next review the major methodological approaches
communications researchers in this field use, including
lab and field experiments, surveys and interviews,
naturalistic and ethnographic research and secondary
data analysis. We examine the variety of contexts
in which such research is employed (e.g., audience
research, market research, and social research)
and consider the unique ethical issues and protective mechanisms in place. The course culminates
in group-based, supervised research wherein students
have an opportunity to design and implement a child-focused
study.
SM 312. The Politics of Immigration in Europe. (C) YILMAZ. Immigration has always been a part of European and world history, but
the recent 'wave' of immigration since the early
1960s, in both academic and vernacular discourse
(including popular culture and the media ), is attributed
a particular significance as the greatest transformation
of European societies. The recent 'wave' is generally
understood in cultural and religious terms, putting
in focus the question of cultural and national identity
as the main concern. Islam and the Middle East has
thus moved into the center of immigration debate,
which in turn is at the center of political discourse.
The result is the culturalization of the entire political
debate. We will first explore how immigration was
conceptualized in different historical periods and
the relationship between immigration debate and political
discourse of particular historical contexts. We will
then analyze how the recent wave of immigration is
conceptualized and policed. In this context, we will
discuss how the conceptualization was related to
the transformation of the political system and the
emergence of the extreme right in Western Europe.
We will take up examples from academic research on
immigration and culture, the coverage of immigration
in the media, and the way Europeans talk about immigration
We will first explore how immigration was conceptualized in different historical
periods and the relationship between immigration
debate and political discourse of particular historical
contexts. We will then analyze how the recent wave
of immigration is conceptualized and policed. In
this context, we will discuss how the conceptualization
was related to the transformation of the political
system and the emergence of the extreme right in
Western Europe. We will take up examples from academic
research on immigration and culture, the coverage
of immigration in the media, and the way Europeans
talk about immigration in everyday settings. Through
this type of analysis, we will explore how immigrants
have become a culturalized and religious category
rather than a labor/class issue as in the past.
We will also relate the immigration debate in Europe to larger debates on the "West-Islam" divide
(for example: clash of cultures alliance of civilizations), "the
War on Terror," citizenship and democratic participation,
gender equality, freedom of speech and other relevant
current issues and debates.
SM 322. History and Theory of Freedom of Expression. (C) Marvin. Origins, purpose, theory, practice of freedom of expression in the
West. Philosophical roots of contemporary debates
about expressive limits, especially problems associated
with mass communication. Major topics may include
but are not limited to sexual expression, violence,
hate speech, traitorous and subversive speech, non-verbal
expression, artistic expression, privacy.
SM 323. Contemporary Politics, Policy and Journalism. (B) Hunt. "Contemporary Politics, Policy and Journalism" is a course
on the modern media and its impact on government
and politics. It primarily covers the post-Watergate/post-Vietnam
era of journalism, the past quarter century. We will
focus each week on specific topics and areas of post-Watergate
journalism as enumerated below. In weeks we do not
have guest lecturers, the first half of class will
concern the assigned readings and the second half
of class will talk about current press coverage of
national events over the prior week. In addition
to assigned readings, students are required to stay
informed about major national news stories and to
follow coverage of them in the national media outlets.
An important objective of this course is to afford
students the opportunity to interact and discuss
the intersection of the press, politics and public
policy with some of the leading practitioners in
the field, people who work in the "media environment" created
by the national press.
330. Advertising and Society. (M) Turow. This course will explore the historical and contemporary role of the advertising
industry in the U.S. media system. Readings will include social histories of advertising, economic examinations
of advertising's role in society, and critical analyses of the ad industry's power over the media.
SM 336. Local News Media and Urban Policy. (M) Kaniss. This course will examine the nature of local news in the 21st century
and the the ways in which local news coverage influences
urban policies, the actions of local officials, and
the image of the city. The course will begin with
an examination of how economic forces influence local
news coverage in particular, the importance of political
geography. We will look at how suburbanization and
the rise of local television newscasts affected metropolitan
newspapers in the 20th century, and how the more
recent emergence of the Internet now affects what
is considered "local news." The class will
also consider innovations in local news, including
citizen journalism and "hyperlocalism," ," blogs
and free dailies targeted to youth. At the same time,
the course will examine the changing professional
values and "standard operating procedures" of
local journalists in the face of new competition.
We will also consider how local news is influenced
by the media strategies of local public officials,
and how these local officials-in particular, big-city
mayors-play a role in the local news media's fortunes.
339. Critical Perspectives in Journalism. (M) Zelizer/Delli Carpini. This course aims to provide students with a critical
understanding of journalism. It combines theoretical
perspectives on the making of news with primary source
material produced by and about journalists. Students
will analyze theoretical material on journalism --
about how news is made, shaped, and performed --
alongside articles and broadcasts appearing in the
media, interviews with journalists in the trade press,
and professional reviews. Topics include models of journalistic practice, journalistic values and norms, gatekeeping
and sourcing practices, storytelling formats in news,
and ethical problems related to misrepresentation,
plagiarism, and celebrity.
SM 340. Basic Communication Research. (A) Hennessy. This course is a general overview of the important components of
social research. The first third of the semester
presents a conceptual basis for assessing research
quality based on the four "types of validity." We
also cover the standard elements of research design
including sampling, measurement, and causal inference.
These concepts are then illustrated through reviews
of four research areas: surveys and field studies,
qualitative/ethnographic studies, content analysis,
and policy/evaluation studies. The last third of
the semester focuses more on descriptive and inferential
statistics, measures of association for categorical
and continuous variables, and the language of data
analysis. For these classes, we make use of SMALL
STATA, a PC program useful for learning statistics.
Most modules are illustrated through class exercises
based on published articles, this year focusing on
the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Program.
This course fulfills the undergraduate quantitative
requirement.
362. Visual Communication Lab. (M) Messaris. Prerequisite(s): COMM 262. Follow-up to Comm 262, Visual Communication. The laboratory provides an opportunity
for students to explore through actual media production many of the conceptual principles and research
findings discussed in Comm 262 and other communication courses. Permission of instructor required for enrollment.
SM 374. (PSCI374) Communication and Congress. (M) Felzenberg. This course will examine how Congress goes about the business of
translating the public's concerns into legislation
and keeps the public informed of its progress. It
will examine how the two chambers interact in this
process, what role the media plays in shaping Congress's
agenda and vice versa, and what impact the advent
of 24 hour news, C-SPAN and the internet have had
on Congressional deliberations. A historical approach
will be taken in considering the evolution of both
chambers and the media's coverage of them. Students
will examine differences between the House and Senate
in both their institutional development and how they
go about communicating with each other, the general
public, and the other branches and levels of government.
SM 375. Communications and Emergency Response. Felzenberg. A series of unforeseen and unprecedented emergencies in recent
years have posed steep challenges to private businesses,
non-profit institutions, and local,state and federal
government. Terrorist attacks, natural disasters,
hurricanes, financial collapse and other crises have
posed unique communications challenges to people
in positions of authority. Increasingly, they have
had to implement plans, make announcements, and order
evacuations, often on short notice, and strategies
that have minimized damage and enhanced the security
of the greatest number of people as well as those
that have not. On occasion, guests, who have had
been on the front lines in emergency situations will
appear in class to enhance students appreciate of
the extent of these challenges and to share their
ideas as to how they might best be handled. Readings
will focus on case studies of historical and contemporary
emergency situations and how policy makers addressed
them.
SM 393. (CINE393, ENGL295) Chinese and US Persp.
SM 395. Communication and the Presidency. (D) Eisenhower. This course will examine the vital aspect of communication as a tool of the
modern Presidency. Reading and class discussions will focus on case studies drawn from modern Presidential administrations
(beginning with FDR) that demonstrate the elements of successful and unsuccessful Presidential initiatives
and the critical factor of communication, common to both. This course is also an introduction to primary
research methods and to the use of primary research materials in the Presidential Library system. Applications
for course available in the Undergraduate Office. Preference given to ComPS students. Majors only.
SM 396. Media Events. (C) Katz. Live broadcasts of historic events - contests, conquests, and coronations -
constitute a new form of ceremonial politics whereby television joins the establishment and audience to declare a holiday.
The course will analyze this genre - its diffusion, politics, aesthetics, ethnography, and effects.
SM 398. Special Topics in Communication. (D) Staff.
399. Independent Study. (D) Staff. Prerequisite(s): Written proposal signed and approved by faculty supervisor.
The independent study offers the self-motivated student
an opportunity for a tailored, academically rigorous,
semester-long investigation into a topic of the student's
choice with faculty supervision. Its structure and
purpose is different from the internship experience.
Students must also complete and file a designated
form, approved and signed by the supervising faculty
member and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies,
which includes a topic proposal. This form must be received in the Undergraduate Office during the Add period of the
semester during which the independent study will
be conducted.
SM 405. Facing Race: Race and Caricature in the Historical Imagination. (C) Pearl. Is race imaginary? If so, who invented facial distinctions and why can
we see them? Do pictures change the way we think?
How do artists think about the people they draw and
satirize? This course will explore the relationship
between caricature and perceptions of racial difference
in modern western culture. We will interrogate the
role that visual images play in framing our perceptions
of groups and their defining characteristics. Broadly
historical, this interdisciplinary course will introduce
students to scholarship in visual culture, media
studies, science studies, and race theory. Students
will develop skills in primary source analysis, historical
methodology, and visual analysis. Assignments will
include a visual analysis, 4 short papers, and a
final exam.
SM 408. Children and Media: Cognitive Development. (M) Linebarger. Prerequisite(s): COMM 125 and COMM 225. This seminar is designed to investigate the relationships between
children's cognitive development and their use of
media (i.e., television, computers, the Internet,
video games, electronic toys). We will examine normal
patterns of children's thinking and how these patterns
are situated in children's lives (e.g., contextual
factors that mediate cognitive functioning). Then,
students will apply these concepts to understand
both the creation of and the effects associated with
media.
SM 410. (SOCI409) New Media and Community Life. (C) Hampton. Prerequisite(s): COMM 125 or COMM 130. This upper level course provides an overview of recent research on the social
implications of new media. The focus is on how recent
technological innovations, including personal computing,
the Internet and mobile phones may be changing the
way we interact with each other, our environments
and those around us. This seminar takes students
beyond the basic questions of "are virtual communities
real communities?" and "does the Internet
destroy or save community?" to an in- depth
discussion of how networks of community relations
are maintained and transformed on and offline as
a result of new media. The course is based around
the argument that computer networks are inherently
social networks, linking people, organizations and
communities. This subject is heavily weighted towards
the evaluation of empirical studies, the use of social
network analysis, and studies that address sociological
research questions. Students will learn to critically examine the impact of new media
on society through in-depth seminars and independent
research.
SM 413. The Role of Public Opinion in Leadership Decisions. (C) Hart. This course endeavors to explore the myriad uses of public opinion in
leadership and decision making. In it, we will examine
what public opinion research is, how it is conducted,
and how it is subsequently utilized in a wide range
of contexts, both public and private. We will use
numerous actual case studies involving public opinion
in political campaigns, constituency organizing,
crisis management, and a variety of other contexts
to provide an inside view of how opinion research
is actually conducted and used. We will consider
such questions as: How does an incumbent politician
formulate strategy and successfully communicate message
in the midst of a dirty politics/decidedly anti-incumbent
Senatorial campaign? What would you do if you were
Governor and your roads and highways needed improvements,
but the public opposed a new gas tax? If you were
a CEO of a large company and you had safety concerns
about some of your products, how would you balance
your corporate image and reputation against the independence
from government influence?
SM 418. Nothing New Under the Heavens: The History of 'Old Media'. (A) In this course, we will explore the history of media innovations and revolutions
in the Western world. Following a brief look at early
cave writing and papyrus, we move to early modern
developments in print-making. We will analyze different
methods of image reproduction, focusing in particular
on the printing press and its social and cultural
impact. We will discuss the implications of the printing
press for literacy, political life, democracy, the
post, and visual culture. We track track changes
in print culture through the nineteenth century,
thinking about the relationship between the explosion
in printed material and the development of the middle
class. We will connect changes in print culture to
early photography, film, and radio, thinking about
how this history created the conditions of possibility
for "new media." In this class, we search
for continuities that will help us frame current
debates and scholarship on new media and its implications.
SM 439. Media Criticism. (M) Zelizer. Criticism has at its core an assumption of judgment about the target or performance
being evaluated. Yet whose judgment is being articulated? On which basis and authority? To which ends?
And with which effects? This course examines the shape of contemporary media criticism, focusing on its meaning
function in different domains of popular culture (including music, television, news, and film) and the patterns by which
it is produced. Students will become acquainted with theories and ongoing debates about contemporary media criticism
themselves. The course aims to sensitize students to the nuances of their own consumption of criticism and
patterns by which it is typically produced.
SM 462. Visual Communication and Social Advocacy. (M) Messaris. Prerequisite(s): COMM 262. This course examines the uses of visual media in campaigns for various social
causes. Students choose their own areas of interest, conduct relevant background research, and design a project based
on that research. The course uses a seminar format, and class size is limited to fifteen students.
495. COMPS Capstone Thesis. (D) Staff. Prerequisite(s): Written proposal approved by both thesis supervisor
and major chair. Offered for credit in the senior year, the capstone thesis is the
project goal for all Communication & Public Service
Program participants. Students choose the topic of
the capstone thesis from a range of public policy/public
service issues. Research may involve funded travel
to selected archives or fieldwork sites. For students
graduating with a 3.5 cumulative GPA, the capstone
project may be designated as a senior honors thesis
in public service.
SM 496. (SOCI430) Leisure, Communication and Culture. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Katz. Ever since God created the six-day work week, humans have
been trying to decide how to use leisure. This course
focuses on the allocation of time among different
social functions, with particular reference to the
idea that culture and communication may be considered
the content of leisure. Readings range from empirical
studies of "time budgets," to studies of
the production and consumption of the arts, entertainment,
holidays and tourism. "Culture policy," especially
the role of government in the arts, will be considered
comparatively and historically.
499. Senior Honors Thesis. (D) Staff. Prerequisite(s): Written proposal approved by both thesis supervisor
and major chair. The senior honors thesis provides a capstone intellectual experience
for students who have demonstrated academic achievement
of a superior level. Students should consult with
and arrange for a supervisor from the standing faculty
no later then the middle of the term that precedes
the honors thesis. Students must file a designated
form, approved and signed by the supervising faculty
member and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies,
which includes a topic proposal. This form must be
received by the Undergraduate Office no later than
the last day of classes in the semester that precedes
the thesis.
SM 805. (PSCI805) Analyzing Data from the 2008 NAES Internet Panel. (C) MUTZ & JOHNSTON. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This grad-level seminar will lead graduate students
through the process of generating research questions
that can be answered using the 2008 NAES internet-based
panel survey data. Students will be expected to generate
research questions appropriate to these data, provide
a comprehensive review of related literature and
how their study will advance knowledge, use appropriate
research methods and statistical analyses to address
their questions, and draw appropriate conclusions.
Emphases will be on learning from one another's experiences
in the seminar in anto improve students' abilities
to frame appropriate research questions, select appropriate
statistical training, but less senior students may
also find it constructive as an opportunity to get
their feet wet in real world data. Please consult
the instructors with questions or concerns about
the appropriateness of the course.
SM 806. (GSOC806) Gender, Globalization and Media. This seminar creates a forum for debate over the ways in which the cultural
politics of gender structure the historical, economic
and social landscapes of media globalization Media
culture, as the course readings seek to show, provides
a fertile site to examine how globalized media practices
articulate gendered imaginations. Adopting a transnational
feminist perspective, the seminar specifically address
between and among media technologies, representations,
and institutions and the complex scripting of gendered
meanings and subject positions in multiple locations
in the global public sphere. Course topics include
globalization and transnational and postcolonial
feminist theories; gender, sexuality, and media;
gender and labor in globalized media industries;
femininity, consumerism, and global advertising;
gender, global media, and morality; tourism, gender,
and media economies; and gender, religion, and popular
culture. For the major assignment, students will
be expected to produce a research paper that focuses
on one of the following: a critical review of a set
of theories or a body of empirical work in a specific
region; textual analysis of media with special attention
to influences of globalization; political-economic
analysis of media institutions and corporate practices.
SM 807. The Consuming Self: From Flappers to Facebook. (C) This course will explore a set of overlapping claims that a distinctive model
selfhood emerged in early twentieth-century American
consumer culture. We will sort through a rich literature,
mostly outside communication studies, that locates
a "performing" self in the midst of all
the billboards and department stores. Taken as a
whole, the literature points to a new modal self
concerned with the conscious staging of an attractive
personality, bound up in the rise of advertising
and the consumer economy. The authors under discussion--including
Thorstein Veblen, Philip Rieff, Warren Susman, David
Riesman, Erving Goffman, Daniel Bell, Raymond Williams,
Jackson Lears, Roland Marchand and Axel Honneth--differ
in crucial respects on the nature of this new self,
its sources and its consequences. Our task will be
to make sense of the competing claims, but also to
identify points of overlap. A major theme early in
the semester will be the experience of dislocation,
anonymity and sped-up living that accompanied major
social change in the decades around the turn of the
century. We will focus on the personal and social
adaptations to this experience, reflected in but
also driven by advertising-driven consumption. A
major question the course will pose in its concluding
weeks: Do popular uses of new social media like Facebook
and Twitter
Our task will be to make sense of the the competing claims, but also to identify
points of overlap. A major theme early in the semester
will be the experience of dislocation, anonymity
and sped-up living that accompanied major social
change in the decades around the turn of the century.
We will focus on the personal and social adaptations
to this experience, reflected in but also driven
by advertising-driven consumption. A major question
the course will pose in its concluding weeks: Do
popular uses of new social media like Facebook and
Twitter --including status updates and other kinds
of managed self-disclosure--represent an intensification
of the performing self?
SM 813. Historical and Visual Culture Methodology. (A) Pearl. This methodology class will examine different historiographical and
visual approaches, particularly as they relate to
the study of communication. Students will be guided
through archival research skills, working extensively
with primary sources in their final projects. Each
week will feature a different "research question" that
will require archival exploration to answer, and
the readings will relate to different ways to approach
the question. The second half of the course will
be devoted to developing and workshopping final projects.
SM 831. The Beautiful People?. (C) Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution.
Graduate Courses
500. Proseminar. (A) Staff. Introduction to the field of communications study and to the graduate program
in communications. Required of all degree candidates. Open only to graduate students in communication.
522. Introduction to Communication Research. (A) Hornik/Price, V. The logic of scientific inquiry and the nature of research. Problem-oriented
approach to research design, field and laboratory observation and experimentation, sampling, systematization of observation,
instrument construction, interviewing and content analysis, and basic statistical analysis. Required
of all degree candidates. Open only to graduate communication students.
SM 523. Field Methods in Communication Research. (M) Sender. This course is designed to introduce graduate students in the social
sciences to ethnography as a formal research method,
drawing on case studies, "how to" materials,
and writings from a variety of disciplines. We will
focus on the theory, logic, and practice of fieldwork,
specific methodological and ethical issues associated
with studying people at first-hand, and current debates
about what constitutes the bounds and limits of the
ethnographic enterprise more generally. This course
presumes some introductory undergraduate training
in qualitative methods.
524. Introduction to Statistical Analysis. (C) Hennessy. This course is designed for students with no previous statistical experience
or past courses. It starts with descriptive statistics, graphs, and plots, covers probability and confidence intervals,
and ends up with bivariate regression and measures of association for tables. The course is "hands-on" using
Stata, a personal computer program. Politics and the Media. (M) Delli Carpini. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. An examination of theory and research regarding the role of mass communication
in the political process. Topics will include: the development of the field; the role of communication in campaigns
and elections; the impact ofcommunication on alternative forms of civic and political engagement; the role
of communication in the policy-making process; new media and the political process; and issues of media regulation.
530. Advertising and Society. (M) Turow. Fulfills ASC Institutions Distribution. Advertising and Society will explore the development of the advertising industry
in the U.S., the relationship between the advertising industry and the U.S. mass media, and historical as well as
contemporary discussions of advertising's social and cultural roles.
SM 539. Journalism and the Academy. (M) Zelizer. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Contemporary journalism remains
one of the most studied yet unexplained agents of
reality construction. This course tracks theories
of journalism across academic disciplines, exploring
what is common and disparate about the varied perspectives
they invoke. Topics include the development of journalism
as a field of academic inquiry, histories of news,
organizational research on the newsroom, narrative
and discourse analytic work on news-texts, and recent
work in cultural studies.
SM 545. Children and Media. (C) Linebarger. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This course will explore the
nature of television and new technologies and investigate
how these technologies influence children and families.
Course content will be approached from both an industry
perspective as well as a social scientific perspective.
That is, we will explore the child audience as present
consumers, as influencers of purchasing decisions,
and as future consumers. We will examine how marketers
target the child audience. From a researcher's perspective,
we will examine the history of children's media use,
the effects of television on children, children's
cognitive and emotional interactions with television,
and the design of educational TV programs and media
products. Current social policy concerns will also
be addressed.
SM 550. Mass Media Industries. (M) Turow. Fulfills ASC Institutions Requirement. Through theoretical readings
and case studies, this course will provide an introduction
to the study of media institutions from the standpoint
of business processes, legal frameworks, and public
policies. The first part of the course will sketch
the history of major US media and present conceptual
frameworks for understanding industrial, legal and
policy approaches to US media institutions. Part
2 will explore key contemporary industrial, legal
and policy issues relating to particular US media
industries. Part 3 of the course will use case studies
to apply and deepen understanding of the frameworks
and issues.
SM 555. Social Networks. (M) Hampton. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This course is a non-mathematical
introduction to the social network perspective. The
social network approach is the study of the relations
linking persons, organizations, interest groups,
states, etc. Network analysis examines how the structure
of social relations allocates resources, constrains
behavior, and channels social change. Participants
in this course will discuss the application of classical
and contemporary theories and methods of network
analysis to sociological questions. Topics include
community, social capital, the flow of information
and resources, and computer networks as social networks.
562. Fundamentals of Visual Communication. (B) Messaris. Fulfills ASC Culture or Influence Distribution. Introduction to the study of picture-based media: film, television, web, print,
and other images. Theory and research on visual culture,
visual "literacy," and visual persuasion.
SM 566. New Media and Society. (M) Hampton. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This seminar provides an overview of recent research on how "new media," such
as the Internet and mobile phones, influence community, social relationships, and public and private spaces. This
subject is heavily weighted towards the evaluation of empirical work, the study of social networks, and research that
address sociological research questions. Examples of questions that will be explored in this course include: Will new
media replace existing forms of communication, such as face-to-face and telephone contact? Does the use of mobile
information and communication technologies (ICTs) increase privatism? Are people cut off from their social
networks as a result of in-home computer and Internet use? Will public participation and civil society atrophy as a result
of new media use?
575. Social Psychology of Communication. (A) Cappella. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. Contributions of social psychology
to understanding communication social cognition;
persuasive communications; attitude formation and
change; face-to-face interactions and small group
situations; strategies of attributional and communicative interpretation; mass communication
effects; social influence and networks.
SM 576. (PSCI576) Communication & Public Opinion. (C) Price, V. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. An exploration of enduring research
questions concerning mass communication and American
public opinion. The course introduces students to
the literature on public opinion, with a focus on
the role of communication in public opinion formation
and change. Important normative, conceptual and theoretical
issues are identified and examined by reviewing some
early writings (ca. 1890-1930) in social philosophy
and social science. These issues are then investigated further through a review and discussion of relevant research in
sociology, political science, social psychology and
mass communication.
SM 577. (PSYC774) Attitude and Behavioral Prediction. (C) Fishbein. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. An introduction to the concept
of attitude and its role in behavioral prediction.
The course will cover standardized attitude measurement
instruments (e.g., Thurstone, Likert, Guttman and
Semantic Differential Scales), expectancy-value models,
psychological or individual-level theories of behavior
and behavior change, and will consider the implications
of attitude theory and measurement for developing
effective behavior change communications.
580. Cybernetics, Systems and Media. (M) Krippendorff/Staff. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. An introduction to cybernetics,
systems, information, and complexity theory, whose
concepts are fueling the present information revolution.
The course develops the formal building blocks for
constructing operational models of communication
and complex systems, whether these concern causal,
cognitive, or social phenomena, and whether these
are mathematical, computational, or conceptual in
nature. The course embraces theories of human interfaces
with technology: cyborg, information, coordination,
and autopoiesis; and involves second-order cybernetic
concepts, which offer a reflexive approach to understanding. The interdisciplinary scope of
the course invites students from fields other than
communication to draw on knowledge from their own
backgrounds.
SM 602. Media Ritual. (M) Marvin. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Examines the relationship between ritual, a 'traditional' and essential mode
of group communication and the pervasive media environment of post-traditional society. While societies seem eager to
ritualize with all media at their disposal, the historical innovation of mass mediated ritual appears to offer a significant
challenge to the body-based social connectedness that has long been regarded as definitive for ritual communication.
Students will read from religious, anthropological and media traditions of ritual scholarship to consider what
rituals do, how they do it, how they can be said to succeed or fail and how mediated ritual modifies or transforms older
systems of ritual communication.
SM 608. Children & Media: Cognitive Development. (M) Linebarger. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This course is designed to investigate the relationships between children's
cognitive development and their use of media (i.e., television, computers, the Internet, video games, electronic toys,
museums, and books). We will examine normal patterns of children's thinking and how these patterns are situated in
children's lives (e.g., contextual factors that mediate cognitive functioning). Cognitive development will be examined via both
basic functions (i.e., attention, comprehension, representation, memory, problem-solving) and applied functions
(i.e., literacy, language, numeracy). Within each topical area, various contextual factors will be explored including
gender, people (e.g., parents, peers, caregivers/teachers), and perceptions.
SM 619. (CINE619) The Politics and Practices of Representation. Sender. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. This course engages with the following question from both theoretical and practical
perspectives: Who says what about whom, under what circumstances, in which medium, with what effects? We will
spend the first two thirds of the semester investigating different approaches to this question, looking at insider
accounts, processes of othering, realism and other narrative conventions, the ethics of consent, "objective" and "biased" shooting
techniques, the politics of editing, the role of the intended audience in the production of a work, and
so on. We will simultaneously cover the technical aspects of production that will enable you to produce digital video
projects: shooting (Canon GL1s), lighting, sound, editing (Final Cut Pro on Mac), graphics, music, and so on. During the
final third of the semester all students will produce short (5-10 minute) documentary and/or experimental digital videos.
SM 622. (COML797) Communicating Memory. (M) Marvin/Zelizer. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. This course considers the theoretical and empirical literature concerning the
construction of social memory in relation to media products and processes. Students will undertake individual research
projects investigating memory constructions in professional media routines and through ritual processes of
group maintenance.
SM 623. Health Psychology Seminar. (M) Jemmott. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. Seminar members shall critically review current applications of psychosocial
theory and methodology to health-related issues with the goal of suggesting new directions that research might take.
Preventive health behavior, HIV risk- associated behavior, psychosocial factors and physical health, practitioner-patient
interactions, patterns of utilization of health services, and compliance with medical regimens are among the topics that
will be studied.
624. Applied Regression Analysis. (M) Hennessy. This course focuses on the use of regression analysis and other related
statistical methods that are appropriate when experimental
control is low or nonexistent. The main purposes
of the course are: to convey complete familiarity
with regression techniques to enable students to understand the application of regression
in communication research literature, to be able
to apply these procedures at the most advanced level
properly in their own research, to be able to diagnose when violations of regression assumptions are present in data and correct
for these conditions, and to lay the foundations
for more advanced studies in categorical data analysis
(e.g. binary and multinominal logit and probit) and
structural equations modeling (SEM). The course assumes
knowledge of introductory statistics through summary
statistics, confidence intervals, t-tests, F tests,
scatter diagrams, and the logic of statistical association.
The course begins with a detailed review of bivariate
regression. Students can use either STATA or SPSS
to analyze artificial and actual data sets. However,
there are some procedures and tests that are not
available in SPSS, so if you are indifferent to thechoice
between the two, use STATA.
SM 628. (SOCI629) Sociology of Mass Communications. (A) Wright. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. Mass communications viewed from
sociological perspective. An examination of the sociology
of the communicator, audience, content, effects,
communication as a social process, linkage between
personal and mass communication.
SM 630. Historical Trends of Mass Communication Research. (M) Turow. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. An introduction into the field of mass communication research covering classic
studies from the late 19th century through 1970s. Emphasis is on the societal, organizational, political, and other
considerations that shaped the field.
SM 631. (PSCI731) Public Opinion and Elections. (M) Johnston. This is a readings course on the mainstream of research about elections and
public opinion. The focus tends to be on material originating in and concerned with the United States, but due attention
is paid to classic work from or on onther countries, and the propositions are meant to be quite general. Historical, social,
or institutional context intrude mainly as they are necessary to test or condition otherwise general propositions. The
books and articles occupy the theoretical or empirical high ground and constitute a sort of canon. Topics include the
key early voting studies, success or failure in the export of those early ideas, the rational choice incursion into electoral
studies, the multifaceted debates over the quality of democratic choice, the foundations of opinion as expressed in survey
responses, communications factors and campaign dynamics, and the current state of the field.
SM 632. Conceptualizing Media Effects. (C) Katz. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. The course is a critical review of the major theories of mass communication
extracting from each its conception of the audience, the text, and especially the nature of effect. Conceptions of effect
are shown to range from short-run change of opinion and attitudes ("what to think") to proposals that the media
offer tools "with which to think" (gratifications research; cultural studies), "when to think" (diffusion research), "what
to think about" (agenda setting), "how
to think" (technological theories), "what not to think" (critical theories), "what
to feel" (psychoanalytic theories), and "with whom to think" (sociological theories). Students study the key texts of
each theoretical approach, and reappraise the field in the light of new concepts and new evidence.
SM 633. Consumer Culture. (M) Sender. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Why do we consume? What is consumption for? By exploring a range of theoretical
and empirical approaches to consumer culture, this course investigates the contexts and effects of consumption
on social participation, identities, and communities. In addition to looking at existing studies of consumer culture,
students complete a modest, originally-conceived research project.
637. Public Health Communication. (B) Hornik. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. Theories of health behavior change
and the potential role for public health communication;
international experience with programs addressing
behaviors related to cancer, AIDS, obesity, cardiovascular
disease, child mortality, drug use and other problems, including evidence about their influence on health behavior;
the design of public health communication programs;
approaches to research and evaluation for these programs.
SM 639. (COML639, FOLK639) Issues In Cultural Studies. (M) Zelizer. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. This course tracks the different
theoretical appropriations of "culture" and
examines how the meanings we attach to it depend
on the perspectives through which we define it. The
course first addresses perspectives on culture suggested
by anthropology, sociology, communication, and aesthetics,
and then considers the tensions across academic disciplines
that have produced what is commonly known as "cultural
studies." The course is predicated on the importance
of becoming cultural critics versed in alternative
ways of naming cultural problems, issues, and texts.
The course aims not to lend closure to competing
notions of culture but to illustrate the diversity
suggested by different approaches.
640. Analysis of Data in Large-Sample Communication Research. (I) Hornik. Prerequisite(s): COMM 522 and 524, or the equivalents. Statement of measurement and substantive models, and strategies for examining
the fit of data to those models. Examples and data are drawn from the media effects literature. Application of
data reduction procedures, contingency table analysis, and correlational approaches including regression and structural
equation models.
SM 642. Diffusion of Innovation. (M) Katz. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. How things (and ideas) spread, with special reference to the linkages between
media and interpersonal networks Classic writings (Tarde, Sorokin, Simmel) on diffusion processes will be reviewed
in the light of contemporary research. A variety of case studies originating in different disciplines will
be compared.
SM 644. Communication and Space. (M) Marvin. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Physicalized space is said to be crucial to public life. Perhaps so. But it
is also critical to urbanization, globalization, modernity, mobility, social hierarchy, flow, scale, imperialism (what Said called
the geography of violence), revolution, intimacy, shopping malls, simulacra, and being-in-the-world. Space
is not only mediated and dialectical; it is a privileged strategy of post-modernity, "the everywhere of modern thought." So
far as media go, the analytic of space implies a shift away from narrative and toward process and practice as
ways of structuring experience. What are the theories that get at this? How can we use theories of space to think about
media and culture, to rediscover the richness of the world? And what about the explosive iteration of screen culture
that logically ought to imperil lived space but seem to offer new modes for grounding it. We will explore these themes
in the relevant literatures for the purpose of developing fabulously interesting research projets, including some
in visual format. No spatial prerequisites.
SM 645. Children & the Media: Evaluation Techniques. (M) Linebarger. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. We will explore a variety of evaluation methods used in children's media research
including formative evaluation, summative evaluation, and usability/appeal studies. Time will also be spent
discussing the special challenges associated with conducting research with children. Students will develop formative
and summative research plans based on a media product of their choosing. We will also attempt some pilot
data collection to solidify your research plans. As part of the course, students will help develop additional course materials
for each topic.
SM 660. Content Analysis. (M) Krippendorff. An introduction to content analysis, the analysis of large bodies of textual
matter, also called message systems analysis, quantitative semantics, propaganda analysis, and (computer-aided) text analysis.
The course inquires into the theories, methods, and empirical problems common to these analytical efforts: sampling,
text retrieval, coding, reliability, analytical constructs, computational techniques, and abductive inference. It
illustrates these problems by studies of mass media content, interview or panel data, legal research, and efforts to
draw inferences from personal documents typical in psychology and literature. Students design a content analysis and
do the preparatory work for an academic or practical research project. They may also use the opportunity of forging available
theories into a new analytical technique and test it with available texts, or solve a methodological problem
in content analysis research.
SM 662. Research in Visual Communication. (M) Messaris. Prerequisite(s): COMM 562 or permission of instructor. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Research on the structure and effects of visual media. Movies, video, the web,
photography, etc., as objects of analysis and as research tools. Students design and carry out their own projects.
SM 666. Communication and Taboo. (C) Marvin. Taboo considered as refusing various possibilities for cultural communication
and practice. How the forbidden is conveyed, consented to, imposed or challenged by situated participants. Topics
may include taboo aspects of identity, politics, speech, art, religion, food and bodily practice. Students may choose
from a variety of topics for individual investigation.
SM 675. Message Effects. (M) Cappella. Prerequisite(s): COMM 575. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. Current research, theory and statistical methods for assessing the effects of
messages. Specific focus on messages designed to have a persuasive effect on attitudes, beliefs, opinions, or behaviors.
Experimental and non-experimental research from mass and interpersonal communication, health, social psychology,
advertising, political science and journalism will be considered. Unintended effects--such as the consequences
of violent pornography--are not considered.
699. Advanced Project in a Medium. (C) Staff. Proposal written in specified form and approved by both the student's project
supervisor and academic advisor must be submitted
with registration. Open only to graduate degree candidates
in communication.
SM 703. (LAW 914, PSCI703) International Communication: Power and Flow. (C) Price, M./Katz. Fulfills ASC Institutions Distribution. This course will address old and new patterns of communications flow across
national and societal borders, taking account of media technologies, mutual perceptions, rhetorical forms, and the
balance of power and influence in a globalizing world.
SM 704. Canonic Texts. (C) Katz. Fulfills ASC Influence or Culture Distribution. Canonic Texts in Media Research: Are there any? Should there be? How about these?
Reading for this course centers on 13 essays, each of which nominates a text for "canonization." This
course will deal with (1) the original texts and their critiques, (2) the schools which the texts represent, and (3) the debate
over canonizing texts in social science.
SM 709. (LAW 903) Media and Sovereignty: Comparative Approaches to Regulation of
the Media. (M)Price, M. Fulfills ASC Institutions Distribution. This course examines the idea
of "models" of media regulation. We look
at varying techniques and contexts for shaping media
policy. One focus will be on transformations of public
service broadcasting. Another will be on media in
conflict zones. Another theme will be state responses
to the permeability of the Internet (and other new
technologies). Depending on various research activities,
there may be a focus on media reform in the Arab
Middle East. We'll use my book, Media and Sovereignty,
published by MIT in 2003 and materials produced by
BBC Monitoring World Media.
SM 726. (PSCI726) Seminar in Political Communication: The Internet and Civic Engagement.
(M) Price, V. Fulfills ASC Influence Distribution. This seminar explores debates over the
potential of the Internet to affect community and
political engagement. The nature and contours of
civic participation will be examined from normative,
theoretical and empirical perspectives, with a focus
on the functions of communication media generally
and Internet-related technologies specifically. Students
in the seminar will canvass available studies, experimental
projects and online initiatives, and will undertake
original research projects. Topics addressed include:
ways in which Internet-related technologies might
be used as tools for citizens to interact, organize,
and participate in democratic life; possible psychological
and social effects of
Internet use, and their implications for civic engagement; connections between
civic engagement, social capital, and the Internet;
and implications of the Internet for public opinion.
SM 730. Public Space. (M) Katz/Marvin. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. The object of this course is (1) to identify public spaces, physical and virtual--
past, present, and future; (2) to review the terms of admission and participation in the public sphere, (3) to consider
the nature of interaction and influence within these spaces; (4) to relate such participation (and non- participation)
to the media of communication; (5) to explore the policy implications of public spaces for participatory democracy.
SM 734. Seminar in Political Economy of Communication. (M) Staff. Fulfills ASC Institutions Distribution. Public policy issues regarding personal privacy, intellectual property and the
new communication technologies are explored from the perspective of the political economist. Problems of theory,
conceptualization and measurement are addressed in the attempt to evaluate alternative models of market and non-market
communication behavior.
SM 740. Mass Media Research Design. (M) Hornik. Prerequisite(s): COMM 522 or equivalent, or permission of instructor. Design strategies for research on mass media effects. Consideration of observational
designs as well as field and laboratory experimental designs. Close attention to typical problems in matching
design to research questions and to methods for the study of situations in which media effects are contingent on
other influences.
SM 750. Seminar in Media Industries. (M) Turow. Prerequisite(s): COMM 550 and/or COMM 530. Fulfills ASC Institutions Distribution. This research seminar will center on the processes and social implications of
of out-of-home advertising and other forms of marketing communication. The course encourage students to tackle emerging
issues related to any number of traditional or emerging media, including mobile handsets; billboards (digital
and traditional); event marketing; event sponsorship; transit materials; and the panoply of in-store marketing vehicles
including architecture, packaging, radio, television, computer-laden carts, signage, floor mats, and more. Social issues
related to these issues are many; they include privacy, surveillance, industrial constructions of audiences, varieties
of redlining , understandings of food and food-culture, and definitions of identity and public-private space. Marketers
say that out-of-home advertising is the fastest growing-form of advertising next to internet advertising. During the
past couple of years, every major media conglomerate has joined the race to track and reach people as they move through
the world. Oddly, communication researchers have virtually ignored this part of our world. So I think there
is here an opportunity here to push a new research agenda.
SM 760. Social Constructions of Reality. (M) Krippendorff. Fulfills ASC Institutions or Culture Distribution. This seminar inquires into the principles and processes by which realities come
to be socially constructed and discursively maintained. It serves as an introduction to the emerging epistemology
of communication, which is concerned less with what communication is than with what it does, constitutes,
and actively maintains, including when being studied. The seminar develops analytical tools to understand how realities
establish themselves in language and action, how individuals can become entrapped in their own reality constructions,
how facts are created and institutions take advantage
of denying their constructedness. After reading several
exemplary studies, students explore the nature of
a construction on their own. The seminar draws on
the discourse of critical scholarship and emancipatory
pursuits, which are allied with feminist writing,
cultural studies, and reflexive sociology. It is
committed to dialogical means of inquiry and takes
conversation as an ethical premise.
SM 762. Visual Communication Seminar. Messaris.
SM 766. Symbolic Aspects of Communication. (M) Marvin. Fulfills ASC Culture Distribution. Topics in symbolic communication at the macro-cultural level. Past topics have
addressed nationalism, bodies and texts as distinctive but interacting symbolic modes within non-traditional cultures,
ritual symbolism. These or other topics may be offered. Check with instructor.
799. Independent Research. (C) Staff. Proposal written in specified form and approved by both the student's project
supervisor and academic advisor or another member
of the faculty must be submitted with registration.
SM 836. (SOCI836) Art of Inquiry. (M) Marvin. Gathering, analyzing, presenting non-quantitative evidence. Current methodological
debates on the nature of representation and interpretation, procedures for establishing validity. Ethics
of investigation.
995. Dissertation. (C) Staff. Doctoral candidates, who have completed all course requirements and have an
approved dissertation proposal, work on their dissertation
under the guidance of their dissertation supervisor
and other members of their dissertation committee.
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