27343 - Sociology of the New Media (1)

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (30 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. The division into lessons and seminars is specified in the program that follows. For the seminar section, students will be divided into X groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (16 hours) and one group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (16 hours). Therefore, a total of 46 classroom hours are scheduled for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

The course comprises an in-depth study of contemporary medial context, by considering the social aspects linked with the use of media (in specific, television and the Internet) and the opportunities of participation/interaction pertaining to online audiences.

The first part of the course (face-to-face; 30 hours in remote learning with MS TEAMS) will provide in-depths on the role of media, seen both as a resource for individual expression, and as devices for social connection. The media will be studied as tools and products of contemporary culture, and as parts of the fabric of personal and collective experiences, as they promote and take part in the process of change involving language, texts and representations of everyday life.

Specific items and settings will be analysed (tv series, virtual communities, social networks) in order to understand the main features and changes which formats and communication and cultural processes are undergoing, alongside changes in users’ habits and the overall contemporary scenario.

The second part of the course, organised in a in seminar-based format (16 hours of classroom or distance learning), will focus on the in-depth exploration of case studies, in order to highlight the ways medial cultural products are presented and used. Tv series, websites, social networks will be analysed, where the relationship between production and cultural consumption seems to take up different reference models. Special attention will paid to the following:

· the dimension of online fandom relating to some “cult" tv series;

· the ways according to which - in online settings - audiovisual narrative enter into the audiences’ private private experience as value-laden models to be embodied/rejected. Tv series present in fact symbolic repertories deriving from cultural practices, narratives, imaging.

In approaching these topics students will be advised on how to work on their own on the cases considered interesting.

Readings/Bibliography

S. Bentivegna, R. Rega, "I discorsi d'odio online in una prospettiva comunicativa: un'agenda per la ricerca", Mediascapes Journal, 16/2020 (online: https://ojs.uniroma1.it/index.php/mediascapes/article/view/17201/16422).

A. Biscaldi, V. Matera, Antropologia dei social media, Carocci, 2019.

A. Hill, Esperienze mediali, Minimum Fax, 2019.

A. Mascio, "Audience", in M. Tirino, A. Tramontanta (a cura di), I Riflessi di Black Mirror, Rogas Edizioni, 2018.

L. Paccagnella, Sociologia della Comunicazione nell'era digitale, Il Mulino, 2020 (chapters IV and V).

 

Other articles will be indicated during the lessons.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face and online lessons, classroom debates, viewing of audio-video materials, exploration of online settings. Meetings with important testimonials are also envisaged.

Assessment methods

Sociologia dei Nuovi Media

- Written test (3 closed-ended questions and 2 open-ended questions; duration 50 minutes; platforms Zoom + Eol).

 

Media e Processi Culturali

Attending-students. The exam is divided into two parts.

First part:

- Active participation during the lessons (10%).

- Written test (3 closed-ended questions and 2 open-ended questions; duration 50 minutes; platforms Zoom + Eol) (90%).

Second part:

- Active participation during the lessons (30%).

- Paper on a topic chosen from those explored in the lesson, and agreed with the teacher during the seminar-based lessons, to be sent via email at least 10 days before the date of the exam session (max. 10 pages of 2000 characters each) (60%).

- Analysis of the submitted paper during the exam session (platform Microsoft Teams) (10%).

 

Non-attending students. 

Written test (3 closed-ended questions and 4 open-ended questions; duration 90 minutes; platforms Zoom + Eol) (90%).

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Mascio