93545 - Communication Laboratory (Lm) (G.C)

Learning outcomes

Il laboratorio mira ad offrire agli studenti competenze nel campo della produzione di contenuti giornalistici e mediali (televisione, radio e internet). Al termine del corso lo studente: - padroneggia le principali tecniche di produzione di contenuti informativi e mediali - è in grado di produrre autonomamente contenuti informativi in forma scritta, orale o multimediale

Course contents

This laboratory sets out to explore emerging investigative practices, championed by projects like Bellingcat, Forensic Architecture and others, that over the last few years have used digital, open source and data-driven tools to uncover contemporary forms of violence and power. These citizen-led, often DIY practices of “sousveillance” (vigilance from below) are profoundly reshaping journalism and media practices from the bottom up, introducing new forms of spatial and media research in the context of urban conflict, human rights violations and environmental violence.

The course is divided in two parts: a more theoretical section will focus on the notion of “investigation” as a peculiar way of undertaking media research in the era of post-truth and will offer a space of reflection and student-led discussion on questions of social, political, and environmental justice; the more hands-on part seeks to introduce students to the use of open source, digital tools of spatial and media investigation.

Readings/Bibliography

Texts

Asselin, Mathieu. Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation. Dortmund: Verlag Kettler, 2017.

Bridle, James. Making Seamless Transition, 2015, https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2015/02/making-seamless

Forensic Architecture, ed. Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2014.

Fuller, Matthew, and Eyal Weizman. Investigative Aesthetics: Conflicts and Commons in the Politics of Truth. London, New York: Verso Books, 2021.

Jasanoff, Sheila. 2017. ‘Virtual, Visible, and Actionable: Data Assemblages and the Sightlines of Justice’. Big Data & Society 4 (2): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717724477.

McKee, Yates. 2007. ‘Eyes and Ears: Aesthetics, Visual Culture, and the Claims of Non- Governmental Politics’. In Nongovernmental Politics, 326–55. New York: Zone Books.

Paglen, Trevor, and A. C. Thompson. Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights. First Edition edition. Hoboken, N.J: Melville House, 2006.

Weizman, Eyal. Forensic Architecture: Violence at the Threshold of Detectability. Brooklyn, NY: Zone Books - MIT, 2017.

Weizman, Eyal. ‘Open Verification’. E-Flux Architecture, no. Becoming Digital (18 June 2019). https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/becoming-digital/248062/open-verification/.


Websites

https://www.bellingcat.com/

https://forensic-architecture.org/

https://www.borderforensics.org/

https://investigative-commons.org/

https://mnemonic.org/

Teaching methods

Discussions, screenings, lectures, student presentations, reviews of ongoing work.

Assessment methods

Small investigative group project that uses the tools learned in class.

Teaching tools

Group discussions and peer-to-peer learning activities play an essential part of this module and every student is expected to take part in them. It is important that you read the required material for each session in advance and come to class prepared to discuss it.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Pezzani