78150 - Communication and Digital Media

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student: - will have a basic knowledge of the sociology of communication in its evolution, - knows the main forms and communication functions, as well as the most important theories / schools / research in communications, - have critical knowledge of the phenomena related to communication and media, - knows how to apply the empirical tools of analysis of the communication processes in contemporary society

Course contents

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (28 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 2 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 the other group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (16 hours). Therefore, a total of 44/38 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 class aims to describe and analyze the main sociological theories upon the following topics:

1. Contemporary society and globalization;
2. The sociology of the media;
3. Media and socialization;
4. Communication and meta communication;
5. Production, consumption, prosumerism;
6. Sociology of digital media;
7. Networked publics: invisible audiences, public/private boundaries, context collapse;
8. Social Media and Big Data;
9. Actor Network Theory.

A printed detailed syllabus will be provided to students the first day of class.

Readings/Bibliography

• R. Stella, C. Riva, C.M. Scarcelli, M. Drusian (2018), Sociologia dei New Media, UTET, Novara.
  

• P. Degli Esposti, C. Riva, F. Setiffi (2018), Sociologia dei consumi, UTET, Novara.
• P. Degli Esposti (2015), Essere prosumer nella società digitale. Produzione e consumo tra atomi e bit, Franco Angeli, Milano.

During the semester additional readings will be uploaded on the IOL platform.

Programme for non attending students, and for those who will fail midterm test:

• R. Stella, C. Riva, C.M. Scarcelli, M. Drusian (2018), Sociologia dei New Media, UTET, Novara.
• P. Degli Esposti, C. Riva, F. Setiffi (2018), Sociologia dei consumi, UTET, Novara.
• P. Degli Esposti (2015), Essere prosumer nella società digitale. Produzione e consumo tra atomi e bit, Franco Angeli, Milano.
• N. Couldry, Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice, Polity press, London, 2012. (Chapters 1, 2 and 3)
• H. Jenkins, Convergence Culture. When old and new media collide, New York University Press, New York, 2006. (Chapters 1 and 2)
• D. Lupton (2015), Digital Sociology, Routledge, London. (Chapters 2 and 3)
• G. Ritzer, P. Degli Esposti (2020), Creative Destruction and Cultural Lag in the Digital Age, Sociology Between the gaps

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars and interactive presentations.
Students are expected to be prepared on the assigned readings before each class.
Participation is expected and rewarded.

Assessment methods

Attending students:

 Each week the student will be asked to present a short written paper (at least 5) and during the course to perform at least one individual or group presentation.
A mid-term test will be scheduled.
At the end of the course the student have to take a final test. 

The final evaluation is based on the following criteria:

1. Active participation in activities, presentation and assignments  (40%)
2. Midterm Test (30%)
3. Final Test (30%)

Minimum Requirements

1. At least 5 short written papers (assigned on a weekly basis)
   
2. Mid Term Test
3. Presentation 
4. Final test

Non attending students:

Final exam is made by a written paper and an oral exam upon textbooks (N.B. the written paper must be sent to the teacher 5 days before the date of the oral examination - the paper can be a synopsis of the course programme or an in-depth examination of a subject dealt with during the semester).

Evaluation criteria:

1. 50% paper evaluation
2. 50% oral exam

Paper has to be 4.000 words 24.000 characters. (around 12 pages), references excluded. Chicago style for citations. Paper must be turned in 5 days before the oral exam.

For every paper 10% rules applies on the number of characters (a length of work higher or lower than 10% is accepted)

To register the final grade is necessary that you enrol in the official dates in the website Almaesami

Teaching tools

The teaching materials will be available to the students.

All student papers will be verified through the Compilatio.net plagiarism verification system

Office hours

See the website of Piergiorgio Degli Esposti