This is a summary of our schedule of class meetings and assignments.
C&H refers to Croteau & Hoynes, Media/Society (3rd edition). Readings marked *** are available through the library's electronic reserves.
Week 1: Introduction; Media in the Social World
Tuesday, January 22: First Class Meeting, Course Introduction
Thursday, January 24: Read C&H ch. 1
UNIT I: MEDIA INDUSTRIES
Week 2: Media Industries
Tuesday, January 29: Read C&H ch. 2
Thursday, January 31: First Paper Proposal Due; lecture slides
Week 3: Media and Politics I: Regulating Media Content and Ownership
Tuesday, February 5: Read C&H ch. 3
Thursday, February 7: Read Turner, "My Beef With Big Media" ***
Week 4: Media and Politics II: Regulating Digital Media
Tuesday, February 12: View Lessig, "Free Culture" (this is a Flash video of a lecture that syncs an MP3 track to the talk's PowerPoint slides; please also print a copy of the speech's transcript to bring to class); lecture slides
Thursday, February 14: Read Felten, "Nuts and Bolts of Net Neutrality" [pdf]
Week 5: Routines of the Media Workplace
Tuesday, February 19: Read C&H ch. 4
Thursday, February 21: Read Becker, "Scenes From a Marriage: MTV weds reality to drama, and the union pays off" [pdf]
UNIT II: MEDIA TEXTS
Week 6: Media Analysis and Criticism
Thursday, February 28: continuation of Tuesday
Week 7/8: Media and Ideology/Midterm Exam
Tuesday, March 4: Read C&H ch. 5; First Paper Due
Thursday, March 6: No class meeting
Tuesday, March 11: Continuation from previous week
Thursday, March 13: Midterm Exam in ENG105 (review guide-pdf)
Week 9: Politics of Media Representations
Tuesday, March 25: C&H ch. 6; Battles & Hilton-Morrow, "Gay Characters in Conventional Spaces" ***
Thursday, March 27: continuation of Tuesday
UNIT III: MEDIA AUDIENCES
Week 10: Media Influence and the Political World
Tuesday, April 1: C&H ch. 7
Thursday, April 3: Jenkins, "Lessons from Littleton" ***; final paper proposal due
Week 11: Active Audiences and the Construction of Meaning
Tuesday, April 8: C&H ch. 8
Thursday, April 10: Anderson, "Watching Children Watch Television and the Creation of Blue's Clues" ***
Week 12: Media Technology and Social Change
Thursday, April 17: Grossman, "Time's Person of the Year: You" and Stengel, "Now It's Your Turn"; View Wesch, "The Machine is Us/ing Us"
UNIT IV: PARTICIPATORY CULTURE
Week 13-15 Ordinary People Make Media
Tuesday, April 22: Read Jenkins, "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars" ***
Thursday, April 24: No class meeting
Tuesday, April 29: Read Duncombe, "I'm a Loser, Baby: Zines and the Creation of Underground Identity" ***
Thursday, May 1: Read Schiff, "Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise?" ***
Tuesday, May 6: Read Facebook dossier: Slatalla, "'omg my mom joined facebook!!'"; Levy, "Facebook Grows Up"; Kuhn, "What Rudy's Daughter Should Know"; Arrington, "Facebook Launches Facebook Platform"; Blakely & Copeland, "The Facebook Economy"; Emily, "Oh No, Your Boss Sent You a Facebook Gift!"; Burgess, "Why I'm Deleting My Facebook Account"
Thursday, May 8: Final Paper Due; course summary
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 13, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in CRT 175 (review guide-pdf)