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| COMU0030-1 | Theory of new media
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| Duration : | 30h Th |
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| Credits/ECTS : |
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| Holder(s) : | Geoffrey Geuens |
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| Language : | French language |
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| Course contents : |
- After having studied the social discourse related to « New Media » and TICs - a discourse that serves us less as a theoretical resource than as an object to be put to the question - we will try to measure the amount of reality of the « digital revolution ». For this we will rely on a theoretical and methodological model that belongs both to the sociography of the wealthiest owners, and the political economy of communication. It will be appropriate, afterward, to reflect on certain public policies whose privileged instruments the « New Media » seem to be (electronic voting, e-learning, electronic surveillance, etc.).
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| Course objective : | 1) Students will be invited first of all to cast a critical eye on what we will agree to call « New Media » and « Digital Revolution". New Media and ICT have been written about frequently in journalistic literature that is acquainted with them only in a popular sense, and the products associated with them are part of the reactivation of two imaginary constructs that mutually reinforce each other : the « information society » and the « globalization of the economy ». These highly stereotyped discourses must be interpreted, secondly, in the light of facts and realities ;
2) Following this an effort will be made to make students more familiar with the resources and methods of a model of complex analysis that belongs both to the sociology of major business leaders and the political economy of the « New Media ». This approach will combine an analysis of the capitalistic structure of the most powerful European and North American multinationals that operate in a variety of sub-sectors of TIC industries (hardware, software, telecommunications, semi-conductors, consumer electronics, etc.), with a more sociological study of the executive structure of these companies and the interactions of the executive personnel at a certain level of society. The sample constructed in this way will be doubly empirical in its procedure, and without exhausting the problematic under consideration will sketch the main lines of interpretation in relation to the « digital revolution ».
3) Finally we will examine certain public policies for which the « New Media » and the TIC appear to be the chosen banner-bearers - whether these singular developments are celebrated by some in the name of « dynamism », « effectiveness » or « modernization of administration » (electronic voting, e-learning) or are perceived on the contrary as potential menaces (mercantilization of culture, weakening of the State, « planetary surveillance »). The deregulation of telecommunications in Europe and the United States, the recent history of « the European information society » and the development of newly invented forms of control (camera surveillance, technological security systems, etc.) will also come in for critical reflection as regards the relations between the « New Media », political power, and society. |
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| Prerequisites : | None |
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| Workshops : | None |
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| Organization : | Two hours by week (Salle Wittert)
Location and schedule : See http://cipl82.philo.ulg.ac.be/horaires |
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| Written notes : | None |
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| Assessment : | The oral examination will try to test the theoretical knowledge acquired by the student and the capacity of students to adopt a critical standpoint concerning the material that has been reviewed in class. The material over which students will be examined includes : theoretical lectures by the teacher, including information communicated through PowerPoint slide shows and school cases that have been the object of detailed analysis. |
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| Contacts : | Instructor : Geoffrey Geuens, Département des « Arts et Sciences de la Communication », Place du 20-Août, 7, 4000 Liège (Bldg. A1, 4th floor). Tel. : 04 366 32 78. Fax : 04 366 51 84.
E-mail : Geoffrey.Geuens@ulg.ac.be Geoffrey Geuens will meet students in his office every Wednesday morning between 9h and 11h.
Secretary : Anne-Marie D'Acchille, Département des « Arts et Sciences de la Communication », Place du 20-Août, 7, 4000 Liège (Bldg. A1, 4th floor). Tel. : 04 366 32 79. Fax : 04 366 51 84.
E-mail : AM.DAcchille@ulg.ac.be |
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| Remarks : | ... |
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