Section 3 - Syllabus and recommended literature

Barbara Rampf, Institute for Communication Science and Media Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
Pamplona, March 1st-3rd, 2010

“Global Communication” is inseparably linked to media and, nowadays, especially to the World Wide Web. We watch US-American soaps on TV, read news from all over the world in the daily newspaper and stay in touch with our international friends through Facebook. Even though I certainly agree with Mr. Volonté on the fact that it is dangerous to reduce globalization to the McDonaldization and digitalization of society, media must not be neglected when it comes to globalization. As far as I can see from your class’ Weblog, the class concentrated on the concept communication as a basic human act up to now. With my lectures we will turn the focus of the class to the part of communication that is transmitted by media. Since it is the media that enable global communication, and communication changes with the evolution of media from letter to e-mail, from phone call to Skype chat and radio show to Podcast, this is what we will spend our lectures on: The definition, connection and distinction of communication and media, the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ media, changes and developments over time, the challenges of digitalization, the concept of identity in the WWW and the question, where the ‘social media’ and recent innovations like Twitter and Google Buzz will finally lead us.

Here are the topics and some questions our three lectures will face:

1. Communication, Media and the Rise of the Internet: What’s communication? What are media? What happened to communication and media with the appearance of personal computers and the Internet?
2. Media (R)evolution and the Challenges of Digitalization: How did the media landscape change with the development of new media? What are the consequences for audiences, society, any one of us? How do the media affect each other? How do TV and Internet affect each other, e.g. in Germany and Spain?
3. New, Social and Future Media: What are, nowadays, ‘new media’? What’s ‘social’ about Web 2.0? How do concepts like identity and self-presentation fit in than context? Who are we online? The same persons we are offline? And finally, if media development continues in the same way, where will it lead us?

Some References:

Bowman, Shane/Willis, Chris (2003): We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information. Reston, Virginia: The Media Center at the American Press Institute. (Chapter 2: Cultural context: Behind the explosion of participatory media, pp. 15-20 & Chapter 7: How media might respond, pp. 58-61). URL: http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf (5.2.2010).

Browning, John/Reiss, Spencer (1998): Encyclopedia of the New Economy. Part 1. In: Wired, Vol. 3/98, pp. 105-114.

Coffey, Steve/Stipp, Horst (1997): The interactions between computer and television usage. In: Journal of Advertising Research, 37/2, pp. 61-67

Ferguson, Douglas A./Perse, Elizabeth M. (2000). The World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television. In: Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 44/2, pp. 155–174.
Fortunati, Leopoldin (2005): Mediatization of the Net and Internetization of the Mass Media. In: Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies, 67/1, pp. 27-44.

Habermas, Jürgen (2006): Political Communication in Media Society: Does Democracy Still Enjoy an Epistemic Dimension? The Impact of Normative Theory on Empirical Research. In: Communication Theory, Vol. 16/4, pp. 411–426.

Hill, Anne/Watson, James/Rivers, Danny (2007): Key Themes in Interpersonal Communication: Culture, Identities and Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill. (Chapter 1: Communication by Design: How Models Contribute to our Understanding of Interpersonal Communication, pp. 6-47).

Kaplan, Andreas M./Haenlein, Michael (2010): Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. In: Business Horizons, 53/1, pp. 59-68.
Leiner, M. et al. (2003): A Brief History of the Internet. URL: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml (13.2.2010).

Livingstone, Sonia (1999): New Media, New Audiences?. In: New Media & Society, 10/1, pp. 59-66.
McLuhan, Marshall (1999): Understanding Media. The Extension of Man. Eighth printing. MIT Press. (Chapter 1: The Medium is the Message, pp. 7-21).

Silverstone, Roger (1999): What's New about New Media?: Introduction. In: New Media & Society, 10/1, pp. 10-12.

Splichal, Slavko (2009): ‘New’ Media, ‘Old’ Theories. Does the (National) Public Melt into the Air of Global Governance?, In: European Journal of Communication, 24/4, pp. 391-405.

Rettberg, Jill Walker (2009): "Freshly Generated for You, and Barack Obama": How Social Media Represent Your Life. In: European Journal of Communication, 24/4, pp. 451-466

Zhao, Shanyang/Grasmuck, Sherri/Martin, Jason (2008): Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. In: Computers in Human Behavior, 24, pp. 1816–1836.

Very important announcement

Unfortunately, and due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, Professor Olaf Jandura, the next appointed lecturer, won't be able to join us. Next week classes are of course maintained as scheduled, and instead of Professor Jandura we'll be receiving a colleague of his, Professor Barbara Rampf. She currently studies podcasts, online communications and new media from a psychological and psycholinguistical stance, making her presence very compelling to our general approach. Syllabus and references for the section will be posted right away.

Thanks for sending your abstracts and proposals. I got texts from almost everyone, which is great. Remember I expect to receive your essays as late as Friday the 26th, Saturday tops. As usual, if you desire any sort of feedback or comments please send an email. Looking forward to see you all in class on Monday. Regards,

Slides from section 2

You can find the slides from Professor Volonté's lectures here: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

I'll be looking in my inbox for abstracts and proposals until Saturday the 13th noon. Remember topic choice is pretty much up to you, though I should suggest you consider some linkage between you own thoughts and the triad design-object-meaning discussed in the past lectures.

Under request we can always schedule an appointment to go over your past essays. We can also work this out through the mail, if you rather have it that way. In spite of the herculian task this promises to be, I'll always get back to you if you send an email asking for feedback. You might have to be a little patient: I'm counting on your comprehension. Best of luck.

Seminar with Richard Arndt, Ph. D., 12:00-13:00, 2/09/10

Past-President, Co-Chair Advisory Council, Americans for UNESCO
Past-President, Fulbright Association


On Cultural Diplomacy: Culture or Propaganda?


Day: Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Time: 12:00-13:00
Place: Aula 13, Social Science Building

Mr. Arndt's extensive resume can be viewed here.