55000 Communication and Information Honours Seminar

Handbook description

This subject examines a selection of contested ideas in the Australian intellectual, public policy and professional fields by reference to the theoretical resources offered by media, communication and information studies. Students explore how specific communication and information frameworks, practices, technologies and impacts are interwoven with social organisation and processes of social change. The development of comparative analyses of ideas draws on different intellectual traditions and explores their usage in different contexts. The subject also facilitates students' capacity to understand their own theoretical constructs, to locate their own usage of ideas in relation to contemporary debates in intellectual, policy and professional fields and to pursue research that contributes to those debates.

Subject objectives/outcomes

At the completion of this subject students are expected to have:

1. gained a deeper understanding of the nature of converging terrain of media, communication and information studies, and their societal, technological and policy impacts
2. developed their understandings of contested areas in media, communication and information studies through a range of theoretical perspectives
3. understood the research traditions of these fields, their underpinning assumptions and methodological approaches, and contextual applications
4. developed their capacity to apply these understandings to original theoretical and/or methodological investigation as preparation for thesis development, and understand the practice and societal implications
5. compared and contrasted theoretical, methodological and professional perspectives, and articulated their own theoretical constructs in these disciplinary fields
6. demonstrated the ability to discuss future trends and issues in the disciplinary fields of media, communication and information.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject:

• prepares students for postgraduate research
• emphasises interdisciplinary approaches
• integrates scholarship with contemporary media
• undertakes a program of advanced coursework.

Teaching and learning strategies

Your work as a student should be directed to achieving these objectives through participation in the course activities (lectures, workshops, seminars, reading, discussions, independent work, group study, etc.) and demonstrating your achievements through the way you produce your work for assessment. You will engage with complex ideas, and extend your ability to critique ideas and to formulate your own viewpoints, positions and constructs. There is also an emphasis on independent work in the subject. Lectures will introduce theoretical perspectives, issues and methodologies of the fields, and you will be required to actively engage with the multidisciplinary literature, both in preparation for and reflection on each session, and as part of the assessment process. You will develop more sophisticated approaches to interrogating contested and conflicting domains, and begin to relate this development to the requirements of the Honours thesis.

The schedule of workshops and seminars will be fixed early in the semester, and is constructed to support the development of your methodological and empirical understandings of this subject. Our discussions may cover topics such as: the specificity of journalism in relation to other information/media practices, the power of journalism/media, notions of truth, facticity and knowledge in journalism/media, notions of community/shared experience in digital media environments, notions of expertise/professionalism in changing digital media environments, journalism/media and processes of social change.

Content

• Historical chronology of the disciplinary areas of media, communication and information studies; their underpinning values, assumptions, traditions, epistemologies, theoretical and professional contexts, arenas of convergence and contest; issues, value of such study for students and in terms of social good and social change. (Objectives a, b)
• Approaches to theorising, traditional and contemporary intellectual frameworks, research methodologies, ethical issues, and relationships between theory and practice. This content area will be explored for example through a focus on the concepts of 'audience' and 'information user' or other constructs as appropriate, and will further develop arenas of convergence and contest. (Objectives c, d, e)
• Professionals, producers and practitioners: the relationship between theory, research and practice is explored to identify and analyse a range of contemporary issues that challenge the media, communication and information fields. For example, issues in relation to policy, ownership, property, publics, technology and society and professional agency. (Objectives d, e)
• Media, communication and information futures: exploration of the disciplinary fields in terms of technological developments, emerging research directions, questions of social good, and social change. (Objectives a, b, e, f)

Group work is an important aspect of both professional practice and tertiary education. In this course, group work plays a central role in enabling students to cover the breadth of reading and research required to have an understanding of the area of study. Group work may involve reading and discussion, case studies, tutorial presentations.

Group work requires an ongoing commitment by each student to other members of their group. It is important, therefore, that students actively contract between themselves to participate in and complete group tasks. Depending on the number of students in the class, you may be assigned to a group for the online debate in Assessment Item 2.

It will be up to each group to ensure that the conduct of group work is well organised and maintained. If group dynamics need attention, the tutor can be called on to assist and provide support. It is important that each student recognises that the completion of their tasks is important to both their own success as well as the members of the rest of the group.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Independent Learning Project – essay 5000 words

Assessment item 2: Participation in online debate

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Indicative references

The following book may be useful in helping you to situate some of the ideas and debates:
Webster, F. (2002) Theories of the Information Society, Routledge, London.

Week 2: Creating common ground

Bourdieu, P. (2005) 'The political field, the social science field and the journalistic field' in R. Benson and E. Neveu, Bourdieu and the journalistic field, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Rule, J. and Besen, Yasemin (2008) 'The once and future information society' Theory and Society, 37: 317 – 342.
http://www.springerlink.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/ content/ j60303773327k470/ fulltext.pdf Accessed on 16 February 2009.
Thompson, J.B. (1995) 'The media and the development of modern society' in Media and Modernity: a social theory of the media, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp. 63 – 80.

Week 3: Searching for truth

Dervin, B. (1992) 'From the mind's eye of the user: the sense-making qualitative-quantitative methodology' in J.D. Glazier & R.R. Powell (Ed.) Qualitative Research in Information Management, Englewood, Co.: Libraries Unlimited. pp.61 - 84.
Keane, J. (1999, January 1). Public Life in the Era of Communicative Abundance. Canadian Journal of Communication [Online], 24(2). Available: http://www.cjc-online.ca/ viewarticle.php?id=517. Accessed on 4 February 2008

Week 4: Facts, testimony and the fake

Eco, U. (1987) Travels in Hyper reality, Pan Books, London.
Frank, R. (1999) 'You Had to Be There" (And They Weren't): The Problem With Reporter Reconstructions' Journal of Mass Media Ethics Vol. 14, No. 3, Pages 146-158
Popper, K. (1979) Objective Knowledge, Oxford, Clarendon Press or see http://www.marxists.org/ reference/ subject/ philosophy/ works/ at/ popper.htm.. Accessed on 16 February 2009.

Week 5: Creating community

Calhoun, C. (1992) 'Introduction' in Habermas and the Public Sphere, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Buckland, M. (1991) 'Information as thing' Journal of the American Society for Information ScienceVolume 42, Issue 5, pp. 351 – 360. Available at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/ cgi-bin/ fulltext/ 10049442/ PDFSTART, Accessed on 16 February 2009.
Castells, M. (2004) 'Why networks matter' Network Logic: Who governs in an Interconnected World, H. McCarthy, P. Miller, P. Skidmore (eds.) Demos, London, pp. 221 – 224, available at http://www.demos.co.uk/ publications/ networks Accessed on 16 February 2009.

Week 6: Expertise and everyday experiences

Boyce, T. (2006) 'Journalism and expertise' Journalism Studies, vol.7, no. 6, pp. 889 – 906, Accessed 16 February 2009.
Giddens, A. (1990) 'Abstract systems and the transformation of intimacy' in The Consequences of Modernity, Polity, Cambridge, pp. 112 – 149.
Lowrey, W. (2006) 'Mapping the journalism-blogging relationship' Journalism Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 477-500
Ettema, J. (2005) 'Crafting cultural resonance; imaginative power in everyday journalism' Journalism, 6 (2): 131 – 152.

Week 7: Social change and media practices

van Gorp, B. (2007) 'The constructionist approach to framing: bringing culture back in' Journal of Communication, 57 (1) : 60 – 78.
Choo, C.W., Bergeron, P., Detior, B., Heaton, L. (2008), "Information culture and information use: an exploratory study of three organizations", Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 59 No.5, pp.792-804.
Curran, J. (1991). Mass media and democracy: A reappraisal. In J. Curran & M. Gurevitch (Eds.), Mass media and society (pp. 82117). London, Edward Arnold, pp 82 – 117.

Weeks 9 – 13:

Readings will be suggested by students, based on their interests and research

Week 14:

Deuze, Mark (2005) ''What is journalism?: Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered' Journalism, vol.6, no. 4 pp. 442-464
Morrison, David E., and Svennevig, Michael (2007) 'The defence of public interest and the intrusion of privacy: Journalists and the public' Journalism, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 44-65
Fallis, D. (2007) 'Information Ethics for 21st Century Library Porfessionals, Library Hi Tech, 25, 1, (2007): 23-36
http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1108/ 07378830710735830 Accessed on 16 February 2009.