CM556 : Communication Theory and New Media

Module Aims
“Get yourself a theory, and make it a good one..” [ Bob Hughes (2000) “Dust or Magic : Secrets of Successful Multimedia Design”, pp.147 ]
This module aims to develop students' understanding and critical appreciation of the distinctive features of new/digital media and how these relate to ‘old media’. The module is attentive to the complex inter-relations between ‘new’ and the established or ‘old’ media. It locates digital media as the latest of several waves of technology-enabled communication systems. It examines these issues in the light of the accumulated body of research based in the communication and cultural studies fields. The module provides students with an overview of key ideas, concepts and debates concerning the peculiar features of new media. It explores the linkages (differences, continuities or complementarities) between the new and the established ‘mature’ media forms and content. It also examines the ‘convergence’ aspect of digital multi-media, including the implications for new combinations of previously diverse media products and forms. Thus, CM556 introduces competing theories of mediated [or technology-based] communications processes. The agenda includes issues surrounding the changing role and operations of media in social (and cultural) communication processes, the ‘power and effects’ of new media, models of text authorship/design and audiences' (viewers and readers') interaction with media texts. The aim is to provide a grounded introduction to relevant theories, concepts and ideas drawn from the contemporary fields of media, sociological and cultural studies.

Learning Outcomes
A basic and critical understanding of major theories and concepts focused on the distinctive features, potentialities and implications of digital media. In keeping with the overall aims of the MMM programme, the focus falls on digital applications in ‘content’ domains (media texts, products, artefacts etc). In keeping with the overall learning objectives of the MMM programme, this module seeks to:
A) Provide students with a structured learning programme to explore key concepts and ideas which support a theoretically-informed, analytical and professional approach to digital media content production practices; [It thus helps to provide strategic intellectual tools to better understand and explore the specific features and possibilities of digital media technologies and their creative or critical application in the domain of content authoring, design and production].
B) Enable and encourage students to critically evaluate the competing theories and models of new/digital media technologies and their wider social and cultural impacts, including those related to new systems of public communication. Students will thus enhance their own critical understanding and conceptual models and their specific implications for the digital media content domains/sectors;
C) Encourage students to utilise these competencies reflexively in order to better inform and ground their own professional strategies in digital media design/authoring practices.

Indicative Syllabus
Module Orientation and the Selection of Themes and Topics
This module will provide a selective overview to a set of concerns/issues which have been the subjects of a virtual mini-information industry over the past decade. Many competing ideas and models have been contributed by a diverse range of authors located in specific disciplinary, media, political, social and cultural fields, as well as by particular industrial interests. Thus the treatment of themes and texts falling within the scope of this module is, of necessity, selective.
1) One key focus informing the selection of topics concerns the debates between media-centric (technology centred) approaches and those advancing more social or culturally-orientated conceptualisations of the specific impacts, implications and meanings of the “new media”.
2) A second principle governing topic selection, centres round competing concepts of the distinctions and/or linkages between new and old media forms or formats (e.g. complementarity versus substitution “effects”; the impacts of specific technological platforms on individual, social and cultural communication processes, etc).
3) A third factor informing the selection process is a particular attention to contributions originating in the domain of media and communication studies. This orientation is deemed optimal on the grounds that : a) it is most relevant to a programme focused on digital media “content applications and design”; b) it is one where the DCU School of Communications has particular expertise; and c) it is based on a well-established tradition of theories and empirical research specifically focused on '“new media” and “content” matters.

Reading List
Bolter, J.D. and R. Grusin (2000) Remediation : understanding new media. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press
Briggs, Adam and Paul Cobley (1998) The Media : An Introduction. Harlow, Essex: Addison Wesley & Longman
Caldwell, John T. (ed.) (2000) Electronic Media & Technoculture. Rutgers University Press
Castells, Manuel (2001) "The Internet Galaxy". Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Castells, Manuel et al (2002) "The information society and the welfare state : the Finnish model". Oxford: Oxford University Press
Darley, A. (2000) Visual digital culture : surface play & spectacle in new media genres. Routledge
Feldman, Tony (1997) Chapter 1: An Introduction to Digital Media. London: Routledge
Flex, Terry (2002) "New Media : An Introduction". Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kress, Gunther (Nov. 2002) "Literacy in a New Media Age". London: Routledge
Grau, Oliver (2003) "From Illusion to Immersion". MIT Press
Harries, Dan (ed.) (2002) "The New Media Book". London: British Film Institute [ of articles on issues surrounding “new media”.]
Landow, G. P. (1997) Hypertext 2.0 : Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press
Lister, Martin, K. Kelly, J. Dovey, S. Giddings and I. Grant (Oct. 2002) "New Media : A Critical Introduction". London: Routledge
Lievrouw, Leah and Sonia Livingtsone (eds.) (2002) "The Handbook of New Media". London: Sage
Manovich, Lev (2001) "The Language of New Media". Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Mattelart, A. and M. Mattelart (1998) "Theories of Communication : A Short Introduction". London: Sage
WEBSITES Relevant references/sites may be cited during specific topic/class sessions

Other Modules

• [CM541] Information and Communications in International Relations     Click here for further information

• [CM583] Communication Systems [M.Sc. Science Communication]     Click here for further information

• [CM599] Post-Graduate Students' Support Module                  Click here for further information

• [CM517] Communication, Technology and the Politics of Culture     Click here for further information

• [CM519] International Communications [MA-CCS/MAP]     Click here for further information