Syllabus
Week 1: Lecture: Digital Turn in Media Environment (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 20. 2. class organization mechanical reproduction of text mechanical reproduction of images television audiences digitisation of culture (ICT & Internet) social media & digitisation of Self
Week 2: Seminar: Digital Turn in Media Environment 27. 2. discussion of reading Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin. 1999. Remediation. Understanding New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press. (Selected pages in one PDF file uploaded to Moodle: The Double Logics of Remediation & Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation) homework submission: self-observation of digital technology-dependance of individual´s everyday practices (600 words & visual diagram)
Week 3: Lecture: Entertainisation of Politics, Politicisation of Popular Culture (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 5. 3. privatization of public sphere by mass media production celebrity cult affective turn in politics political polarization of public on social media toxic humor, xenophobia and xenoracism
Week 4: Seminar: Entertainisation of Politics, Politicisation of Popular Culture 12. 3. discussion of reading:
Andrea Průchová Hrůzová & Jan Zápotocký. 2022. ´Seemingly Innocent Pictures. Visual representations of migrants and refugees circulating through the Czech Facebook nationalistic universe.´ Visual Studies 37(3). 348-362. homework submission: draft of the concept for the audio-visual media content that meets the format of entertainisation of politics (e.g. podcast, stream, blog, IG feed, TV series, …) (800 words)
Week 5: Lecture: Media & Activism (Elisabeth Kovtiak) 19. 3. social movements in digital era using social media as a tool for political resistance and citizen activism employing artivism in digital campaigns media afterline of offline artivist performances as a tool of citizen campaigning
Week 6: Seminar: Media & Activism 26. 3. discussion of reading:
Kovtiak, Elisabeth. "Belarusian Artivism: How and Why Art and Activism Merged in the Belarusian Protests of 2020." Mezosfera, 2022. homework submission: draft a media campaign that would promote a particular agenda of the chosen activist group/community/movement on social media and beyond them; when preparing the concept select 2-3 campaigns as references and include them in your pitching (show the examples and explain what elements, approaches, techniques, you would like to use in your campaign) (600 words)
Week 7: Lecture: Critical Approaches to New Media (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 2. 4. geology of media technical & digital images: new aesthetics & non-human photography algorithmization of digital culture post-human turn in media studies
Week 8: Seminar: Critical Approaches to New Media 9. 4. discussion of reading:
Siobhan Angus (2021), ´Mining the History of Photography´ in Capitalism and the Camera, eds. by K. Coleman & D. James, London & New York: Verso, p. 68-88. homework submission: make yourself aware of the digital sources of surveillance in your environment (e.g. non-human vision by cameras, data tracking, etc.), make a list and visualize it as a map of digital panopticon (400 words & visual diagram)
Week 9: Hacking the Media (Magdalena Michlova) 16. 4. critical political economy of new media digital infrastructures in the times of climate crisis restatement of Marxist thought for the age of cyberspace and globalization role of shared visions/future expectations & media
Week 10: Seminar: Hacking the Media 23. 4. discussion of reading:
Russell, Legacy. 2020. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. Verso Books (chapters: Introduction, Glitch is error, Glitch encrypts & Glitch is virus) homework submission:
Try it the hacker way: identify a (sociologically relevant) problem that currently available official tools fail to tackle and design a “virus”, no matter its real possibility of implementation, as a solution to it. Think about what, why and by whom should be done in order to come up with a solution to the identified problem. Example: Unaffordable housing in Prague being identified as an issue, you propose (hypothetically, by description only) a virus code that automatically limits the prices of the rents offered online, and explain why and who should collaborate on such a project. Or, breeding dogs for sale illegally being identified as a problem, you propose (hypothetically, again) a virus that automatically withdraws such ads from the online marketplaces. Or, the coal extraction industry being identified as a problem, you propose (hypothetically, again) a virus code that shuts down / causes errors on the heavy machinery needed in the industry (400 words).
Week 11: Lecture: Artificial Intelligence / Creative workshop with a critical designer Lenka Hámošová 30. 4.
Week 12: Seminar: Final Project Consultations 7. 5. students discuss their ideas for final essay with their seminar leaders
Annotation
The course will introduce students to some of the basic concepts, theories and paradigms in the study of media as a prerequisite for an inquiry into the symptoms and consequences of technology-driven transformations of media communication nowadays. Political communication and popular culture will be pinpointed as two normatively contrasting realms of media communication with a long tradition of being under sociological and cultural scrutiny. The course is designed to clarify recent technologically grounded dynamics as well as media ́s entrenchment in the constitution of modern society - and to capture the connections between the two where appropriate.
The format of the course consists of frontal lectures, debates and workshops in small seminar groups of students, guest lectures and a gallery visit. Seminars function as a hub of creative ideas / individual homeworks which will be further developed into the format of the final, theory-driven creative media project. The students are not expected to have a previous professional or creative experience in the field of media production, yet they will be asked to actively work with various media formats that require a certain level of creativity like podcasts, IG accounts or websites.
The continual engagement of students with the content of the course is expected and required through debating the required readings at seminars and continually working on bi-weekly homeworks. The timely submission of all required materials is expected.
The students of the international programme of Social Sciences can use priority enrollment for the course. Czech university students and Erasmus students are welcome.