THE BOOKS FOR SUMMER SEMESTER 2011/2012:

1) Hartley J (2012) Digital Futures for Media and Cultural Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. (Chapters 2, 4, 5, 6)

2) Curran J, Fenton N, Freedman D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4)

The seminar timetable:

Feb 19: Opening session - rules and principles of the seminar, FAQ´s

Feb 26: cancelled

March 5: cancelled

March 12: Opening lecture

"Users and owners in the digital age: critical and cultural paradigms in the study of new media"

The lecture will introduce the main paradigms in the study of new media - it will explain how the long lasting conflict between political economy and cultural studies spread across internet studies and found its new site in this field. Critical theory (and its and cultural studies will be first introduced in general as key paradigms in media studies. Afterwards, it will be shown how the two perspectives are usually applied in the study of new media (critical impact on the revenues and power of corporations and cultural focus on audiences agency) and the main concepts of both approaches will be listed and explained (participation, agency, empowerment x commodification, profit, individualism).

Further reading for the opening lecture:

Garnham N (1995) Political Economy and Cultural Studies: Reconciliation or Divorce? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(1): 62-72.

Grossberg L (1995) Cultural Studies vs. Political Economy: Is Anybody Else Bored with this Debate? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(1): 72-82.

Deetz S, Hegbloom M (2007), Situating the Political Economy and Cultural Studies Conversation in the Processes of Living and Working, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 4(3): 323-326.

March 19: reading 1

· Hartley J (2012) Digital Futures for Media and Cultural Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 2: Cultural Studies, Creative Indistries, and Cultural Science, pp. 27-58.

March 26: reading 2

· Curran J, Fenton N, Freedman D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge. Chapter 1: Reinterpreting the internet, pp. 3-33.

Apr 2: reading 3

· Hartley J (2012) Digital Futures for Media and Cultural Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 4: The Distribution of Public Thought, pp. 94-116.

Apr 9: reading 4

· Curran J, Fenton N, Freedman D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge. Chapter 2: Rethinking internet history, pp. 33-66.

Apr 16: reading 5

· Hartley J (2012) Digital Futures for Media and Cultural Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 5: Television goes on line, pp. 117-132.

Apr 23: reading 6

· Curran J, Fenton N, Freedman D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge. Chapter 3: Web 2.0 and the death of the blockbuster economy, pp. 69-94

April 30: reading 7

· Hartley J (2012) Digital Futures for Media and Cultural Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Chapter 6: Silly Citizenship, pp. 133-154.

May 7: reading 8

· Curran J, Fenton N, Freedman D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London: Routledge. Chapter 4: Outsourcing internet regulation, pp. 95-120.

State holidays

May 14: reading week

May 21: in-class presentations