Communication 6605
Media Studies
Spring 1999
Th 6-8:50p, CIS 3064

Prof. Gil Rodman
Office Hours: Tu 1-2p, Th 5-6p and by appointment
CIS 3040 // 974-3025 // gbr@kcii.com

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course description and objectives
This course is an introductory survey of scholarly approaches to the mass media. Given the exceptionally broad terrain covered by the term "mass media" and the diverse range of theories, methodologies, and agendas that travel under the "media studies" banner, this course has unavoidable biases and blind spots. We will not, for instance, devote a great deal of time to quantitative "media effects" research, "uses and gratifications" studies, or traditional rhetorical approaches to media texts. Topics that we will examine include:

• the media as a set of spaces for creative artistic expression
• semiotics and the interpretation of media texts
• ideology, hegemony, and the media's role as a socio-political force
• political economy and the media as profit-oriented enterprises
• media ethnography and the problems of audience research
• the media as cultural technologies

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required course materials

• Books
  

  	Ien Ang, Desperately Seeking the Audience		Don DeLillo, White Noise
  	Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art		Richard Ohmann (ed.), Making and Selling Culture
  	Constance Penley, NASA/TREK: Popular Science and Sex in America		Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America
  	Raymond Williams, Television: Technology and Cultural Form		Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising
  	John Macgregor Wise, Exploring Technology and Social Space		a tenth media studies book (mostly) of your choosing

  With the exception of the Williams book (which is out of print and will be made available in photocopied form) and "the tenth book" (which you're responsible for locating), all titles are available at Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia, Tampa (253-2638, inkwoodbks@aol.com).
  
  
• Access to the World Wide Web (via Netscape)
  We will conduct a significant amount of course discussion and business online using an instructional software package called "WebCT." In theory, the WebCT interface should function with any web browser that supports frames, tables, Java, and Javascript (if that terminology doesn't mean anything to you, that's fine). In practice, however, WebCT really only behaves properly with versions 3.0 or later of Netscape. While you're welcome to use other browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.) to access the course's WebCT site, you're likely to find that certain pages and/or features simply won't work for you. In some cases, WebCT may even crash non-Netscape browsers.
  
  Those of you who don't already have access to the Web at home or work can use any of the Netscape-equipped terminals in the USF Library or on-campus computer labs to access the course's WebCT site. Free Internet accounts are also available to USF students from Academic Computing (LIB 608).

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papers/presentations
You will write three 8-10 page essays for this course.

• Paper #1 should be a critical response to one of the nine books that we'll be reading through the end of March. Which book you write on is completely up to you. The due date for Paper #1 is two weeks after the date for which the book you've chosen is scheduled for discussion. [Exception: because the Wise book is scheduled for two weeks before spring break, that paper is due three weeks after we discuss the book.]
• Paper #2 and your in-class presentation will revolve around "the tenth book." By 28 January, you need to turn in a ranked list of three media studies books on which you'd like to report to the rest of the class. The due date for Paper #2 is two weeks before the date for your in-class presentation on your book.
• Paper #3 should be a critical essay on a media studies question/topic of your choice and is due on 29 April. You're strongly encouraged -- though not required -- to talk with me in advance of the due date about your topic choice.

Further information about all these papers (including a lengthy, though far from exhaustive, list of suggested books for Paper #2) is available here.

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WebCT forum participation
The login page for the course's WebCT site is:

http://scholar.acomp.usf.edu:8900/public/SPC6605/index.html
Once there, click on the "Login" button to access the site. The server will ask for your "User Name" and "Password." Your user name will be your first initial and your last name, typed without spaces and completely in lowercase letters (e.g., if your name is Terry Johnson, your user name will be "tjohnson"). Your initial password is your social security number, typed without spaces or hyphens. Once you've logged in, you can change your password from within the system -- and I would strongly recommend that you do so ASAP.

The primary purpose of the WebCT forum is to provide an informal space that's always available for discussion of the issues raised by the assigned readings and our class sessions. Prompts intended to spur on the dialogue will be posted as necessary.

Occasionally, the WebCT forum may be used to make course-related announcements (e.g., "please add the collected works of Marshall McLuhan to Thursday's reading") or to pass word on about other topics that may be of interest to the class (e.g., calls for papers, upcoming conferences, recently published articles and books, etc.). So check the site often.

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grading policy
Those of you who've had classes with me before know that I'm not a big fan of grades at the graduate level. Presumably, your main concern here is your genuine desire to learn something, not whether you can maintain a 4.0 GPA. Assuming you show up consistently for class, participate regularly in our discussions (in class and online), and complete the assigned papers in satisfactory fashion, you should get an A. That being said, in cases where people seem to be slacking off, I do reserve the right to go deeper into the alphabet when I fill out my final grade sheet. Under such unfortunate circumstances, how deep into the alphabet I go will be based on the following grade schedule:

	Attendance/participation	15%
	WebCT Forum participation	15%
	Paper #1	20%
	Paper #2	20%
	In-class presentation	10%
	Paper #3	20%

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date	readings	work due
7 Jan	no readings	-----
14 Jan	McCloud, Understanding Comics	-----
21 Jan	Williamson, Decoding Advertisements	-----
28 Jan	Ohmann (ed.), Making and Selling Culture	presentation choices
		McCloud paper
4 Feb	Williams, Television	Williamson paper
11 Feb	Ang, Desperately Seeking the Audience	Ohmann paper
18 Feb	Rose, Black Noise	Williams paper
25 Feb	Wise, Exploring Technology and Social Space	Ang paper
4 Mar	Penley, NASA/TREK	Rose paper
11 Mar	no class	-----
18 Mar	DeLillo, White Noise	Wise paper
		Penley paper
		1 Apr presentation essays
25 Mar	no class	8 Apr presentation essays
1 Apr	1 Apr presentation essays	DeLillo paper
		15 Apr presentation essays
8 Apr	8 Apr presentation essays	22 Apr presentation essays
15 Apr	15 Apr presentation essays	-----
22 Apr	22 Apr presentation essays	-----
29 Apr	no class	paper #3

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