This is a summary of our schedule of class meetings and assignments. The full syllabus including course policies and requirements is available as a pdf.

C&H refers to Croteau & Hoynes, Media/Society (3rd edition).  Readings marked *** are available through the library's electronic reserves.

Week 1: Introduction; Media in the Social World

Monday, January 26: First Class Meeting, Course Introduction

Wednesday, January 28: Read C&H ch. 1

UNIT I: MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Week 2: Media Industries

Monday, February 2: Read C&H ch. 2

Wednesday, February 4: First Paper Proposal Due; lecture slides

Week 3: Media and Politics I: Regulating Media Content and Ownership

Monday, February 9: Read C&H ch. 3

Wednesday, February 11: Read Turner, "My Beef With Big Media" ***

Week 4: Media and Politics II: Regulating Digital Media

Monday, February 16: View Lessig, "Free Culture" (this is a Flash video of a lecture that syncs an MP3 track to the talk's PowerPoint slides; please also print a copy of the speech's transcript to bring to class) and read Copyright: Glossary; lecture slides

Wednesday, February 18: Read Felten, "Nuts and Bolts of Net Neutrality" [pdf]

Week 5: Routines of the Media Workplace

Monday, February 23: Read C&H ch. 4

Wednesday, February 25: Read Becker, "Scenes From a Marriage: MTV weds reality to drama, and the union pays off" [pdf]

UNIT II: MEDIA TEXTS 

Weeks 6-7: Basics of Media Criticism (Textual Analysis)

Wednesday, March 4: Discussion of Monday's screening; lecture slides

Monday, March 9: Textual analysis blog exercise

Wednesday, March 11: Midterm Exam, Greene Hall; review guide

Spring Break -- no class March 16-18 

Weeks 8-9: Media, Ideology, and Representation

Monday, March 23: C&H ch. 5

Wednesday, March 25: In-class screenings TBA

Monday, March 30: C&H ch. 6; Ideological analysis blog exercise

Wednesday, April 1: Battles & Hilton-Morrow, "Gay Characters in Conventional Spaces" ***

UNIT III: MEDIA AUDIENCES

Week 10: Media Influence and the Political World

Monday, April 6: C&H ch. 7; final paper proposal due

Wednesday, April 8: Jenkins, "Lessons from Littleton" ***;

Week 11: Active Audiences and the Construction of Meaning

Monday, April 13: C&H ch. 8

Wednesday, April 15: Anderson, "Watching Children Watch Television and the Creation of Blue's Clues" ***

Week 12: Media Technology and Social Change

Monday, April 20: C&H ch. 9 

Wednesday, April 22: Grossman, "Time's Person of the Year: You" and Fox and Madden, "Riding the Waves of Web 2.0"

UNIT IV: PARTICIPATORY CULTURE 

Weeks 13-14 Ordinary People Make Media

Monday, April 27, Read Jenkins, "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars" *** 

Wednesday, April 29: Read Duncombe, "I'm a Loser, Baby: Zines and the Creation of Underground Identity" *** 

Monday, May 4: Read Schiff, "Know It All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise?" ***

Wednesday, May 6: Final Paper Due; course summary

Final Exam: Wednesday, May 13, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. review guide