Brief Curriculum of Media and Power course with topics, assignments, and reading list.

2. Media and Power
in the Digital Age
Moscow 2015

3. Anton
Gumenskiy

4. 1. Communicating Power.
Political Communication Theory
• Communication and Media Studies. Basic
concepts and definitions that constitute
the framework of political communication
as a field of study, contemporary
communication theories and models,
methods, actual issues and fields of
research

5. 2. Media.
Theory, Evolution and Paradox
• Media and Cognition. Communication and
information processes
• The phenomenon of media, the role of
media in the development of political
culture; the global media giants, new
media technologies; media environment;
the impact of media on political processes

6. 3. Audience. The Rise of Peers
• States, business, civil institutions, hackers,
pirates and other actors of the information
society
• Socio-psychological characteristics of
digital communication
• Strategies for interaction with the audience
• Contemporary methods of audience
research

7. 4. Self and Society
• Media and Self. Identity, Self perception,
the Other
• Media and Society. Social Structure,
Classes, New Tribes, Imagined
Communities

8. 5. BoBo in Hell.
Media and Culture
•Political, Ethnic, Professional, Corporate,
Mass, Social Cultures and Subcultures
•Interpersonal and Group Communication
•Cross-Cultural Communication

9. 6. The Sleep of Reason.
Contemporary Political Discourse
• Myths, archetypes, rituals, images,
concepts, paradigms, ideologies and other
dominant ideas of the contemporary
political discourse, constituting the
frameworks and the content of the global
information space.

10. 7. Message in a Bottle. New genres
and formats in the digital era
• Message as the key element of political
communication. Evolution of message:
from text and image - to hypertext and
infographics, from manifest - to ‘Like’; user
generated content, genres of political
communication and formats of messages
in the digital age

11. 8. Lords of Chaos.
Digital Governance
• Game Theory, Chaos Theory, and other
advanced science principles used for
sustainability and consensus

12. 9. The End of the Net.
How virtual worlds get real
• Thomas Theorem (1928), mobile
technologies, ambient media; Arab Spring,
London riots August 2011, Occupy Wall
St. etc., Russia’s Bolotnaya 2011-2012;
civil activism and ‘slacktivism’,
transformation of political culture

13. 10. Digital Tribe.
State of Tomorrow
• Technical Progress and Evolution of
Society and State. Future technologies
and their impact on society and politics

15. Essential Reading
1. Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities
2. Baudrillard, Jean (1994). Simulacra and Simulation
3. Giddens, Anthony (1999). Runaway World
4. Gitelman, Lisa (2013). Raw Data Is an Oxymoron
5. Gladwell, Malcolm (2010). Small Change
6. Granovetter, Mark S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties
7. McLuhan, Marshall (1964). Understanding Media
8. Laughey, Dan (2007). Key Themes in Media Theory
9. Orwell, George (1949). 1984
10. Pelevin, Victor (1999). Generation "П“
11. Postman, Neil (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death
12. Said, Edward (1978). Orientalism

16. Other Reading
1. Craig, Robert (1999). Communication Theory as a Field.
2. Eco, Umberto (1979). The Role of the Reader
3. Eliade, Mircea (1963). Myth and Reality
4. Giddens, Anthony (1990). The Consequences of Modernity
5. Greene, Sam (2012). The End of Virtuality.
6. Hardy, Quentin (2011). How the Internet Is Ruining Everything
7. Herman, Edward S., Chomsky, Noam (1988). Manufacturing
Consent
8. Huizinga, Johan (1938). Homo Ludens
9. Huxley, Aldous (1958). Brave New World Revisited
10. Lanier, Jaron (2010). You Are Not a Gadget
11. Shirky, Clay (2010). Cognitive Surplus
12. Weinberger, David (2012). Too Big to Know
13. Žižek, Slavoj (2008). Violence.

20. Writing Assignments
• Wikipedia article, April 2, 1000 words, specific
topic, extensive use of various sources, the paragraph
“Criticism” or “Controversy” is required
• Research Paper Proposal, May 1, 1000 words,
original research, clear and substantial problem

21. Research Proposal Questions:
What are you doing?
Whyis this important?
Howare you doing this?

22. Context, moving from
general to specific, from the
problem to the subject
Main focus,
collecting and analyzing
data on the subject
Conclusions, moving
from specific to
general, from the subject
to the wider context

23. 1000 words
• Problem
• Hypothesis
• Arguments
• Research Questions
• Literature review
• Theory
• Methods
• References
- essence and significance
of the research theme
- answer, expected results
- extension of your point
- 3-5 steps of research
- who wrote what on the
problem
- what theoretical approach
you use and why
- data collection and
analysis

24. Research Problem
• Paradox
• Nonsense
• Controversy
• Elephant in the room
• Collapse of logic and common sense
• Existence of what can not exist
• Defined as a specific and narrow Why or
How question

25. Research Fields
1. Audience: Crowdsourcing, Empowerment, etc.
2. Cognition: Theories and Research Methods
3. Culture: Political, Corporate, Ethnic, Subcultures, etc.
4. Environment: Ecology, Economy, Urbanism, etc.
5. Ethics & Morality
6. Future & Past: Forecasts, Futurology, Sci-Fi, etc.
7. Myths: Ideologies, Discourses, Paradigms, etc.
8. Order & Chaos: Consensus, Conflict, Change, etc.
9. Self & the Other: Identity, Globalization, Migration, etc.
10. Social Structure: New Tribes, Imagined Communities

26. ag@blogberry.ru