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**Fall, 2011, NoW Harbour Centre**
** Instructor: Jody Baker ** ** jkb9@sfu.ca ** ** Office hours: ** ** Saturdays, 11:00-12:15 or by appointment **
 * Saturdays, 12:30-3:20 HC1325 **
 * Office: HC 2146; Office Phone: 778-782-5172 **

**__ Prerequisites __**__ : __ none

Course Description
The aim of this course is to provide a general introduction to a range of theories that seek to explain why we communicate as we do. The first part of the course establishes a general overview of communication theory from both theoretical and historical perspectives. We will examine the relation between communication and social consciousness, the development of alphabetic writing, and theories of orality and literacy. We will also review the concept of the self in the context of communication studies. The second part of the course will focus on specific fields within the area of communication, including the study of popular culture, media analysis, film studies, advertising, and the political economy of communication. We will also examine the rise of technology studies in communication and consider the way in which the electronic media (in particular computers and the internet) have refashioned both human consciousness and culture. In this context we will discuss issues of remix cultures, piracy, privacy and democracy in the emerging digital culture. In the course, our primary goal will be to critically assess how meaning is constituted through the images and messages of contemporary media, including the ways in which communication modes and practices limit and expand our understanding of the spaces and times in which we live.

Required Text:
Gary McCarron. //Introduction to Communication Studies//. 2008. Pearson Custom Publishing.

Recommended Text:
Marcel Danesi, //Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communications,// University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-8329-3.

Lecture recordings are [|here]. Assignments and evaluation: Assignments handed in late may be penalized.
 * Midterm Exam 10/22 (in class) || 25% ||
 * One page proposal 11/12 || 5% ||
 * Written Assignment 11/26 || 30% ||
 * Final Exam TBA || 25% ||
 * 10 Forum Posts/replies || 15% ||

The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations section). * Students who begin their degrees in Fall 2006 onwards, as a requirement to graduate with a Bachelor's degree, must complete 24 credits of Breadth, including 18 credits of Designated Breadth courses (6 credits in the Social Sciences, 6 credits in the Humanities, and 6 credits in the Sciences) and 6 credits of Undesignated Breadth courses taken outside the student's major program. Programs may permit their students to substitute Undesignated Breadth courses for Designated Breadth courses in their area.

Class Schedule

**9/10: Introduction to Course**
Readings: No readings assigned this week. Make sure you come to class having completed the assigned readings for that week.

**9/17: Communication Studies in Context: Models, Methods, Meanings**
Readings: Miller, K., Conceptual Foundations. Postman, N., The Judgment of Thamus

6/24: Language and Culture
Readings: Fischer, S., Scripting the Future Hall, E. T., Monochronic and Polychronic Time

10/1: Issues in History of Communication: The Question of Orality
Readings: Fernback, J., Legends on the Net Levitt, S. and S. Dubner, How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?

10/8: Marshall McLuhan: Medium Theory in Communication Studies
Readings: Morrison, J., Marshall McLuhan: The Modern Janus McLuhan, M., The Medium is the Message

10/15: Making Meanings: Encoding and Decoding Messages
Readings: Kingwell, M., Fear & Loathing in Couchland: Eights Myths About Television Doyle, A., An Alternative Current in Surveillance and Control Chandler, D., Semiotics: The Basics

10/29: Communication and Popular Culture
Readings: Inglis, D., ‘High,’ ‘Popular,’ and ‘Low’ Cultures in Everyday Life O’Brien, S. et. al., The History of Popular Culture

11/05: The New Media: Technology and Social Relations
Readings: Castells, M. The Culture of Real Virtuality Franklin, U., The Real World of Technology Pecora, V., The Culture of Surveillance

11/12: Communication, Culture and the Cinema
Readings: Turner, G., Film Languages MacKinnon, K., Masculinity in the Movies

11/19: Political Economy and Communication
Readings: Heath, J. et. al., I Hate Myself and I Want to Buy Paterson, M., You Are What you Buy: Theories of the Consumer Strinati, D., The Frankfurt School

11/26: **Green consciousness and social transformation: A communication perspective**
Readings: Singer, P., A Changing World Taylor, B., and D. Milford, Why Consumption Matters Lecture notes