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The Network Society

People

Hibberd M.

Course director

Description

Course Objectives

The main aim of the course is the development of skills that are necessary

  • to understand trends and changes in current media environments and media economies and
  • to critically assess academic and media discourses about these shifts.

In the course we will discuss

  • relationships of media change and socio-cultural & political change
  • characteristics, functions and constraints of platforms
  • current platform ecosystems
  • mechanism of content moderation
  • choices of unfriending in personal public spheres
  • search engines and knowledge production
  • data, datafication and their uses

Course Description

Digital technologies, networked communication and online platforms have transformed how we interact with each other, how media companies operate, how knowledge and content is produced and distributed, and how decision-making is organized. But what does actually change when contents are searched and shared online? In order to understand the role of media technologies and of ICTs in current societies, in this course the following topics are discussed: characteristics and functions of networked communication, platforms and current platform ecosystem; content moderation; the role of personal public spheres; search engines and knowledge production and the role of data and datafication.

Learning Methods

The course will be structured into lectures led by Professor Hibberd. Sessions will be accompanied with power point presentations.

Attendance

Students must attend class for at least 60%. Teachers will not provide alternative teaching materials beyond online teaching materials presented in class.

Examination Information

The final grade will be composed of the results achieved by students:

  • One 3000-word essay (90% of the final evaluation)
  • In-class participation (60% minimum) (10% of the final evaluation)

Required Material

  1. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell (Eds.),(2018) The SAGE handbook of social media. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi,
  2. van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The platform society. Public values in a connective world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Education