Communications History (C&T 1004H) 2002-2003

Objectives

The seminar focuses on the history, theory and technology of television and newer digital media (especially the Internet/world wide web) within comparative Canadian and global contexts. The course will probe the relationships between television and the Internet/World Wide Web, and examine the social and cultural impacts of the rise of the "network society." Seminar participants will be introduced to institutional resources within the Toronto area, including television stations and television museums, and important new archival materials (the Moses Znaimer Archives) at the University of Toronto. An ongoing thread in the course concerns the role of creative media innovation, and the case of CityTV will provide an opportunity for critical reflection on the intersection of media history and technology within a specific cultural and geographic context. A collaborative resource will be developed throughout the seminar, consisting of a bibliography, online resources, videos, and print materials. Seminar participant's research interests will influence the direction of the course.

Specific Objectives:

To encourage advanced research into media

To foster critical thinking, speaking and writing about media as technology and cultural environments

To raise awareness of the Canadian case within global context

To expose students to the living tradition of the Toronto School of Communications

To expose students to the work of media innovators in Canada

To foster the ability to theorize media within a rapidly changing global and local environment

To develop the capacity for critical analysis of the significance of media within diverse social, political and cultural contexts

To develop student awareness of the value of a communications history and media ecology approach in understanding old and new media

To expose students to the wealth of theoretical reflection on media and communications

To introduce students to the rich resources in Toronto and at the University of Toronto, and encourage original research using these resources

To contribute to a collegial and collaborative learning environment within the graduate seminar

Assignments and Project

Seminar participants will begin their engagement with course themes with a mindfulness exercise, keeping a media diary and writing up a brief theoretical reflection on this experience. The instructor will compare important conceptual and case work by Joshua Meyrowitz and Sherry Turkle, theorist/observers of the television and internet experience respectively. The history and significance of television and the internet will be discussed through various theoretical lenses, and near the conclusion of the seminar, participants will convene a great debate (provoked in part by the reflections of the media innovator Moses Znaimer in the documentary TVTV) on the meaning of television and newer media. The course closes with reflections on critical thinking about media environments, in the company of Richard Lanham, Marshall McLuhan and Manuel Castells.

Evaluation:

In order to foster understanding and research applications of communications history approach, the main course project sets a topic of mutual agreement between instructor and student. The student then develops this topic in four parts. The order of the first three papers can be adjusted to suit the student project.

1. Technology paper 5 pages double spaced 10%
2. History paper 5 pages double spaced 15%
3. Theory paper 5 pages double spaced 15%
4. Final project, building on all papers 20 pages double spaced minimum
(In seminar presentation with handout 10%, and final paper 30%) 40%
5. There are multiple ways to participate in the Communications History seminar
Initial Media diary and reflection 5%
Seminar/participation 5%
Web participation (classroom without walls) 5%
Debate participation (in class event) 5%

Total 100%

(This evaluation may be modified with notice at the beginning of term.)

Course Outline

Note: Each session is approximately 2 hours.

Session 1: Introduction to the course: Communications: History, Theory, Technology
Session 2: : McLuhan, Innis and the Toronto School of Communications: Understanding media old and new: A communications history/media ecology approach
Session 3: The Rise of the Network Society: Theorizing global digital convergence: What is "new" about new media?
Session 4: The history of television in a global context.
Session 5: Theorizing and expressing the experiences of television
Session 6: The history and experience of the internet
Session 7: Public television under extreme pressure in a global context.
Session 8: Private television faces the challenges of new media in a global context: The AOL/Time Warner merger, the case of CityTV - original materials from the Znaimer archive at U of Toronto will be introduced
Session 9: Innovating television and digital media: City TV, I-crave TV, Web TV, PC/TV and the next steps … discussion continues: Content, carriage, audiences, screenings
Session 10: Screenings including TVTV and the CNN coverage of the AOL/Time Warner merger: .Assistance will be provided to develop the seminar collaborative video/web/print project on communications history, and to assist with preparation of debate support materials
Session 11: The great debate: Formulating the meaning of TV and new media? Debating a master practitioner
Session 12: Critical understanding of new media: cultural literacies, effects of relationships with our technologies, power questions, and theories that comprehend the transformation of the media environment.
Session 13: Class presentations - final research projects

About the Instructor

Liss Jeffrey, AB, (Social Relations) Harvard; M.E.S. (Environmental Studies, Communications Media Analysis) York; Ph.D. (Communications) McGill, has taught graduate seminars in New media policy, Communications history, theory and technology, and Understanding McLuhan and Media since 1997 at the University of Toronto. She is also the director of the McLuhan Global Research Network.

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