This course introduces students to the critical study of media – from social media and smart technologies of today to the audio transmissions and stone carvings of our predecessors. As we survey Instagram posts and tv shows, billboards and telegrams, we’ll consider what we can learn by examining each medium as a text, as an aesthetic form, as a technical object, as a platform, as an infrastructure, as an industry, and as a social and cultural force. We’ll study the creation, distribution, legislation, and consumption of media as both individual and social practices, focusing on how media define our social values and shape our collective behavior. Students will be invited to complete a series of reading responses, in the form of short texts and creative exercises that apply the course’s core critical concepts in analyzing various contemporary and historical media; as well as a midterm and final project.

Fulfills COL Sector 4 Humanities & Social Sciences.