Aims:
This module introduces students to a range of themes in and various dimensions of media and creative Industries spanning the press, radio, film, television, gaming, books, museums, libraries, dance, and “new” media industries. By drawing from social and political theory, cultural studies, political economy, anthropology and cultural policy studies, this module aims to offer students critical perspectives of the field that question and integrate the relationships to media, culture and commerce, and address cultural and political struggles between commercial and public interests.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Understand various theories and analytical frameworks, which underlie globalized media and creative industries.
Understand how major media organizations are organized and structured and generate profits, and various actors behind the shaping of media organizations.
Understand how global media and creative industries are organizing their labor as they compete in global markets and seek to generate profit.
Understand debates around regulatory and policy frameworks governing media and creative industries such as print and broadcast media, cable networks, film, music, and the Internet.
Understand the environmental consequences involved in the production and consumption of media and new technologies.
Understand democratic struggles and tensions between commercial and public media systems and cultural policies.
Skills
Be able to interrogate changing media and cultural environment and its larger social implications.
Be able to critically question the role of states, cultural policy, media and cultural practices in media and creative sectors.
Be able to identify merging issues/trends, engage and identify debates, discussions, and emerging issues around media and creative industries.
Content:
The module content consists of strategies and organizations of the major media companies, environment, technology, Internet, research methods, law and policy (Intellectual Property, Privacy, Internet Regulation), labor, and big data.
Assessment
Essay
Assessment is made up of 1x 3,500 word essay
Assessment will be based on an essay of 3,500 words (10-12 typed pages) and will be evaluated on the following criteria: timely completion, understanding assigned literature, articulation of the issues, analysis, and clarity of arguments. You may EITHER choose to answer one of the questions listed below OR suggest your own essay topic. If you decide to choose your own topic of interest, you’re required to disucss your proposed topic with one of the lecturers, before you work on your essay. Please contact the lecturer who most aligns with your essay topic/issue.
1. Do the owners of major media companies have too much control over the range and emphasis of public culture?
2. The last two decades have seen the communication industries , both established and emerging, increasingly dominated by large multi-media conglomerates. Why has this happened and what are the consequences for creative production and consumer choice?
3. Please choose a media and cultural organisation or a media firm whose product or service you’re currently using, analyse its labor organisation and practices and contextualise them within current emerging labor structure.
4. Should the length of the copyright term be changed? Justify your answer.
5. Propose and argue for one change to current EU media regulations.
6. Investigate where your electronic goods (mobile phone, lapbtop, etc) are discarded, explain why they are discarded in the particular regions/territories, its impact on the environment and human condition and critically analyse policies and/or activism around them.
Plagiarism rate must be lower than 8%