COMS201-14S2 (C) Semester Two 2014

Media Audiences

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 14 July 2014
End Date: Sunday, 16 November 2014
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 27 July 2014
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 12 October 2014

Description

This course explores the way that audiences respond to the mass media, from news stories to science fiction and reality TV. It draws on a range of theories of audiences to address key questions around the media such as what violent images do to viewers, what we learn from the news and how ratings shape television schedules.

This course examines the relationship between audiences and media. We discuss theory and research that represents audiences as passive consumers of media products, active decoders of media texts, producers of our own representations online, and participants in interactive media production. The course explores a broad range of media forms (such as television, radio, film, the Internet, social networking, home theatre, cell phones and videogames), and content (including violence, music, reality television, soap operas, news, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs). “Media Audiences” encourages you to reflect on your own relationship with media, and to consider the broader contexts that shape your listening, viewing, reading, and interaction.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, you should be able to:
- describe a range of theories of the audience
- apply these theories to contemporary media issues and debates
- use these theories to critique each other
- use audience research to discuss the relationship of media and culture
- reflect critically on your own media use
- use audience research methodologies to design and conduct your own research.

Prerequisites

COMS101 or COMS102.  Students without this prerequisite but with at least a B average in 60 points in relevant courses may enter the course with the approval of the Programme Coordinator.

Restrictions

Equivalent Courses

Course Coordinator

Zita Joyce

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Final Examination 40% 2 hours.
Literature review 15 Aug 2014 20% 1500 words. The literature review is a form of essay that discusses and compares a range of literature of your choice. This literature will form the background reading for your ethnographic assignment.
Collaborative research report 13 Oct 2014 35% 3000-3500 words. We will discuss this process extensively in class, and there will be a lot of useful information on LEARN to help you.
Tutorial Attendance 5%

Textbooks / Resources

There will be a compulsory reading set for each week of this course, and it is expected that you will read it before the lecture. The course reader also contains extra material for each week, which will be referred to in the lectures, and should be useful for your own research and the and exam questions. The course readings will be available as PDFs on Learn.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $670.00

International fee $2,850.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All COMS201 Occurrences

  • COMS201-14S2 (C) Semester Two 2014
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