COMS201-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016

Media Audiences

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 11 July 2016
End Date: Sunday, 13 November 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 24 July 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 9 October 2016

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.

How does our media consumption shape our opinions, actions, identities and lives? How do
audiences influence the production and circulation of media? How do we create our own media
presence online, and act as an audience for each other? This course will examine the relationship
between audiences and media. We will 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 will look at 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” will encourage you to reflect
on your own relationship with media, and to consider the broader contexts that shape your
listening, viewing, reading, and interaction.

We will also be intertwining the theory of audiences with a ‘live' research exercise which will guide
you through the necessary steps to conducting your own research.

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

15 points at the 100 level in COMS. Students without this prerequisite, but with at least a B average in 60 points of relevant courses, may enter the course with the approval of the Department Coordinator or the Undergraduate Coordinator for COMS.

Restrictions

Equivalent Courses

Course Coordinator

Zita Joyce

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Literature review 15 Aug 2016 20% 1500 words
Collaborative research report 10 Oct 2016 35% 3000-5000 words
Tutorial attendance 5% Participate in all 6 tutorials.
Book responses 10% Due 28 July, 11 August, 8 September, 22 September.
Final exam 30%

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 Learn page also contains extra material for each week, which will be
referred to in the lectures, and should be useful for your own research and exam questions.

The course readings will be available as PDFs on Learn.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $717.00

International fee $2,913.00

* 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

  • COMS201-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016
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