Communication at UCSD is a field of study which emphasizes the role
of different technologies of communication, from language to television,
in mediating human experience. It draws from such social science disciplines
as anthropology, psychology, sociology, and political science, and from
the humanities and fine arts, including theatre, literature, and visual
arts. Communication students will develop a critical awareness of the
communicative forces which affect their everyday lives.
The communication major is not designed as a training program in advertising,
journalism, production, or public relations. It provides students with
a solid liberal arts background necessary for graduate studies in communication
and other disciplines, and for professional work in a number of communication-related
fields, including primary and secondary education.
Though the emphasis of the major is not a technical one, the faculty
in the Department of Communication believe that students will develop
a deeper understanding of how communication works by exploring firsthand
the capabilities and limitations of a variety of media; students, therefore,
will have the opportunity to conduct part of their studies in video, writing,
theatre performance, or computer communication.
Within the communication department curriculum are three broadly defined
areas of study: Communication as a Social Force, Communi-cation and Culture,
and Communication and Human Information processing. Students take courses
in each of these areas.
How are social systems affected by communication technology? What is
the social organization of the communication industries? How is the information
presented by the media related to the characteristics of the intended
audiences? How do media fit into the power structure of societies? Courses
in this area address such questions. Students analyze mass communications,
the development of telecommunication and information technologies, and
the political economy of communication institutions both at home and abroad.
Film, music, advertising, art, theater, ritual, literature, and language
are forms of communication which embody cultural beliefs of the societies
from which they come. These media can influence and bring about changes
in social behavior, styles, and traditions. At the same time, individuals
and groups can reshape the media. Students will study the social production
of cultural objects, the cultural traditions that shape their form and
content, and various approaches to interpreting or "reading"
television, film, newspapers, language, rituals, and other forms.
How do people turn concepts and ideas into messages? What is the process
by which people receive and respond to those messages? Each medium—whether
it is language, writing, or electronic media—has different properties
that change the way people create and comprehend messages. The impact
of television on the individual, the effect of literacy on individuals
and on cultures, the ways that concepts are transmitted in film, and the
means by which computers expand communication potentials are examples
of topics investigated in this area.
The major consists of two lower-division courses and fourteen upper-division
courses. None of the major courses may be taken on a Pass/No Pass basis.
Upper-Division
*COSF 100: Introduction to Communication as a Social Force
*COCU 100: Introduction to Communication and Culture
*COHI 100: Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing
*COGN 150: Senior Seminar in Communication
One media methods course
Three courses beyond the introductory courses: (one must be chosen from each of the categories: COSF, COCU, and COHI)
Six upper-division communication electives
*These courses must be taken at UCSD.
Residency Requirement
Students are required to complete at least ten classes of their overall
work in the major at UCSD. Following are the communication classes required
to be taken at UCSD. See your college adviser for further residency requirements.
COGN 20: Introduction to Communication
COGN 21: Methods of Media Production
COSF 100: Introduction to Communication as a Social Force
COCU 100: Introduction to Communication and Culture
COHI 100: Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing
COGN 150: Senior Seminar
One COCU elective
One COHI elective
One COSF elective
One COMT elective
Requirements for the Communication Minor
(Effective fall 1998)
The communication minor at UCSD is a social science minor. None of the
courses may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Students are required to
take seven courses in communication as follows:
*COGN 20 (Introduction to Communication)
Two courses of your choice from the following 100's:
*COSF 100 (Introduction to Communication as a Social Force)
*COCU 100 (Introduction to Communication and Culture)
*COHI 100 (Introduction to Communication and Human Information Processing)
*Four upper-division communication electives within the areas of the
chosen 100 classes.
*These courses must be taken at UCSD within the communication department.
Note: COGN 100, COGN 150, 197, 198, and 199 may not be used as
electives within the minor.
The Honors Program
The Department of Communication offers an honors program to those students
who have demonstrated excellence in the communication major. Successful
completion of the honors program enables the student to graduate "With
Highest Distinction," "With High Distinction," or With
Distinction," depending on performance in the program. The honors
program requires an application. Students wishing to be considered need
to include the following in their application: one faculty adviser who
supports their admission to the program, a verified overall GPA of 3.0
and a major GPA of 3.5, and a brief but detailed description of the proposed
research or creative project.
Applications will be reviewed by a faculty committee, accepting students
who meet this criteria. Students who do not meet this criteria but who
have promising projects may be admitted by special dispensation with strong
faculty endorsement and a letter of recommendation. Once accepted into
the Honors Program, students are required to complete a two-quarter course
sequence, COGN 191A/191B in the fall and winter quarters of their senior
year. At the end of the fall quarter, students will receive an IP grade
report. This grade will change to the final letter grade at the completion
of the course sequence in the winter quarter. This grade is based on attendance
in the seminars and successful completion of the research paper or creative
production.
The Graduate Program
The Department of Communication offers a program of study leading to
the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Communication at UCSD seeks to combine
modes of analysis from the humanities and social sciences to explore the
history, structure, and process of communication. The graduate program
is conceived as a blending of the tradition of critical communication
research with the empirical tradition of American scholarship. The program
does not closely resemble any other communication department in this country.
It is related by sympathy and interest to mass communication programs,
but not by kinship. Historically, this department grew out of an interdisciplinary
program jointly sponsored by the Departments of Drama (currently, Theatre
and Dance), Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. The department
retains strong ties to the departments and disciplines from which it developed.
The study of communication at UCSD places major emphasis on historical
and comparative approaches to symbolically mediated human activity. The
graduate curriculum is organized around three perspectives: 1. Communication
as a Social Force, 2. Communication and Culture, and 3. Communication
and the Individual. Communi-cation as a Social Force deals with the history
and political economy of mediated communication and the study of the media
as social institutions. The department is particularly strong in the areas
of telecommunications, regulation, and information studies. Special interests
include the increasing importance of information and information technologies
in American society and the global consequences of media practices. Communica-tion
and Culture involves the analysis of culture, using traditions from literature,
folklore, history, sociology, and anthropology to focus on the social
construction of interpretation and meaning. Special interests include
the study of broadcast news, print journalism, commercial entertainment,
and live performances as communicative systems. The department is particularly
strong in the areas of popular culture, political culture, and the relationship
of nature to culture. Communication and the individual involves examination
of the individual as socially constituted through language and other media.
Special interests include computer-mediated interaction, the effects of
specified media practices on individual consciousness, and the language
and culture of the deaf community. The program also emphasizes a production
component in which students test theory in practical implementations.
Some faculty and student interests bridge the components of the curriculum.
Faculty research interests that do so include concepts of person and mind,
communication and collective memory; relations of language, power and
culture; gender and cultural forms; telecommunications and information
studies and communication and technology in the work place.
Ph.D. Requirements
- 200A-B-C (Introduction to the Theory of Communication as a Social
Force, Communication and Culture, and Communication and the Individual).
- 294, The History of Communication Research.
- At least three methods courses from the 201 sequence (see course listings).
- Four courses in communication history and theory (see course listings).
- 280, Advanced Workshop in Communication Media.
- 296, Communication Research as an Interdisciplinary Activity.
- First-Year Exam and Evaluation: At the end of the spring quarter of
the student's first year, the student must pass a comprehensive
written examination based on course work completed during the first
year.
- Language Requirement: All students are required to demonstrate proficiency
in one language other than their native language.
- Qualifying Examinations: Before the end of the fourth year the student
must take and pass an oral qualifying examination. The exam will be
based on two papers concerning two of the subfields covered in the program.
The student will also present a separate dissertation proposal at the
examination. At this time, the faculty will examine the proposal for
appropriateness and feasibility.
- Teaching Requirement: In order to acquire teaching experience, all
students are required to participate in the teaching activities of the
university for three academic quarters.
- Dissertation: Acceptance of the dissertation by the university librarian
represents the final step in completing all requirements for a Ph.D.
The dissertation committee must be approved by the department chair
and the dean of Graduate Studies.
Departmental Ph.D. Time Limit Policies
Students must be advanced to candidacy by the end of four years. Total
university support cannot exceed seven years. Total registered time at
UCSD cannot exceed eight years.
Courses
Lower-Division
General Communication
COGN 20. Introduction to Communication (4)
An historical introduction to the development of the means of human communication,
from language and early symbols through the introduction of writing, printing,
and electronic media, to today's digital and multimedia revolution.
Examines the effect of communications media on human activity, and the
historical forces that shape their development and use.
COGN 21. Methods of Media Production (4)
This course explores fundamental technical and social constraints shaping
media production: light, optics, electricity, news media technology, camera
techniques, basic editing languages, and aesthetic standards affecting
production decisions. Satisfactory completion of COGN 21 is required to
obtain a "media card."
Upper-Division
Communication as a Social Force
COSF 100. Introduction to Communication as a Social Force (4)
A critical overview of areas of macro communication and analysis, with
special emphasis on the development of communication institutions, including
broadcasting, common carriers, and information industries. Questions regarding
power, ideology, and the public interest are addressed. Prerequisite:
COGN 20.
COSF 120. The Transformation of Global Communications (4)
The information revolution has dramatically altered the telecommunications
and information technologies and services which constitute the infrastructural
nervous system of all international economic activity. This course is
an introduction to the technical and market changes driving the emergence
of a global information economy. Topics include the rise and decline of
regulatory consensus; the development of new systems, services and markets;
the growth of intangible, network-based transactions; the restructuring
of corporate production and products; and the emergence of new international
issues and conflicts. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 125A-B. Civic Participation (4)
What are the sources of political apathy and political engagement? What
are the variety of ways Americans express civic involvement and political
concern? Primary focus will be on the contemporary United States, but
with substantial attention to comparative and historical perspectives.
COSF 125B is a continuation of COSF 125A. This will be run as a research
seminar. Students will write library-based or fieldwork-based empirical
research papers of 25-40 pages. Prerequisites: COSF 100 or consent
of instructor for COSF 125A. COSF 125A and instructor consent for COSF
125B.
COSF 126. The Information Age: In Fact and Fiction (4)
Analysis of the forces propelling the "Information Age." An
examination of the differential benefits and costs, and a discussion of
the presentation in the general media of the "Information Age."
Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 127. The Internet Industry (4)
The political economy of the emergent Internet industry, charted through
analysis of its hardware, software, and services components. The course
specifies leading trends and changing institutional outcomes by relating
the Internet industry to the adjoining media, telecommunications, and
computer industries. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 128. Information Technology: Culture, Society, Politics (4)
A survey of recent developments in telecommunications, computer, and information
technologies, and the social impact of their melding into a new industrial
complex. The examination will be situated within the debates over the
so-called post-industrial society. The impact of information technology
on industry, work, stratification, politics, and culture will be considered.
Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 132. History of U.S. Political Communication (4)
Survey of the history of political communication in the United States
from the colonial period to the present. Students will work on term papers
in which they will undertake original historical research. Prerequisites:
communication major, COSF 100, or consent of instructor.
COSF 139A-B. Law, Communication, and Freedom of Expression (4-4)
An examination of the legal framework of the freedom of expression in
the United States. 139A covers the fundamentals of First Amendment law
through the consideration of key cases in historical context. Prior restraint,
incitement, obscenity, libel, fighting words, public forum, commercial
speech, and hate speech are some of the topics covered. 139B focuses on
the law of mass communication, examining the different legal treatments
accorded print, broadcasting, cable, and common carriers. The decline
of broadcast regulation, the breakup of AT&T, the rise of new forms
of mass communication, and the question of the public interest are of
central concern. Prerequisites: 139A-COSF 100 or PS 40 or consent of
instructor. 139B-COSF 100 or PS 40, COSF 139A preferred.
COSF 140A. Comparative Media Systems: Asia (4)
The development of media systems and policies in Asia, with emphasis on
the news media and television. Special attention to the impact of market
reforms in China. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 140B. Comparative Media Systems: Europe (4)
The development of media systems and policies in Europe. Differences between
European and American journalism. Debates over the commercialization of
television. The role of media in post-communist societies in Eastern Europe.
Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 140C. Comparative Media Systems: Latin America and the Caribbean
(4)
The development of media systems and policies in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Debates over dependency and cultural imperialism. The news
media and the process of democratization. Development of the regional
television industry. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 14CXL. Foreign Language Discussion (1)
Students will exercise advanced foreign language skills to discuss materials
and the correspondingly numbered communication language foreign area course.
This section is taught by the course instructor, has no final exam, and
does not affect the grade in the core course, COSF 140C. Prerequisite:
concurrent enrollment in COSF 140C.
COSF 141. History of U.S. Telecommunications (4)
This course provides a sustained historical focus on the developing social
form and industry structure of U.S. telecommunications, beginning with
the Post Office. Policy issues are regularly incorporated into readings
and discussions. Emphasis is placed on the emergence, around the turn
of the century, of the regulated, national telephone network system dominated
by AT&T and its extension. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of
instructor.
COSF 145. Communication and Development in China (4)
Communication is playing an increasingly important role in the political,
economic, and social transformations in China. This course explores the
interconnections between communication and China's pursuit of a specific
mode of development in the context of globalization. Theoretical discussions
will be combined with concrete analysis of media products and the changing
structure of Chinese communication industries. Prerequisite: COSF 100
or consent of instructor.
COSF 148. Computers, Work, and Society (4)
This course explores new ways in which information technology is used
to reorganize the work place and its social impact. Examines different
approaches to organizing work both historically and today, the social
forces affecting technological development, and the economic forces reshaping
industry and labor. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 159. Work and Industry in the New Information Economy (4)
This course, a research seminar, examines the evolution of the so-called
new information economy and analyzes the transformation of patterns of
work and industrial organization. Students will be expected to write a
research paper, typically on some aspect of the new economy in the San
Diego-Tijuana region. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent
of instructor.
COSF 160. Political Economy/Global Consumer Culture (4)
This course critically examines social and economic forces that shape
the making of this new global consumer culture by following the flows
of consumption and production between the ‘developed' and ‘developing'
worlds in the 1990s. We will consider how consumers, workers, and citizens
participate in a new globalized consumer culture that challenges older
distinctions between the ‘First' and the ‘Third World.'
In this course, we will focus on the flows between the U.S., Asia, Latin
America. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 167. Emerging Global High-Tech Regions: Labor and National Development
(4)
This course will pose critical questions about the nature of work, the
role of labor unions, and national development goals in high-tech regions
in the 1980s, 1990s. Case studies will consist of a number of common issues
in the following regions from Silicon Valley to Asia, Europe, and Latin
America: How do these regions fit in the overall development goals of
different national economies? What terms of work predominate in the global
‘information economy'? What is, and can be the role of the organized
labor within and across national borders? What are the implications for
labor rights? Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
COSF 171A-B. American News Media (4-4)
History, politics, social organization, and ideology of the American news
media. SF 171A surveys the development of the news media as an institution,
from earliest new newspapers to modern mass news media. SF 171B deals
with special topics, including the nature of television news, and with
methods of news media research, and requires a research paper. Prerequisite:
COSF 100 for COSF 171A; COSF 171A is required for COSF 171B.
COSF 175. Advanced Topics in Communication: Social Force (4)
Specialized study in communication as a social force with topics to be
determined by the instructor for any given quarter. Past topics include
information as a commodity and book publishing. May be repeated for credit
three times. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 180. Political Economy of Mass Communications (4)
The social, legal, and economic forces affecting the evolution of mass
communications institutions and structure in the industrialized world.
The character and the dynamics of mass communications in the United States
today. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 181. Political Economy of International Communications (4)
The character and forms of international communications. Emerging structures
of international communications. The United States as the foremost international
communicator. Differential impacts of the free flow of information and
the unequal roles and needs of developed and developing economies in international
communications. Prerequisite: COSF 100 or consent of instructor.
COSF 183. History of Communication Technologies (4)
A historical survey of the relationship of communication technology, mind,
and society. If communication technologies are artifactual extensions
of the human mind, their history may be traced back at least to the origins
of writing. The course, organized chronologically, will in different years
take up different technologies among writing, printing, telephone and
telegraph, film, broadcasting, and computers. Prerequisite: COSF 100
or consent of instructor.
COSF 186. Film Industry (4)
A study of the social organization of the film industry throughout its
history, addressing such questions as who makes films, by what criteria,
and for what audience. The changing relationships between studios, producers,
directors, writers, actors, editors, censors, distributors, audience,
and subject matter of the films will be explored. Prerequisite: COSF
100 or consent of instructor.
Communication and Culture
COCU 100. Introduction to Communication and Culture (4)
Processes of communication shape and are shaped by the cultures within
which they occur. This course emphasizes the ways in which cultural understandings
are constructed and transmitted via the variety of communication media
available to members. A wide range of cultural contexts are sampled, and
the different ways that available communication technologies (language,
writing, electronic media) influence the cultural organization of people's
lives are analyzed. Prerequisite: COGN 20, or HDP 1, or consent of
instructor.
COCU 110. Cinema in Latin America (4)
Analysis of the changing content and sociopolitical role in Latin America
of contemporary media, including the "new cinema" movement,
recent developments in film, and popular television programming, including
the telenovela. Examples drawn from Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, and other countries.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COCU 110XL. Foreign Language Discussion (1)
Students will exercise advanced foreign language skills to discuss materials
and the correspondingly numbered communication language foreign area course.
This section is taught by the course instructor, has no final exam and
does not affect the grade in the core course, COCU 110. Concurrent enrollment
in COCU 110 required.
COCU 120. The Problem of Voice (4)
This course will explore the problem of self-expression for members of
various ethnic and cultural groups. Of special interest is how writers
find ways of describing themselves in the face of others' sometimes
overwhelming predilection to describe them. Prerequisite: COCU 100
or consent of the instructor.
COCU 125. How to Read a Film (4)
The purpose of this course is to increase our awareness of the ways we
commonly interpret or make understandings from movies and to enrich and
increase the means by which one can enjoy and comprehend movies. We will
talk about movies and we will explore a range of methods and approaches
to film interpretation. Readings will emphasize major and diverse theorists,
including: Bazin, Eisenstein, Cavell, and Mulvey. Prerequisite: COCU
100 or consent of instructor.
COCU 127. Folklore and Communication (4)
Folklore is an important variety of noncommercial communication in societies
dominated by commercial media. A source of alternative understandings,
folklore is characterized by particular styles, forms, and settings. This
course introduces a wide range of folklore genres from different cultures
and historical periods, including oral narrative, material folk arts,
dramas, and rituals. We will pay special attention to the relation between
expressive form and social context. Sources include folklore texts, ethnographies,
performances on film and videotape, novels, autobiographies, and student
observations and experiences. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of
the instructor.
COCU 128. Folklore and Mass Media (4)
Local personal, vernacular, and oral traditions coexist with and influence
the mass-produced, mass-mediated culture of the late twentieth century.
This course examines the history of this influence, using materials such
as oral histories, life stories, urban legends, and soap operas to explore
the conjunctions of folklore and commercially produced entertainments
in everyday social life. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 130. Tourism: Global Industry and Cultural Form (4)
The largest industry in the world has far-reaching cultural ramifications.
We will explore tourism's history and its contemporary cultural effects,
taking the perspective of the "toured" as well as that of the
tourist. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 132. Gender and Media (4)
This course examines the work of women artists and the history of the
representation of women in the media, from the beginnings of cinema to
the present, and offers a basic introduction to feminist media theory.
It focuses on the representation of gender, and narrative and experimental
strategies used by women media makers, and the role of the female spectator.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 134. Communication, Politics, and Citizenship in America (4)
The citizen, free enough and informed enough to make political choices,
supported by democratic social institutions and representative political
institutions, lies at the heart of democratic theory. But who is entitled
to be a citizen? Are citizens adequately informed? Do social and political
institutions make possible or stand in the way of their ability to express
their needs and interests? This course will examine these questions, and
changing theoretical and practical answers to them, from colonial times
to the present. Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
COCU 135. Public Relations in Society (4)
Using modules, this course introduces students to public relations and
allows them to analyze its place in our increasingly complex society.
The three modules are designed and structured to go from an understanding
of what public relations is to allowing you the opportunity to identify
and analyze its role in society. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent
of the instructor.
COCU 137. The Politics of Bodies (4)
This course will explore the construction of gendered bodies and gendered
sexuality in the late twentieth century, postindustrial culture(s). Through
the use of fiction, film and theory as well as political, historical and
media analysis, we will examine the contested terrain, including the race
and class coding, of such issues as abortion, infertility, eating disorders,
gender identity, and AIDS. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or Women's Studies
2A, B, or C.
COCU 138. Feminist Theory (4)
This class is designed to initiate students into the pleasures, pains,
and perplexities of critical thinking about gender. We will survey a wide
variety of thinkers and issues, consider some of the historical as well
as contemporary debates within western feminist thought, and develop tools
of analysis for future work. Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
Recommended: Women's Studies/Cultural Traditions 2A, B, or C.
COCU 139. Reproductive Discourse and Gender (4)
In this course we will examine as a problem of discourse and culture the
controversies surrounding the development and use of the new technologies
of human genetics and reproduction. Of particular interest will be the
way in which these new technological practices and processes test, erode,
or undermine traditional understanding of "human nature" and
relationship while enforcing traditional understanding of gender. Prerequisite:
COCU 137 or Women's Studies 2A, B, or C.
COCU 140. Television, Culture, and the Public (4)
How and what does television communicate? Emphasis will be on contemporary
U.S. television programming, placed in comparative and historical context.
Special topics may include: TV genres; TV and politics; TV and other media.
Frequent in-class screenings. Prerequisite: COGN 20 or consent of the
instructor.
COCU 144. Language and Society (4)
An introduction to the major ideas and methods in the social study of
language. Topics include the history of English, bilingualism, the mechanics
of ordinary conversation, and national language policies. No background
in formal linguistics is required. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent
of instructor.
COCU 148. Communication and the Environment (4)
Survey of the communication practices found in environment controversies.
The sociological aspects of environmental issues will provide background
for the investigation of environmental disputes in particular contested
areas, such as scientific institutions, communities, work-places, governments,
popular culture, and the media. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of
instructor.
COCU 149. Youth, Culture and Media (4)
The interrelationship of youth and modern media in the "American
century," youth culture and how it is closely tied to various media,
the 60s growth of rock culture and mass media's ambivalence toward
the young as social threats, and as a lucrative market for pop products.
Other topics include: violence, sex and gender relations, ethnic subcultures,
activism, advertising, video games, and the Internet. Prerequisite:
COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COCU 161. Material Culture: Design and Social Process (4)
An investigation of the connections between material culture and the technical
and social forces affecting its production and use. Analytic topics include
dress, gardening, and urban planning. Prerequisite: COGN 20 or consent
of instructor.
COCU 162. Popular Culture (4)
An overview of the historical development of popular culture from the
early modern period to the present. Also a review of major theories explaining
how popular culture reflects and/or affects patterns of social behavior.
Prerequisite: COGN 20 or Soc. 1A or consent of instructor.
COCU 163. Popular Culture in Contemporary Life (4)
Treats the products of the modern culture industries and theories of their
social and political importance. We will look at a wide range of cultural
forms, including music, television, fashion, food, and landscapes. Special
attention will be paid to questions of how popular culture is consumed,
what it means to its audiences, and to gender, racial and ethnic differences
among producers and consumers. Prerequisite: upper-division standing.
COCU 164. Multinational Media, Conglomerate Culture (4)
To understand the workings of mass media conglomerates, this course will
study one media corporation in depth. We will examine its history and
present structure, paying attention to its diverse, interlocking sectors
(news, cable, music, publishing, animation, theme parks). Prerequisite:
COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 165. History, Memory and Popular Culture (4)
What role does popular culture play in shaping and creating our shared
memory of the past? The course examines diverse sources such as school
text books, monuments, holidays and commemorations, museums, films, music,
and tourist attractions. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 166. Cartoons (4)
This class relates cartoon programming for children to the history of
western childhood and the contemporary American culture of the child.
While other classes may deal with the effects of television on children,
this one is designed to encourage students to review the long-standing
western traditions of hope and fear associated with children that shape
these concerns. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of the instructor.
COCU 170. Advertising and Society (4)
Advertising in historical and cross-cultural perspectives. Topics will
include the ideology and organization of the advertising industry; the
meaning of material goods and gifts in capitalist, socialist, and nonindustrial
societies; the natures of needs and desires and whether advertising creates
needs and desires; and approaches to decoding the messages of advertising.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COCU 174. Persuasion and Society (4)
(Same as Soc/B 164J.) What is the role of messages intentionally designed
to be persuasive in society? How are messages crafted, and what impact
do they have? Specific domains of persuasive communication to be examined
will vary from year to year, but will typically include commercial advertising,
public information campaigns, propaganda, public relations, and schooling.
This course integrates research from sociology, social psychology, rhetoric,
and communication. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent
of instructor.
COCU 175. Advanced Topics in Communication: Culture (4)
Specialized study in communication and culture with topics to be determined
by the instructor for any given quarter. Past topics include critical
theory, rituals and spectacles. May be repeated for credit three times.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COCU 179. Colonialism and Culture (4)
This course examines colonial narratives, slave accounts, essays, and
stories by both colonizers and colonized. It also explores the issue of
nationalism in determining the limits of colonialism among minority groups
in the United States and in the Third World. Prerequisite: upper-division
standing.
COCU 180. Cultures and Markets (4)
What is the relationship between "culture"—those conventions
that anchor ideas and practices about self and society—and the "market"—the
site of exchange and the restless circulation of social energy? This course
will introduce students to the symbolic and practical import of commodities
in shaping everyday life. Students will be expected to do the assigned
readings and keep ethnographic accounts of the cultures that have grown
around the sites of market transactions, e.g., shopping malls, corporate
offices, network t.v., etc. They are also expected to write a paper integrating
the readings with their ethnographic materials. Prerequisite: COCU
100 or consent of instructor.
Communication and Human Information Processing
COHI 100. Introduction to Communication and the Individual (4)
An introduction to theories of human mental processes which emphasizes
the central role of mediation. The course covers methods of research that
permit the study of mind in relation to different media and contexts of
use. The traditional notion of media effects is critically examined in
a number of important domains, including television, film, writing, and
oral language. Prerequisite: COGN 20 or HDP 1, or consent of instructor.
COHI 108. The Development of Communication in Children (4)
(Same as HDP 130.) The course serves as an introduction to research methods
in the study of child development. The special focus of the course will
be on how children acquire competence in symbolic communication, including
language, drawing, writing, and number systems. Observation of children
in their interactions with each others and adults will be required. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or HDP 1.
COHI 114. Bilingual Communication (4)
This course is designed to introduce students to the multiple settings
in which bilingualism is the mode of communication. Students will examine
how such settings are socially constructed and culturally-based. Readings
on language policy, bilingual education, and linguistic minorities, as
well as field activities will constitute the bulk of the course. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 115. Education and Global Citizenship (4)
The course introduces students to concepts, possibilities, and dilemmas
inherent in the notion of global citizenship. Students will formulate
goals and instructional strategies for global education and the expected
competence of an individual within a global society—able to focus
simultaneously upon many diverse elements, issues, and contexts. It will
examine the role that communication and curriculum can play in the formation
of identity, language use, and civic responsibility of a global citizen.
Prerequisite: COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 117. Language, Thought, and the Media (4)
This course examines the ways in which various communicative channels
mediate human action and thought. A basic premise of the course is that
human thought is shaped in important ways by the communicative devices
used to communicate. There is a particular emphasis on how thought develops,
both historically and in the individual. Prerequisite: COHI 100 or
consent of instructor.
COHI 119. Learning to Read (4)
This course explores learning to read as a process involving individual,
cultural, and social resources. Reading difficulty is understood as induced
by lack of resources, such as access to books or access to strategies
for decoding, comprehension, and analysis of written text. Activities
of reading are taken as a basic context for understanding patterns of
chronic and pervasive reading difficulty in their populations. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 120. Reading the Web (4)
This course explores how networked computing has helped change many aspects
of modern life, from how we manage illness to how we see ourselves culturally.
The focus of the class is the online venue—how has the Web become
part of daily life? What is different about goods, services, and events
that transpire online? What theories of communication and social interaction
are useful in understanding online behavior? Prerequisite: COHI 100
or consent of instructor.
COHI 121. Literacy, Social Organization, and the Individual (4)
This course will examine the historical growth of literacy from its earliest
precursors in the Near East. The interrelation between literate technology
and social organization and the impact of literacy on the individual will
be twin foci of the course. Arriving at the modern era, the course will
examine such questions as the impediments to teaching reading and writing
skills to all normal children in technological societies and the relation
between literacy and national development in the Third World. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or COCU 100 or HDP 1 or consent of instructor.
COHI 122. Communication and the Community (4-4)
This course examines various forms of communication that affect people's
everyday lives. Focusing on ways that ethnic communities transmit and
acquire information, and interact with mainstream institutions, we examine
a variety of alternative local media, including murals, graffiti, newsletters,
and community radio. Prerequisite: COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 123. Children and Media (4)
A course which analyzes the influence of media on children's lives.
The course adopts an historical as well as social perspective on childhood
within which media plays a role. Among media studied are books, films
for children, video games, computer games, and television. Prerequisite:
COGN 20 or HDP 1 or consent of instructor.
COHI 124. Voice: Deaf People in America (4)
The relationship between small groups and dominant culture is studied
by exploring the world of deaf people who have for the past twenty years
begun to speak as a cultural group. Issues of language, communication,
slef-representation, and social structure are examined. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 125. Communication in Organizations (4)
Organizations are analyzed as historically-evolving discursive systems
of activity mediated by talk, text, and artifacts. The class covers sense
making, coordinating, symbolizing, talking, negotiating, reading and writing,
story-telling, joking, and visualizing in organizations. Exemplary case
studies, employing several complementary theoretical frameworks, are used
to analyze these communicative processes. Prerequisite: COHI 100 or
consent of instructor.
COHI 126. Toys and the Material Life of Children (4)
This course reviews a history of toys and those used by children. Toys
will be studied from the view of their imagery and market popularity,
including dolls, action figures, blocks, trains, cars, computer games,
and "educational toys." Students will analyze the toy industry
and its impact on childhood, leisure, and family life. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 134. Language and Human Communication (4)
This course looks at the interaction of technology, culture, and language,
with a focus on narrative styles. Theories on the role of technology in
shaping and transforming talk are examined. Cultural properties such as
physical space and work traditions are studied as they bear on styles
of talking and talking about the world. Storytelling, humor, and talk
of children are used as examples of styles of talking. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 143. The Psychology of the Filmic Text (4)
The course will examine a variety of films using different perspectives
and methods of psychology to analyze the types of problems raised by the
nature of cinematic communication. Topics will include an introduction
to basic elements of cinematography, theoretical and technical bases of
film's "grammar," perception of moving pictures, the function
and status of sound, the influence of film on behavior and culture (and
vice versa), the representation of psychological and social interaction,
the communication of narrative and spatial information formation, the
generation and translation of film's conventions, and the parameters
which the medium and the culture impose upon the attempt to express various
forms of abstraction in the concrete visual language of film. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COHI 175. Advanced Topics in Communication: Human Information Processing
(4)
Specialized study in communication: human information processing with
topics to be determined by the instructor for any given quarter. May be
repeated for credit three times. Prerequisite: COHI 100 or consent
of the instructor.
Communication Media Methods
COMT 100. Non-Linear/Digital Editing (4)
This course will prepare students to edit on non-linear editing facilities
and introduce aesthetic theories of editing: time code editing, time line
editing on the Media 100, digital storage and digitization of audio and
video, compression, resolution and draft mode editing. By the end of the
course students will be able to demonstrate mastery of the digital editing
facilities. Prerequisites: communication majors, senior standing, COGN
21 or consent of instructor.
COMT 101. Television Analysis and Production (6)
An introduction to the techniques and conventions common to the production
of news, discussion, and variety-format television programs. Particular
emphasis will be placed on the choice of camera "point of view"
and its influence on program content. Laboratory sessions provide students
the opportunity to experiment with production elements influencing the
interpretation of program content. Concentration on lighting, camera movement,
composition, and audio support. Prerequisite: COGN 21 or consent of
instructor.
COMT 102. Introduction to Media Use in Communication (4)
Students will engage in projects, using media, to address theories of
communication. Students can use film, video, computers, pen and paper,
photography, posters, or performances for their projects. Prerequisites:
COGN 20 and COGN 21.
COMT 103. Television Documentary (6)
An advanced television course which examines the history, form, and function
of the television documentary in American society. Experimentation with
documentary techniques and styles requires prior knowledge of television
or film production. Laboratory sessions apply theory and methods in the
documentary genre via technological process. Integrates research, studio
and field experience of various media components. Prerequisite: COMT
101 or COGN 21 or consent of instructor.
COMT 104. Television as a Social Force (6)
Students will conduct simple field research and then make a series of
documentary video tapes to present research in a television format. Prerequisite:
COMT 101 or consent of instructor.
COMT 105. Media Stereotypes (4)
An examination of how the media present society's members and activities
in stereotypical formats. Reasons for and consequences of this presentation
are examined. Student responsibilities will be: (a) participation in measurement
and analysis of stereotype presentations; (b) investigating techniques
for assessing both cognitive and behavioral effects of such scripted presentations
on the users of media. Course can be taken to meet COCU major requirement.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COMT 106. Feminist Video Workshop (6)
This course explores the relationship between dramatic production and
theory in a feminist context. Examination of such questions as the nature
of collaboration, gender as an aspect of role identity, and sexual codes
of behavior. This class will create, as an ensemble, a live dramatic production
of a feminist video and collaborate on a dramatic production. Course can
be taken to meet COCU major requirement. Prerequisites: COGN 21 and
COCU 100 or consent of instructor.
COMT 107. Internet Journalism (4)
This course focuses on writing for Internet publications and using the
Internet for research and hypertext bibliography. Students will be required
to learn and use a web-programming language. News writing for the Internet
will be compared to news writing in other media, including print journalism.
Prerequisites: communication major, COGN 20 or consent of instructor.
COMT 108. Visual Knowledge (4)
This course reviews ways that visual imagery contributes to our understanding
of the world around us and ourselves. Students will consider uses of visual
images in science, the mass media, and everyday life. Course can be taken
to meet COCU major requirement. Prerequisite: COGN 20 or consent of
instructor.
COMT 109. Digital Media Pedagogy (4)
This course teaches techniques for teaching digital media: such as Word,
Photoshop, PageMaker, digital cameras, digital video, non-linear editing.
What are the special challenges digital media present to teachers and
students? How do digital media compare to older technologies such as typewriters,
film cameras, and analog video? How do gender, class, and age affect the
way students and teachers respond to digital media? At least six hours
of fieldwork at a computer lab of their choice or at Seiter's project
at Adams Elementary will be required. Experience with computers and/or
digital imaging recommended. Prerequisite: communication majors only.
COMT 110. News Media Workshop (4)
Designed for students working in student news organizations or off-campus
internships or jobs in news, public relations, or public information.
A workshop in news writing and news analysis. Prerequisites: COCU 100
and COSF 171 (may be taken concurrently) or consent of instructor.
COMT 111A-B. Communicating and Computers (4-4)
This course introduces students to computers as media of communication.
Each quarter students participate in a variety of networking activities
designed to show the interactive potential of the medium. Field work designed
to teach basic methods is combined with readings designed to build a deeper
theoretical understanding of computer-based communication. Courses can
be taken to meet COHI major requirement. Prerequisites: COHI 100 and
communication major or consent of instructor.
COMT 112. Ethnographic Studies of the Media (4)
This is a practical course on ethnographic fieldwork—obtaining informed
consent interviewing, negotiating, formulating a research topic, finding
relevant literature, writing a research paper, and assisting others with
their research. Course can be taken to meet COHI major requirement. Prerequisite:
COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COMT 113. Theatre Text to Media Performance (6)
This course will explore the relationships between theatre performance
and video and film production of dramatic texts as communication. Beginning
with a case study of one dramatic score and moving to a variety of short
dramatic pieces, students will be expected to apply both creative and
critical skills to scene study for theatre and film. This course will
include consideration of such elements as space, pacing, continuity, choice
and preparation of materials, improvisations and relationship to the audience.
Students may emphasize one area, such as acting, dramaturgy or camera
work, but all members of the class will take on at least two different
performance production tasks during the course. Seminar and workshop format.
Prerequisite: COCU 100 (COGN 21 strongly recommended) or consent of
instructor.
COMT 116. Practicum in Child Development (6)
(Same as Psych 128, HDP 135.) A combined lecture and laboratory course
for juniors and seniors in psychology and communication. Students should
have a solid foundation in general psychology and communication as human
information processing. Students will be expected to spend four hours
a week in a supervised practical after-school setting at one of the community
field sites involving children. Additional time will be devoted to readings
and class prep, as well as, six hours a week transcribing field notes
and writing a paper on some aspect of the field work experience as it
relates to class lectures and readings. Please note that the enrollment
size for each site/section is limited. See department course listing for
site/section descriptions. Prerequisite: COHI 100 or consent of instructor.
COMT 118. Oral History (4)
Theories, questions, cases and methods in oral history will be introduced
through readings, lectures, and concrete practice in oral historical research.
Topics will include the relationship between oral history and official
history; oral history and social history, voices and stances of the speaker,
stances of the ethnographer and politics of editing; recording and presenting
of texts; what is social speech in the individual. Course can be taken
to meet COCU major requirement. Prerequisite: COCU 100 or consent of
instructor.
COMT 120. Documentary Sketchbook (4)
Digital video is the medium used in this class both as a production technology
and as a device to explore the theory and practice of documentary production.
Technical demonstrations, lectures, production exercises, and readings
will emphasize the interrelation between production values and ethics,
problems of representation, and documentary history. Prerequisite:
communication majors only.
COMT 175. Advanced Topics in Communication, Media Methods (4)
Specialized "practice" in communication: media methods with
topics to be determined by the instructor in any given quarter. May be
repeated for credit three times. Prerequisite: communication majors
only.
General Communication
COGN 150. Senior Seminar in Communication (4)
This course examines in detail some topic in the field of communication,
bringing to bear several of the approaches and perspectives introduced
in the basic communication curriculum. Seminars will be limited to 25
students and class participation is stressed. A research paper is required.
Prerequisite: senior standing or consent of instructor.
COGN 175. Advanced Topics in Communication: General (4)
Specialized study in communication: General with topics to be determined
by the instructor in any given quarter. May be repeated for credit three
times. Prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor.
COGN 191A-B. Honors Seminar in Communication (4)
Preparation of an honors thesis, which can be either a research paper
or a media production project. Open to students who have been admitted
to the honors program. Grades will be awarded upon completion of the two-quarter
sequence. Prerequisite: admission to the honors program.
COGN 194. Research Seminar in Washington, D.C. (4)
(Same as PS 194, USP 194, Hist 193, SocE 194, Erth 194.) Course attached
to six-unit internship taken by students participating in the UCDC program.
Involves weekly seminar meetings with faculty and teaching assistants
and a substantial research paper. Prerequisite: participation in UCDC
program.
COGN 198. Directed Group Study in Communication (4)
Directed group study on a topic or in a field not included in the regular
curriculum by special arrangement with a faculty member. (P/NP grades
only.) May be taken three times for credit. Prerequisite: consent of
instructor.
COGN 199. Independent Study (4)
Independent study and research under the direction of a member of the
staff. (P/NP grades only.) Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Graduate
COGR 200A. Introduction to the Study of Communication as Social Force
(4)
This course focuses on the political economy of communication and the
social organization of key media institutions. There will be both descriptive
and analytical concerns. The descriptive concern will emphasize the complex
structure of communication industries and organizations, both historically
and cross-nationally. The analytic focus will examine causal relationships
between the economic and political structure of societies, the character
of their media institutions, public opinion, and public attitudes and
behaviors expressed in patterns of voting, consuming, and public participation.
The nature of evidence and theoretical basis for such relationships will
be critically explored.
COGR 200B. Introduction to Study of Communication: Communication and
Culture (4)
This course focuses on questions of interpretation and meaning. This course
will examine how people use texts to interpret the world and coordinate
their activities in social groups. Students will study both theories of
interpretation in the conventional sense and theories about the act of
interpreting.
COGR 200C. Introduction to the Study of Communication: Communication
and the Individual (4)
This course will draw on theorists who examine human nature as constituted
by social, material, and historical circumstances. This course considers
the media in relation to the ontogenetic and historical development of
the human being and an examination of the individual as socially constituted
in a language-using medium. The role of new communication technologies
as part of research methodologies is explored in lecture-seminar.
COGR 201A. Experimental Designs and Methods (4)
This course will familiarize students with a variety of experimental strategies
used to study the process and products of communication. The conduct of
two small experimental projects will be combined with reading and critique
of classic experiments in the field.
COGR 201B. Ethnographic Methods for Communication Research (4)
A supervised and coordinated group project will allow students to develop
competence in a variety of ethnographic approaches to communication. Subjects
covered include choosing a field-work site, setting or process for participation;
entry and development of relationships; techniques of observation, interviewing,
notetaking, and transcription. Course may also include photography and
video as research tools. All participant observation and interviewing
strategies fall under the review of the Committee on Human Subjects.
COGR 201C. Discourse Analysis (4)
Review and critique of studies employing discourse analysis, focusing
on the ways that "discourse" is identified, recorded, and reported.
A working notion of "discourse" will develop from works representing
diverse disciplinary approaches. Students will record, transcribe, and
report on segments of talk in an everyday setting. All participant observation
and interviewing strategies fall under the review of the Committee on
Human Subjects.
COGR 201D. Historical Methods for Communication Research (4)
Different approaches to conducting historical research in communication.
Such approaches may include the social history of communication technology;
structuralist and poststructuralist accounts of language, media, and collective
memory; and new historicist treatments of cultural history. Sources, documentation,
and the nature of argument from historical evidence are emphasized.
COGR 201E. Political Economic Methods for Communication Research (4)
Combines methodological critique of classic political-economic studies
of communication agencies and institutions with an in-depth research project.
The project serves to familiarize students with approaches to documentation
and to methodological issues associated with an overarching process or
trend, such as social effects of communications technologies, economic
concentration in the communications industry, the information economy,
transnationalization of networks, deregulation of telecommunications,
or causes and impacts of increasing television programming costs.
COGR 201F. Textual Analysis (4)
Students will explore the theoretical stakes and methodological implications
of a range of contemporary critical reading practices including but not
limited to psychoanalysis, literary criticism, deconstruction, and film
theory. Readings will be drawing from the works of Lacan, Foucault, Irigaray,
Derrida, Bahktin, Eco, de Lauretis, White, and Barthes.
COGR 201H. Qualitative Methods in Audience Research (4)
This course explores the social and economic definitions of media audiences
and the various qualitative methodologies for studying media use. Includes
audiences for television, video, and motion pictures, as well as users
of telephones, computers, and electronic mail.
COGR 201I. Ethnography of Information Systems (4)
This course will survey the rapidly growing body of ethnographic analyses
of information systems, to extend the basic principles of ethnographic
research and to lead students in the development of projects modifying
these principles for the emerging electronic environment. Students may
approach the course in one (or both) of two ways—either preparing
for and carrying out a pilot ethnographic study or studying the theoretical
literature in depth.
COGR 201J. Comparative Analysis (4)
The logic of comparative analysis and its role in communication research.
Scientific inference in qualitative research. Selection of cases. Problems
of translation across cultures.
COGR 201K. Sociological Analysis (4)
This course will introduce students to selected sociological perspectives,
concepts, and methods for the study of mass communication. It will explore
the implications of taking social relations and social institutions, rather
than individuals or cultural texts of discourses, as the chief units of
analysis.
COGR 205. Advanced Cultural Analysis (4)
In this class students will work on their own research projects which
use cultural analysis. They will review and critique work in progress
to prepare for conference presentations, publication, or in the case of
a dissertation, for the thesis defense.
COGR 209. International Communications (4)
This course will examine the material infrastructure of communication
flows internationally, focusing on the major transmitters and categories
of the messages and imagery. Emphasis will be placed on the impact of
international communication on national sovereignty and the character
of economic development.
COGR 210. Information and Society (4)
The social, legal, and economic forces affecting the evolution of mass
communication institutions and structure in the industrialized world.
Differential impacts of the free flow of information and unequal roles
and needs of developed and developing economies.
COGR 212. Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment Traditions in Communication
Research (4)
The course investigates the enlightenment concepts of rationality, subjectivity,
power, and truth and examines the anti-enlightenment attack on these concepts.
The aim of the course is to provide students the opportunity to read key
works in Western social and political theory, and to understand how these
underlie and shape different theoretical-methodological agendas in contemporary
communications research.
COGR 215. Regulation of Telecommunications (4)
The course will look at the history of, and rationales for, the regulation
of mass communications in the United States. The course will cover both
broadcasting and common carrier regulation. We will analyze telecommunications
regulatory structures as they were constituted historically with the 1934
Communications Act and examine their breakdown in the late 1970s. In a
larger vein, the course will examine the rise and functions of regulatory
agencies in modern American history.
COGR 220. The News Media (4)
History, politics, social organization, and ideology of the American news
media. Special attention will be paid to historical origins of journalism
as a profession and "objective reporting" as ideology; empirical
studies of print and TV journalism as social institutions; news coverage
of Vietnam and its implications for theories of the news media.
COGR 222. Childhood and Culture (4)
This course explores the social construction of childhood as organized
by the institutions of school and family. Of particular interest are media
consumption and leisure as they interact with the emergence of taste,
preference, and identity in children. Modern adolescence is also explored
as it bears on the social nature of childhood.
COGR 225A. Introduction to Science Studies (4)
Study and discussion of classics work in history of science, sociology
of science, philosophy of science, and communication of science, and of
work that attempts to develop a unified science studies approach. Required
for all students in the Science Studies Program. Prerequisite: enrollment
in the Science Studies Program or approval of instructor.
COGR 225B. Seminar in Science Studies (4)
Study and discussion of selected topics in the science studies field.
Required for all students in the Science Studies Program. Prerequisite:
enrollment in the Science Studies Program or approval of instructor.
COGR 225C. Colloquium in Science Studies (4)
A forum for the presentation and discussion of research in progress in
science studies, by graduate students, faculty, and visitors. Required
for all students in the Science Studies Program. Prerequisite: enrollment
in the Science Studies Program or approval of instructor.
COGR 232. Topics in Political Culture (4)
Drawing on work in political science, anthropology, sociology, history,
and communication, and examining studies both historical and contemporary,
this interdisciplinary seminar seeks to assess the value of the "political
culture" concept for explaining political outcomes. Specific issues
taken up in the seminar will vary year to year.
COGR 236. Popular Culture (4)
This class will be an opportunity for students to review major contributions
to the field from the disciplines of anthropology, history, literature,
sociology and American studies, and to experiment with some of the recently
developed methods for studying popular forms. They will then be able to
consider more precisely the potential and actual contribution of studies
of popular culture to the discipline of communication.
COGR 240. The Culture of Consumption (4)
(Cross-listed with HIGR 273.) This course will explore the development
and cultural manifestations of consumerism in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Topics will include the rise of museums, the development of
mass market journalism and literature, advertising, and the growth of
commercial amusements. Readings will focus primarily, but not exclusively,
on the United States. Students will be encouraged to think comparatively.
COGR 245. Performance and Audience (4)
This course will explore the history and nature of audience as a concept
and phenomenon. The first half of the term will be spent surveying the
historical nature of the relations of audience to performance and to social
groups. The second half of the course will address modern and contemporary
aspects of audience, taking into consideration the effects of radio, film,
and television on audience and nature of audience in contrasting cultures
such as that of contemporary China and the United States.
COGR 261. Advanced Seminar in Mediational Approaches to Culture/Mind
(4)
This course will examine theories of mind in which cultural mediation
is given a leading role. The work of anthropologists, psychologists, and
communication scholars will be studied in depth. Emphasis will be placed
on the methodological implication of cultural theories of mind for empirical
research.
COGR 265. Literacy (4)
This course will examine the historical growth of literacy from its earliest
precursors in the Near East. The interrelation between literate technology
and social organization and the impact of literacy on the individual will
be twin foci of the course. Arriving at the modern era, the course will
examine such questions as the impediments to teaching reading and writing
skills to all normal children in technological societies and the relation
between literacy and national development in the Third World.
COGR 266. Ethnography of Information Systems (4)
In this course students will survey the rapidly growing body of ethnographic
analyses of information systems, extend basic principles of ethnographic
research, and lead students in the development of projects modifying these
principles for the emerging electronic environment. Students will carry
out a series of fieldwork exercises and discuss notes and results in class.
COGR 271A. The News Media (4)
Theories and methods in the study of news, both print and broadcast. Topics
include the political economy of news, the social organization of news
institutions, and news as a cultural form. The course will normally concentrate
on U.S. news media but comparative studies will also be examined.
COGR 275. Topics in Communication (4)
Specialized study in communication, with topics to be determined by the
instructor for any given quarter.
COGR 280. Advanced Workshop in Communication Media (4)
This course is a project course in which students prepare a production
or experiment using one of the forms of media. The course is designed
to allow students to experiment in a communication form other than the
usual oral presentation in class or a term paper. Students can do a video
production, a coordinated photographic essay or exhibit, a computer insructional
game, a published newspaper or magazine article directed at a special
audience, a theatrical presentation, or some form other than those listed.
Prerequisite: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
COGR 294. The History of Communication Research (4)
Intellectual history of the field of communication studies from Robert
Park to the present. Explication and assessment of major research approaches
and classic studies representing both empirical and critical traditions.
COGR 296. Communication Research as an Interdisciplinary Activity
(4)
A course oriented toward a re-analysis of communication as a discipline.
The content of this course is to provide the student with as well-integrated
a framework as possible for initiating strong communication research in
the dissertation.
COGR 298. Directed Group Study (1-12)
The study and analysis of specific topics to be developed by a small group
of graduate students under the guidance of an interested faculty member.
COGR 500. Practice Teaching in Communication (4)
COGR 299. Graduate Research (1-12)
Advanced independent study in communication under the guidance of Department
of Communication faculty.
COGR 500. Practice Teaching in Communication (4)
A doctoral student in communication is required to assist in teaching
undergraduate Department of Communication courses for a total of six quarters.
One meeting per week with the instructor, one meeting per week with the
assigned sections, and attendance at the lecture of the undergraduate
course in which he or she is participating are part of this requirement.
