Italy

This course is part of the LM degree program. The course is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course aims at training students to apply gender studies’ key concepts and theoretical approaches to the analysis of a series of contemporary social challenges and transformations in the fields of culture, sexuality, work, technologies, and politics, amongst others. After completing the course, students can recognize gender as one of the basic principles organizing human society and culture, mobilize the gender studies’ concepts to produce critical knowledge, and apply a gender-sensitive perspective in imagining emancipatory strategies and policies. The course introduces students to the main analytical perspectives of gender studies by analyzing a series of key-concepts developed by literature in women's studies, men's studies, and queer studies. Lectures focus on key-concepts including gender order, intersectionality, heteronormativity, (positive) marginality, care, androcentrism, subjectivity, and performativity. These concepts are analyzed theoretically and, later, applied to the analysis of concrete social phenomena and contemporary social transformation. The course includes lectures, seminars, group readings/discussions, and movie screenings. Students who successfully complete the course, are better prepared to participate in and contribute effectively to the larger public conversation regarding the role of gender in society and are able to apply the critical tools of gender studies in their academic, personal, and work environment.

The course focuses on the methods of gender studies and applies them to the context of medieval historiography. For this purpose, the course highlights narrative sources, legislation, treatises, literature, and iconography. Students are required to write a short paper demonstrating the use of the tools of historical research and communication, and the ability to customize one's own learning path. This course covers the multiple aspects of female monasticism in the Early Middle Ages through the analysis of narrative sources, charters, and iconography. The course illustrates the problem of the representation of female monasticism during the Early and Central Middle Age period. The use of conceptual tools in gender history allows students to identify the shapes assumed in the specific historical contexts through the construction of the social identity of individuals, both male and female.

This course presents the theoretical and computational foundations of brain-inspired artificial intelligence. The focus is on machine learning based on artificial neural networks, from simple models up to state-of-the-art deep learning models. The final part of the course introduces the use of neural networks as models of perception and cognition. Laboratory classes introduce students to computer simulations with artificial neural networks. The course discusses topics including artificial neural networks: mathematical formalism and general principles; supervised learning: perceptron, delta rule, multi-layered networks, and error backpropagation; generalization and overfitting; supervised deep learning; recurrent networks; unsupervised learning: associative memories and Hopfield networks, latent variable models, and Boltzmann machines; unsupervised deep learning; reinforcement learning; computer simulation as a research method in cognitive science; and connectionist models of perception and cognition. This course requires basic knowledge of mathematics (high school level), including notions of linear algebra, calculus, and probability, as well as knowledge of statistics and neuroscience as prerequisites for the course. Computer literacy is required for the lab practices.

The course focuses on the long-term economic development of Western societies, exploring the factors leading to the pre-eminence that they acquired over other world areas. Concepts and theories from the social sciences are used as a starting point for understanding the development of real economies in their complex social, political, and cultural contexts. Although the course focuses on the West (Europe and northern America), the developments which took place elsewhere are also considered. The introductory part of the course focuses on the preindustrial period, and introduces the theoretical framework of the "Great Divergence" (leading to the pre-eminence of the West over the East) and "Little Divergence" (leading to the pre-eminence of northern over southern Europe) to understand the emergence of key economic and political hierarchies between different world areas. The Industrial Revolution which took place in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries constitutes the core of the course. The paths to industrialization and modernization followed by other world areas are also explored. The final part of the course covers the period going from the so-called "first Globalization" (1870-1914) until today. The course discusses fundamental knowledge about the long-term economic and social developments that gave origin to the contemporary globalized and highly-interconnected (but also highly unequal) world.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course is intended for students who have a strong background in media studies and communication. The course focuses on mass media products using the specific tools of semiotic analysis. The course offers an introduction to the notion of the semiotic gaze applied to the media and the role of this gaze as a cultural phenomenon. The course includes a description of the main elements of contemporary media textuality and the increasing, yet ambivalent, process of media convergence, integration and transformation of media contents and forms. Attention is placed on the semiotic mechanisms able to generate links and connections between media objects and environments (games and videogames, TV series, fandom), and to activate a semiotic crossover that expresses itself in narrative, discursive and interactive dimensions. The course concentrates on concrete examples of audiovisual media texts and practices that are analyzed with different semiotic tools and concepts (from the specific dimensions of media textuality to the notions of media genre and format). The ultimate aim is the development of a semiotic gaze on both media-specific elements (the construction of the visible, the audible, rhythms and the syncretism of languages), as well as the relation between media textuality and experience. A special section of the course is devoted to the ways in which contemporary media texts and genres construct gender identities and the intersectionality with elements of race, color, class, age, and disabilities. Required readings include: SEMIOTICA DEI MEDIA. LE FORME DELL'ESPERIENZA MEDIALE and LA CONDIZIONE POSTMEDIALE. MEDIA, LINGUAGGI E NARRAZIONI by R. Eugeni, I MEDIA: STRUMENTI DI ANALISI SEMIOTICA by P. Peverini, MULTI TV. L'ESPERIENZA TELEVISIVA NELL'ETÀ CONTEMPORANEA by M. Scaglioni and A. Sfardini. After the first introductory week, students are invited to prepare class presentations based either on theoretical/methodological questions (related to the required readings), or on the application of different semiotic tools to specific case-studies. Assessment in the course is based on an oral exam and a paper on one of the topics discussed in class (i.e. forms of textuality and media practices, format and genres relating to gender and intersectional identities).

Alternating introductory lectures with seminar discussions and presentations by students, this course explores the time when Christians and Muslims fought for control over the Mediterranean continent, all the way to the wave of immigrants entering southern Italy today. One key component of the course consists in a number of fieldtrips to places such as Amalfi and Naples where students experience on site what they study in readings and in the lectures. The fieldtrips are organized in temporal sequence, and so are the readings and seminar discussion, in order to arrange the course roughly in historical progression from the early Middle Ages (ca. 800AD) to the present. The course focuses intensively on certain periods and themes, oscillating from the micro and local to the macro and the Mediterranean at large. Generally speaking, lectures present the outlines of Mediterranean life, culture, and politics in a certain historical period, and seminars focus more specifically on local history in that period.

This course explores the decisions that executives in the creative industries have to make in order to carve competitive positioning and ensure long-term sustainability for their companies. The schedule is organized into four modules with the goal to help students develop an analytic toolkit for understanding strategic issues and hone their ability to structure complex business problems and make decisions in lack of complete information. The modules are: 1) formulation of competitive strategy for a given business of a firm (how to play in relation to the external and internal environments and the changes both constantly undergo); 2) developing an understanding on how multi-business firms determine the scope of their activities (where to play in terms of product/customer segments, geographies and value chains); 3) operations management and its strategic centrality to cope with constant changes in customer preferences, networks of supply and demand, and developments in technology; and 4) analyzing strategic decisions that are specific of and key to current competitive landscapes in the creative fields. The ultimate objective of the course is to provide students with a coherent theoretical framework useful to the stimulation and development of their strategic decision-making in different situations. Prerequisite: students should be familiar with the fundamentals of management and microeconomics.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The student is expected to master the urban transformations in Europe in the 19th century. In particular, the student is expected to: learn theories and methods for reading and planning the historic cities and cultural landscapes; understand about the preservation of the historic cities as an asset for cultural and economic development; understand how the historic cities and landscapes can be objects of interest for cultural institutions.

This course explores the conservation and regeneration of urban heritage within a broader urban and planning framework. It focuses on two interrelated thematic axes:

• The recognition of historic cities and settlements as cultural heritage, where conservation and revitalization have gained global relevance in planning and development agendas. These heritage assets increasingly serve as catalysts for cultural tourism, the creative economy, and related activities.
• The reciprocal relationship between urban heritage conservation and regeneration, and the role of cultural institutions and practices as key drivers of community-based and sustainable development.

The examination of these themes offers a platform for critical reflection on the evolving definitions of heritage and value, and the implications of these shifts for conservation planning. These planning approaches—adopted by national and local governments and supported by international agencies—are critically assessed in light of the growing demand for a holistic, integrated understanding of heritage, particularly in response to environmental change. In addition to establishing a solid theoretical foundation, the course provides an overview of prevailing methods and tools in conservation planning. These are contextualized through relevant case studies drawn from Italy and other international settings. Key topics will be addressed through lectures and seminars, including: Urban Planning and Heritage Conservation; The "Patrimonialisation" of the Historic City; The Landscape Approach in Urban and Territorial Planning; Urban Heritage and Sustainable Development; International Frameworks for Urban Conservation; Methods of Value Assessment; Public Engagement and Participatory Planning; Urban Heritage in Contexts of Crisis; and Culture as a Driver of Urban Regeneration.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course content is divided into three distinct parts. The first part of the course discusses the evolution of the discipline from Human Computer Interaction to User Experience Design, focusing on the human, the computer, and their interaction. The second part of the course is on usability analysis and design, topics include a systematic discussion of the techniques and standards for the management of the process of user experience design, with particular attention to the phases of usability analysis (with and without the participation of users), and the user- and goal-oriented usability design methodologies. The third part of the course examines the guidelines, patterns, and methods for usability design. During this section the course discusses, with historical aspects, the framework on which the concrete aspects of usability design is based, and strong attention is given to the problem of usability for web applications and mobile apps.