University of New South Wales

This course examines the core of persuasive communications: the ability to reach a deep understanding of the people you are communicating with. This means listening, thinking critically, and asking the right questions. Who are they? Where are they? What do they desire? What keeps them awake at night? How do they make sense of the world? These questions are the building blocks for crafting the insightful campaigns that transform a clients' problem into a strategic and creative public relations or advertising solution. To answer them you need the right tools to understand and analyze consumers, publics, and media audiences.

This course provides a foundation in computational thinking. It assumes no previous programming background, but requires use of digital devices, such as tablets and smart phones, for a range of tasks (e.g. social networking, reading, essay writing, etc.). The course uses Python as the programming medium and uses real world examples from a variety of domains to motivate understanding.