Communication

This course focuses on the history of communication, starting with Greece and Rome, and continuing on to more present development in the area. Some examples include: Antique, The Reform, Renaudot, telegraph, and photo. In the second part of the course, students are presented with theories such as Cybernetics, School of Frankfurt, Structuralism, School of Chicago, Lasswell and propaganda, Functionalists, and the work of Lazarsfeld.

This course examines current events and the way they are covered in a variety of media outlets around the world, looking at framing, bias, stereotypes, context, story structure, and placement. Through lectures, discussions, a field trip, and class presentations, students analyze why news is reported as it is around the world and in the process become discerning media consumers better able to filter the noise and make decisions for themselves. The first half of the course is spent with lectures and discussions that examine the way news is covered around the world and why variations exist. The final half is devoted to student presentations on current event coverage. The presentations employ a "town hall" approach in which groups of students lead discussions on the issues and their coverage to classroom peers, being graded not just on content but audience engagement and participation. Topics of Discussion: Fake News, The Four Theories of the Press; News Values; News and Feature Story Structure; Media Effects and Communication Theory; Journalists and Media Organizations; Media Gatekeepers; Sources; Culture, Bias and Stereotypes; Language, Framing and Context; Legal Issues; Power and Economic Issues. Presentation Topics: Ongoing and breaking stories in the news.

This course introduces the background of China’s political institution and culture and provides overview of the relationship between China’s media and politics in a global context. The course provides a broad perspective of China’s political communication and a familiarity with China’s media system and its political consequences. Four general topics are explored: China's media system; China's international communication system; Chinese nationalism in international conflicts; China's public diplomacy and international relations. For each topic, the course is conducted with two lectures and one seminar. The students are divided into several groups, each of which will give a presentation on each topic. 

This course provides an overview of digital practices for translation and localization using open-source software. It covers localization and translation of software and documents. Topics include open-source software tutorials, creating and translating subtitles, group translation, and working on a synthesis.  

This introductory course gives students a critical understanding of the core principles of journalism. Students explore what news is, how news values have developed through time, and they gain insights in the specifics of reporting, news writing, and interviewing. They learn to critically reflect on these specifics in light of current debates about what journalism is and should be in a digital and global age. Students develop journalistic skills by writing news stories and critically self-reflecting on the journalistic principles that guide their practice.

This course engages with some of the key theories, approaches and findings that explore how language and social interaction underpin organizational life. The course draws on an interdisciplinary research field to interrogate the unique properties of "organizational discourse" and "institutional talk." It is structured around studies of organizational texts (e.g. recruitment brochures, mission statements, websites, and adverts), as well as studies of social interaction in organizational settings (e.g. business meetings, call centers, healthcare delivery, and sales encounters). 

The course examines how audiovisual as a means of perception (recognition) helps us understand the world and communicate with each other, covering the basics and applications of audiovisual communication, visual expression and practice.