Media Histories

Subject 106-009 (2008)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2008.Search for this in the current handbookSearch for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.500
Level: Undergraduate
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 1.5-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week
Total Time Commitment: Not available
Prerequisites: Usually fifty points of first year arts including 12.5 pts from an approved study area and completion of the first year Cultural Studies subject 106-101.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Chris Healy
Subject Overview:

The subject will explore the intimate connections between media technologies and changing understandings of culture over the last 150 years. Students will be introduced to the histories of major 'old'‚ media technologies, and examine attempts to theorise the cultural significance and influences of those technologies. The subject focuses on innovations in print and photographic technologies, telegraphy and telephony, sound recording, radio, film, TV and video, and the transformation of analogue by digital technologies. Students will be introduced to key concepts such as mechanical reproduction and the culture industry, the optical unconscious and trauma, massification and broadcast, public sphere and media literacy, fragmentation and globalisation. On completing this subject, students will have a strong understanding of how critical histories of media technologies are a rich resource for thinking about contemporary culture.

Assessment: An essay of 1000 words 25% (due mid-semester) and a second essay of 3000 words 75% (due at the end of semester).Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit up to 2-weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and/or special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.
Prescribed Texts: Prescribed Texts:A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.A Social History of the Media (2nd ed) (Asa Briggs & Peter Burke), Polity, 2005
Breadth Options: This subject is a level 2 or level 3 subject and is not available to new generation degree students as a breadth option in 2008.
This subject or an equivalent will be available as breadth in the future.
Breadth subjects are currently being developed and these existing subject details can be used as guide to the type of options that might be available.
2009 subjects to be offered as breadth will be finalised before re-enrolment for 2009 starts in early October.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:

  • have advanced research and analysis skills;

  • show critical and ethical self-awareness;

  • have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form;

  • develop advanced skills in media and information literacy and management.
Notes:

Formerly available as 106-009 Print to Pixels: Cultural Histories and as Media Histories and Cultural Studies. Students who have completed 106-009 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Related Course(s): Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts(Media and Communications)
Diploma in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Certificate in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Certificate in Arts(English Literary Studies)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (Cultural Studies)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (English Literature)

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