Media Histories

This subject is not offered in 2009.

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.

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

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.

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.

A subject reader will be available.

• A Social History of the Media (2nd ed) (Asa Briggs & Peter Burke), Polity, 2005

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• 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.

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.