Media Histories

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total expected time commitment is 170 hours across the semester, including class time.

None

None

None

CICU20011 Screen and Media Histories; 106-009 Screen and Media Histories

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject will explore the intimate connections between screen and media technologies and changing understandings of culture in the 20th century. It focuses on how innovations in print and photographic technologies, telegraphy and telephony, the moving image, sound recording, radio, film exhibition, TV and video, and the transformation of analogue by digital technologies, have enabled changing visions of culture. It studies terms such as mechanical reproduction and the culture industry, the optical unconscious and trauma, massification and broadcast, public sphere and media literacy, fragmentation and globalisation. Students will be encouraged, and given the confidence, to move between cultural histories and cultural studies. They will be introduced to the histories of key media technologies, and examine attempts to theorise the significance and influences of those technologies within cultural studies. As a result, students should have, on completion of the subject, a strong critical knowledge of how histories of media technologies are central to contemporary culture.

On completion of the subject students should:

• have developed a high level critical understanding of the relationships between media histories and Cultural Studies;
• demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the cultural histories of post-print media technologies;
• have mastered relevant research skills including use of the library, e-research skills, and appropriate referencing and presentation of written work with attention to intellectual honesty and a respect for ethical values
• have engaged with the question of how the changing forms of media over the last two centuries have been both produced by and, in turn, have shaped contemporary culture;
• develop methodological capacity and theoretical competency in Cultural Studies to be able to communicate effectively and have a critical understanding of the ways in which innovative histories of media can contribute to theorising culture;
• demonstrate the ability to effectively apply flexible reading strategies and writing practices in analysing media histories, while also recognising the value of interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge and its significance in Cultural Studies.

An 1600 word essay 40% (due mid-semester), a 2400 word essays 60% (due in the examination period). This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance and regular participation in tutorials. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

A subject reader and additional online resources will be available.

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.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

• 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.