| Description: | This course aims to give a historical perspective on all those fields of the applied arts which are connected with a communication process. As this kind of communication is dependent upon the mass media for its diffusion, this course offers a general survey of these media throughout history. These include: literacy (the written word), printing (typography and mass literacy), mechanical and electronic media (photography, radio and television), and digital media (computer technology). The course also examines the principal theories of mass communication of Claude Shannon, M. McLuhan, and R. Jakobson. This course also examines how personal identity has come to be increasingly influenced by media representations and will explore the social consequences of this trend. This argument will be considered with special emphasis on the relationship between local and national identities and the emergence of a so-called "global culture". |