Master in Eco-Social Design

Media are phenomena of particular importance in the ever overlapping and always interacting realms of nature, culture and technology. How to determine the very essence of media, their functions and their evolution? How to understand their role in the development of human societies and ongoing processes of social change? What can we do in order to make constructive use of media and set free our influences on them and on the dominating patterns of information and communication technologies?

This seminar gives a general overview about media studies, its topics and approaches. Its teaching tries to combine theoretical, empirical and practice-oriented explorations in an interdisciplinary and critical manner. The course is designed to provide either basic introductions as well as to allow more advanced learning processes with reference to the following topics:

1.      1. Studies of media and communication as an interdisciplinary endeavor

2.      2. Types and characteristics of media and lines of their evolution

3.      3. The interplay of media, technology & culture within the matrix of human society & nature

4.      4. Models of communication and approaches to the passage from oral to written language

5.      5. The development of mass media, from printing to broadcasting, and their social impact

6.      6. Societal dimensions and the transformative capacities of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC)

7.      7. Media and their involvement in processes of modernization along the political-economic transitions from industrial to post-industrial societies

8.      8. Cyber-identities, virtual communities and networked-individualization: the psycho-social dimension

9.      9. Socio-cultural practices of using, appropriating and modifying media in private and professional contexts

10.   10. Media competence in general as well as with regard to inter-cultural and professional contexts

11.   11. Sustainability issues and potentials of ICTs and the use of media for eco-social transformation