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SOCIAL HISTORY OF MEDIA

CODE	108268
ACADEMIC YEAR	2023/2024
CREDITS	6 cfu during the 2nd year of 11417 MEDIA, COMUNICAZIONE E SOCIETA' (L-20) - SAVONA
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR	M-STO/04
LANGUAGE	Italian
TEACHING LOCATION	SAVONA
SEMESTER	2° Semester
TEACHING MATERIALS	AULAWEB

OVERVIEW

The classes aim at offering a basic knowledge of the history of both mass media and the latter's role and influence in society, with special reference to the contemporary era.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

"The module aims to provide historical tools to enable students to acquire and develop the basic skills and knowledge required to understand the role and transformations of mass media (with special attention to the press, cinema,radio, television, and new media) in the contemporary era in a global Perspective."

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The classes aim at offering a basic knowledge of the history of mass media and at outlining the latter's contribution to reshape society, with special reference to the contemporary era. As a result, the lessons will enable students to become acquainted with the most relevant historical stages in the growth of mass media, to define their role and the major influences in society, mainly in the last couple of centuries, to develop an adequate understanding of these issues, to acquire the specific tools so as to elaborate critical and substantiated assessments about such social dynamics and phenomena, and to express their appraisals by resorting to the proper lexicon of the discipline.

PREREQUISITES

None. A basic knowledge of contemporary history is desirable but not compulsory.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (36 hours in total).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Mass media have largely shaped contemporary society starting with the propagation of news by means of the periodic press and the telegraph as well as with the resort to photography during the Nineteenth century. These phenomena gained momentum in the Twentieth century, first with the development of the motion picture and the evolution of radio in the interwar years and then following the spread of television in the postwar decades. They eventually reached a climax thanks to the new tools related to communication via the Internet at the dawn of the Third millennium. At the same time, the culture of images has progressively prevailed on that of the written word, while mass media have often fallen easy preys to attempts at propagandistic and advertising exploitation under not only totalitarian governments but also democracies. Classes intend to address such issues, paying attention not only to the case of Italy but also to the British and U.S. experiences for comparison purposes. Special regard will be given to mass media as tools to mobilize people politically and to create consensus under totalitarian regimes in the interwar years as well as to the more recent problems of media legitimacy and the spread of fake news.

The UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 4: Quality Education. Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development; Goal 5: Gender Equality. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world; Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

CARLO STIACCINI

Office hours: The teacher receives by appointment at DISFOR, Corso Podestà, 2 - office: 4C2. E-mail: carlo.stiaccini@unige.it

Exam Board

CARLO STIACCINI (President)

GRAZIANO MAMONE

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February, 2024.

Class schedule

All class schedules are posted on the EasyAcademy portal.

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Students will have the opportunity to take a written test on the topics examined during classes, if they want to. The non-mandatory written test will be scheduled between the end of the classes and the date of the first oral exam session. Students taking the non-mandatory written test will have the opportunity to supplement its outcome by means of an oral exam during the scheduled oral exam sessions. The outcome of the non-mandatory written test will be valid until the last exam session of the academic year 2023-2024. The oral exam will be on the whole contents of the readings listed in the “recommended reading/bibliography” section.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Oral exam and non-mandatory written test, both rigorously individual and without any aid (except for students who are entitled to such support as, for instance, conceptual diagrams on the basis of specific prescription). The non-mandatory written test is for students attending classes only. The questions – for both the non-mandatory written test and the oral exam – will aim at assessing students’ familiarity with the history, development, and multifaceted social influences of mass media, with special reference to the contemporary era. Questions will also assess the understanding of the interpretative categories used to reconstruct the historical phenomena related to the spread of mass media, the knowledge of the possible periodizations of the history of mass media, and the ability to resort to the specific lexicon of the discipline. Clarity in expressing one’s ideas and arguments will be a further element of evaluation. The final grade will result from the combination of the assessment of all these factors.

Exam schedule

Date	Time	Location	Type	Notes

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students attending at least 65 percent of frontal-teaching classes will be regarded as “studenti frequentanti”. Attendance will be noted at the beginning of each class.

All the students must visit the Aulaweb page (www.aulaweb.unige.it) regularly. All the information and materials related to this course are exclusively published on this website.