200-level

COMS201
Media Audiences
Description
How does our media consumption shape our opinions, actions, identities and lives? How do audiences influence the production and circulation of media? How do we create our own media presence online, and act as an audience for each other? This course examines the relationship between audiences and media. We discuss theory and research that represents audiences as passive consumers of media products, active decoders of media texts, producers of our own representations online, and participants in interactive media production. The course looks at a broad range of media forms and content to reflect and build on your own experiences of being media audience members. "Media Audiences" will encourage you to reflect on your own relationship with media, and to consider the broader contexts that shape your listening, viewing, reading, and interaction. This course has on-campus and distance options. It has a one hour lecture and a two-hour workshop each week. The course includes group work in classes and for assessments, and requires active in-class engagement. You will advance core skills in reading and carrying out research, with reflection, collaborative work, networking, creativity, writing and presentation.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from COMS or CULT, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CULT201
COMS204
Advertising and Cultural Consumption
Description
Advertising has become a central component of our contemporary cultural environment that finances all of the communication industries. However, the effects of advertising may lie far outside only the funding of media systems. This course explores the relationship between advertising, consumerism, identity, the environment and citizenship. You will learn be deconstructing the system, analysing advertisements, examining the effects of advertising on identity, and looking into the rise of ethical brands and sustainability. Then will study advertising from an insider perspective, finding out how advertising agencies work and ads are created. This course has on-campus and distance options. It includes group work and requires active engagement in class, or online for distance students, to create and share work with others, in order to learn from and support each other.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from COMS, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
CHIN206
Global China on Screen
Description
Like in the West, Chinese cinema has held a significant share in the cultural industry since the first film was made in China in 1905. Being a cultural product, film has always been seen as reflection of its contemporary culture, despite various aspects it might have taken. Taking primarily a Cultural Studies approach, this course introduces Chinese culture, especially a series of its contemporary phenomena by surveying Chinese cinema. The course will be taught in English and all Chinese films are subtitled. By viewing the films in class and many more available in the well-resourced UC library on the course's recommendation and students' own interests, the course encourages students to further develop their study in one or more of the following areas: Studies of Chinese culture and society; Cross-cultural studies with a focus on China/Asia and beyond; Cultural studies with a special emphasis on postmodernism (including postcolonialism) and Third World culture; Film studies focusing on national cinema. CHIN206 and CINE215 are the same course.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CHIN or CINE, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CINE215, CHIN306, CULT334
JAPA212
Japanese Society and Culture in Film and Literature
Description
This course covers outstanding examples of modern (post 1867) and contemporary literature and film, including animated movies. Works covered have been selected both for their artistic merit and for their culturally interesting subject matter. Themes include the conflict between traditional and western values, colonialism and ethnic minorities such as Okinawa, the effects of the Second World War and the atomic bombings, post-war economic growth and its effect on people’s lives, the 1960s-70s student movement, and contemporary postmodern consumer society. The aims of the course are twofold: (a) to provide some basic skills in ‘reading’ modern Japanese literature and film and (b) to promote an understanding of Japanese society and its people. No knowledge of Japanese language is required.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
JAPA108, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.

Not Offered Courses in 2024

100-level

PHIL137
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
Description
Computing technology has already revolutionized our lives and shows no signs of stopping. Algorithms are everywhere. AI powered by our data are increasingly determining our lives. The implementation of this technology has leapt ahead of our understanding of its ethical, societal, legal, and political significance. From self-driving cars to autonomous weapons, data-brokers to the metaverse, no aspects of our lives will be the same again. In this class, we shall learn about, and bring together in conversation, cutting edge work from both within and outside academic philosophy concerning the challenges posed by the ever-increasing use of computing technology and A.I. Questions raised in the course include: do tech companies violate our right to privacy when they harvest our data? Can automated algorithmic decision-making deliver us a future free of human bias? How could you tell whether a computer has a mind? And is the human brain in fact a computer?
Occurrences
PHIL137-24S2 (C)
Semester Two 2024 - Not offered
For further information see PHIL137 course details
PHIL137-24S2 (D)
Semester Two 2024 (Distance) - Not offered
For further information see PHIL137 course details
Points
15 points
Restrictions
POLS137, DIGI102