COMS425-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018

Campaign Planning with Social Data Analysis

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 16 July 2018
End Date: Sunday, 18 November 2018
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 27 July 2018
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 12 October 2018

Description

This is a course about planning media campaigns, in particular, it focuses on the use of social data analysis in planning campaigns. The course will introduce what campaigns are, their purposes and effects, their importance in the society, and the strategies of developing a media advocacy plan. A significant portion of the course will be about the use of social data analysis, including big data and social network analysis, in informing and evaluating campaigns. Students will be given opportunities to manage social data and develop their campaign plans according to their interests based on the data. Such plans can be related to social policies, public health and safety, human rights, etc., and can be delivered through different communication channels including traditional mass media and social media. Controversies around the ethical uses of social data for campaign planning will be discussed, and students will need to identify ethical practices of using the data.

The course will start with the basic procedures of planning a campaign, and then it will focus on social data collection and analysis methods that can be applied for different campaign planning purposes. You will need to complete the take-home assignments to show you have understand these methods. By the end of the semester you will need to write a brief proposal to suggest a new campaign plan, which includes using at least one social data analysis method to provide useful information for the plan.

Learning Outcomes

- Understand the role of data mining in planning effective campaigns
- Identify the use of social data to obtain useful information for a media campaign plan
- Acquire skills to conduct formative and evaluative research with social data and analyse the data
- Demonstrate the use of theoretical principles and models in setting up a campaign plan
- Acquire professional skills to develop and write a media campaign plan
- Develop a critical mind towards your own/others’ campaign plans
- Apply the social data mining skills learned in this class in the future career to provide useful information for the organization you work for
- Identify ethical ways of using social data for campaign planning

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department.

Course Coordinator

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences Head of Department

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Participation 5%
In-class presentation 10%
3 take-home assignments 30% Due weeks 4,7 and 10
3 in-class quizzes 15% Best 3 of 4 quizzes given in weeks 4,6,9 and 12
Final project: topic outline 5%
Final project: campaign proposal 25%
Final project: oral presentation 10%

Textbooks / Resources

All required readings are posted on Learn. You are expected to read the materials as part of the learning experience of this course.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,811.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All COMS425 Occurrences

  • COMS425-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018