Communication Studies (CMNS) 302
Communication in History (Revision 5)
Revision 5 closed, replaced by current version.
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Delivery Mode: Individualized study online with video/audio components.*
*Overseas students, please contact the University Library before registering in a course that has an audio/visual component.
Credits: 3
Area of Study: Humanities
Prerequisite: None.
Centre: Centre for State and Legal Studies
CMNS 302 has a Challenge for Credit option.
Télé-université du Québec equivalency: COM 2000.
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Overview
CMNS 302 is one of two foundation courses for the Bachelor of Professional Arts (Communication Studies) degree program. It follows the interactions between media and society in a number of technological contexts: oral and literate cultures, manuscript and print cultures, electric, and electronic cultures.
Communication in History is intended to ground communication studies students in the field. The course surveys the development of communication technology and introduces some important scholarly debates about those technologies. In so doing, it tries to establish the notion that the history of communication technology is as much about ideas and practices as it is about events and things.
Course Objectives
Communication in History is intended to accomplish the following objectives:
- Understanding: to introduce major developments in the history of communication technology so that students can understand how innovation and institutionalization occur in different settings.
- Comparative analysis: to develop students' ability to compare and contrast among different technologies and across different cultural contexts.
- Application: through the study of debates and practices in the field to assist students in applying their understanding and critical abilities to their professional practice.
Outline
Unit 1: Introduction: Technology and Society
Unit 2: Literacy and Orality: A Debate
Unit 3: Scribal Culture into Print
Unit 4: Wired World
Unit 5: Image Technologies and the Emergence of Mass Society
Unit 6: Radio: The People's Medium
Unit 7: TV Times
Unit 8: Computer Networks
Evaluation
To receive credit for CMNS 302, you must complete all of the assignments and the final examination, and achieve a minimum composite course grade of “D” (50 percent). The chart below summarizes the course activities and the credit weight associated with each assignment.
| Summary and Commentary | Critical Book Review | Research Paper | Final Exam | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15% | 15% | 30% | 40% | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Course Materials
Textbook
Crowley, David, and Paul Heyer. 2007. Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.
Compact Disk
War of the Worlds. Original broadcast by Mercury Theatre, October 30, 1938, starring Orson Welles. © 1988 Howard Koch.
Other Materials
The course materials also include a study guide, student manual, and a reading file.
Library-based course materials
Viewing
The videotapes listed below are held on reserve for students enrolled in Communication Studies 302, and are available on request from the Athabasca University Library. As you work your way through the course, you will be directed to view these videos.
Invasion from Mars: How Orson Welles Panicked a Nation. Production for The Open University. © BBC The Open University, 1988.
Life and the Machines. Produced by Sleeping Giant Productions in association with Vision TV and TVOntario, 1995.
Listening
Copies of the following audiocassette tape are held on reserve for students enrolled in Communication Studies 302, and are available on request from the Athabasca University Library.
“Turning Points in Public Broadcasting: The CBC at 50,” by David Cayley. CBC “Ideas.” © 1986 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Special Course Feature
Students registered in this course may take part in computer conferencing.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.
Opened in Revision 5, January 24, 2008.
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Last updated by SAS 05/08/2015 15:54:16
