CSU General Catalog Description: Media development, growth, trends within context of political, social, and economic change.
About the Course: Prospective communications professionals, media consumers and history buffs living in today’s highly interactive, digital world can benefit from insights about how oral, textual, graphic and electronic communications have evolved.
This upper-division course is open to undergraduates and graduate students in all majors as well as guest students. The class goes beyond a cursory overview of famous people and dates (found in most introductory mass media courses) to examine how communication has shaped the way people acquire, use and share information. In fact, today’s interactive, electronic media environment has roots in the emergence of books, newspapers and magazines, point-to-point communication, and broadcast media.
The course takes largely a social history approach, taking into consideration how political, economic, social and technological factors shaped how people communicated in the past and how we interact with others today.
Students will complete 3 essay exams (90 pts.), 2 short thought papers (20 pts.), and a class project (40 pts.) that allows them to delve into an aspect of media history of particular interest to them. The course is organized into 15 weekly modules that allow students to flexibly accommodate their busy schedules and pace their work. During the summer term, students have the option of completing all requirements in 8 weeks or can take 11 weeks to complete the course on an extended, less frenzied schedule.
Topics (subject to change) include:
Unit 1 - Early Communications
- Media in Today’s Digital Age
- Origins of Communications
- Oral v. Print Culture
- Print Culture and Books
- Early Information Sharing
Unit 2 - Rise of Mass Media
- Newspaper and Magazine Publishing
- Telegraphy and Telephony
- Photography and Phonography
- Mass Entertainment: Movies
- Mass Entertainment: Early Broadcasting
Unit 3 - Modern Media
- Computing and Mobile
- Modern Print Media
- Modern Broadcasting and Multimedia
- Modern Entertainment Media
- Topics in Media History
Important Information
Students are encouraged to order their textbooks in advance from the CSU Bookstore or any other online bookseller.
Course requirements and weekly topic are subject to change.
Textbooks and Materials
Section 801
Required
- Writing on the Wall: Social Media - The First 2,000 Years, 1st Ed. (2013)
Standage, Tom
ISBN: 978-1620402856 - Communication in History: Stone Age Symbols to Social Media, 7th Ed. (2018)
Heyer, Paul and Urquhart, Peter
ISBN: 9781138729483
Textbooks and materials can be purchased at the CSU Bookstore unless otherwise indicated.
All other course materials are accessible via Canvas, Colorado State's online learning system. Each course module is composed of short, easy-to-read online Lecture Notes illustrated with photos and embedded videos. Additional multimedia resources and review questions are provided at the end of each module. Course content can be conveniently viewed on your smartphone, table or computer notebook.
Instructors
Kirk Hallahan
9702171500
|
kirk.hallahan@colostate.edu
Kirk Hallahan, a Colorado State faculty member since 1996, brings 19 years of professional experience, a keen interest in communications history, and experience teaching classes about media in society to the web version of this popular Colorado State course. He holds a Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his studies included media history and quantitative methods in history. His undergraduate degree at UCLA included film and broadcast history and coursework devoted to the history of science and technology and 20th century American history. He has published articles and conference papers on the work of public relations pioneers Ivy Lee and Edward L. Bernays.
