Networked society: new media for democracy?

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

By the end of the course, the student will be able to:

1) Discuss the impact of new (digital) media on contemporary politics, democracy and social inequalities.

2) Explain the opportunities and challenges which appeared in the era of digital communication and their impact on citizens.

3) Analyze and evaluate journalistic and scientific material embracing the topics of AI, new technologies and society.

4) Understand the potential of new media for innovation processes in democracy, business and global health sectors.

5) Integrate information from diverse fields and understand how your own specialization fits in a broader context of contemporary media trends.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

This course is appropriate for anyone interested in New Media and recent trends in Media Industry.

The course will be of particular interest to undergraduate students studying journalism and communication, social sciences, political science, economy and humanities.

Syllabus

Week 1: Social media and Internet as a public sphere – introductory debate

Week 2: Ethical, Inclusive AI and Big Data usage: a call to civic awareness Week 3: Can the Internet strengthen democracy? – discussion

Week 4: Can the Internet strengthen democracy? – case study

Week 5: Digital divide

Week 6: Digital divide and its influence on social inequalities

Week 7: Networked society: social movements, social protests

Week 8: Alternative online media: open editing, open news, gatewatching

Week 9: Information disorder: mis-, dis-, mal-information and its impact

Week 10: Fake news and factchecking updated

Week 11: Infodemic in the era of COVID-19 pandemic part 1

Week 12: Infodemic in the era of COVID-19 pandemic part 2

Week 13: Trust in media, media polarization and politics

Week 14: New business models in journalism

Week 15: Evaluation and conclusions

Reading list

· Data scientist Cathy O’Neil on the cold destructiveness of big data By Nikhil Sonnad, access: https://qz.com/819245/data-scientist-cathy-oneil-on-the-cold-destructiveness-of-big-data/ · The People's Guide to A.I. https://alliedmedia.org/speaker-projects/a-peoples-press

· Can The Internet Strengthen Democracy? by Stephen Coleman, Sage, 2017

· Digital divide: Civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide by Pippa Norris, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001

· Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the Internet age by Manuel Castells, John Wiley & Sons, 2015

· Bruns, A. (2009). Gatewatching. Collaborative online news production. New York: Peter Lang.

· Wardle, C. Derakhshan, H. (2017) Information Disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking. Council of Europe report

· Digital news report 2020. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2020-06.