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2021/2022  KAN-CKOMV1709U  New Media Communication and Critical Theory

English Title
New Media Communication and Critical Theory

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 25
Max. participants 70
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Organizational Communication, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Macon Holt - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Philosophy and ethics
  • Communication
  • Cultural studies
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 23-02-2021

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Outline the relationships between aesthetics, knowledge and media after “postmodernity”.
  • Explain how process philosophy can help us understand aesthetics in networked media communication.
  • Apply these perspectives to business cases.
  • Describe how the issues raised in the course relate to contemporary political and business practices, specifically with regards to representation and technology
  • Use self-directed learning and peer reading groups to refine their interests and understanding into a particular facet of the themes explored.
Examination
New Media Communication and Critical Theory:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 20 pages
Assignment type Essay
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course will provide students with a theoretical basis from which to consider how the roll of contemporary understandings of aesthetics and aesthetic practices play a role in communication. Drawing on a theoretical tradition routed in process philosophy and media theory and history, this course will offer students a flexible set of tools and perspectives to engage with the problematics of communication in the contemporary, globalised business environment saturated with networked media communication technologies in which meaning is thrown into a constant state of semiotic flux. 

The course is structured around the in-depth reading and discussion of theoretical material and the application of these ideas to real world cases of business communication. 

The pedagogical approach for this course emphasises discussion and independent learning. Each student will participate in ten, three hour seminars in one of two groups of 20–35. The intension here is to model how students can utilise group discussion and self-directed learning as part of their preparation for the seminars and the exam. This is supplemented by two three hour session in small groups of approx. 10-15 in which students will present their work in progress on their assignments the group and discuss with the class and the teacher. This will be further supplemented with teaching staff office hours.

 

Themes explored 
-     Postmodernism and the conditions of knowledge and communication.
-     Process philosophy and aesthetic theory
-     Computational aesthetics
-     New media and communication
-     Identity, difference and the problematics of representation
Description of the teaching methods
This course uses a text and discussion based approach appropriate for students at master’s level in developing their skills of self-directed learning and utilising the group work skills developed at the undergraduate level. The modelling and guidance provided by the contact hours will give students the resources to develop a research question derived from the themes covered in the course and formulate this into an exam that applies theoretical perspectives from the course to a real world business case.
Feedback during the teaching period
The course teacher will have contact with the students and be able to guide their understanding and application of the theoretical material throughout the seminars. The supervision sessions will provide a forum for students to receive feedback from peers and teachers. In addition, students will be able to submit questions to the teacher during office hours.
Student workload
Teaching (Seminars) 30 hours
Supervision (Group Sessions) 6 hours
Preparation and Exam 170 hours
Total 206 hours
Expected literature

LYOTARD, J.-F., & BENNINGTON, G. (2010). The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. Minneapolis, Minn, Univ. of Minnesota Press.

DELEUZE, G., GUATTARI, F., & MASSUMI, B. (2017). A thousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. London, Bloomsbury Academic.

PARISI, L. (2013). Contagious architecture computation, aesthetics, and space. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press.

HALPERN, O. (2015). Beautiful data - a history of vision and reason since 1945. Durham, Duke University Press.

BENJAMIN, R. (2019). Race after technology: abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code. Massachusetts : Wiley
Last updated on 23-02-2021