This is a piece on drugs and the alteration of consciousness. We're going to talk about the similarities and differences between popular discourses on mass communication and drugs. What is Shenk's thesis about pleasure and drugs? What separates legal drugs (like viagra) from illegal drugs (like marijuana)? Do you think Shenk's discussion about Americans' anxiety over "too much pleasure" are relevant for discussing the media?

(These readings click on titles to go to their respective pages.) What is this group's objection to the ways in which the debate about mp3s, Napster and music ownership have been framed? What do they suggest doing about it? What is their take on the Napster ruling?

This piece connects concerns about surveillance and privacy in the internet age with larger issues around discrimination. What is the "panoptic sort" that Gandy talks about? What are his main concerns about privacy? Why is "opting out" not enough in his view?

These authors criticize the practice of public relations from -- you guessed it -- the standpoint of democracy. They argue that in some situations, PR can undermine the democratic potential of mass media. Why do the authors think PR is an unfair practice? Why do they think PR is a problem in a democracy?

Schlove argues that while technologies are usually designed and developed with primarily economic and efficiency based criteria in mind, it is possible to built technologies that help foster democracy and community while still performing vital economic and infrastructural functions. What does his example of Ibieca illustrate? How does he suggest we go about building more democratic technologies?

Frank deals with issues similar to McChesney's, this time looking at the relationship of mainstream business and ideas that were once associated mainly with the counterculture. What is Frank's criticism of the corporate media environment? What is he suggesting ought to be done?

McChesney's book deals with the corporate structure of mass communication in the United States. He argues that a democratic media system is necessary for the spread of ideas necessary for the maintenance of a democratic society. But he see the current structure of the US media impeding democracy, rather than promoting it. He makes his case across a variety of contexts. For each section of the book, be able to answer the following question: In what way does McChesney see the current media structure as inhibiting democracy? Also, what are the solutions he offers at the beginning and the end of the book?

This is a famous essay from the 1930s. Benjamin aruges that there is a qualitative change in art and expression when it is easy to reproduce through mechanical means. the first half of the essay deals with the concept of "aura" -- make sure you understand what "aura" is and why it's important to Benjamin. The second half of the essay deals largely with the difference between film and live performance forms. What is the difference for Benjamin, and why is film so interesting and important to him?

This is a fairly straightforward piece. What are Stoll's main criticisms of the way the internet is usually talked about? What are the "popular fictions," and what's wrong with them?

Peters' argument is that the ways in which we usually distinguish between mass and interpersonal communication are, well, not really tenable. Each of the three sections of this essay criticizes the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication: how does he do this? Why are "love" and "justice" important terms for him? And why does he suggest, at the end of the article, that we should consider a "morphology" of communication, instead of thinking in terms of interpersonal and mass communication? Note: "morphology" is the study of forms.

NOTE: YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE AT CLASS WITH A QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION. THIS IS IN LIEU OF A QUIZ. Van Zoonen's piece considers the role of the media in constructing gender identity, and the possibility that gender identity has a certain ambiguity as a result. Instead of saying that women are misrepresented by the media, she argues that media representations actually shape our understanding of what it means to be a woman or a man. She uses a lot of specialized language, though most of her terms are defined in the sentence before or after they are used. One important exception is the term "subjectivity." For her purposes, you can think of subjectivity as being a person's experience of his or her own self, or their self-identity.

NOTE: YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE AT CLASS WITH A QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION. THIS IS IN LIEU OF A QUIZ. This piece was originally published in 1909. Cooley was a sociologist associated with the "Chicago School" -- a group of people interested in the changing social landscape of the late 19th and early 20th century. Like his contemporaries, Cooley was fascinated by urban life, technology, and new possibilities for democracy and community. The section you will read deals with "new" media like film, telephones, and newspapers. How does Cooley see the "new" media playing a role in American culture society? What are the various "effects" of modern communication, according to Cooley?

What "media dependency" and why is Gumpert concerned with it? Why is it important to attend to the differences among different media? Why does Gumpert talk about the differences between "my time" and "your time"?

Raymond Williams discusses a number of different possible meanings and related word for the term "mass" -- what are those related meanings and terms? What is his opinion of these meanings implied by the term "mass"? Then, focus carefully on the section on mass communication. Why does Williams criticize the term "mass communication"? What alternative does he suggest? Why does he suggest it? In the last section of the article, how do these issues play out in his discussion of mass culture?

Come prepared to discuss the piece. Write down at least one reading question or key passage.

Berland is a Canadian media scholar and musician, and her piece will help guide your media exploration assignment. "Phenomenology" is a fancy word for the philosophical description of experience. In this piece she describes her experience of listening to radio and connects it up with larger institutional and cultural relationships. What is the experience she describes, and how does she connect that experience with bigger issues in broadcasting? What does she see as the promise of radio? What are some of the things that get in the way of that promise?

Note: Carey is the first piece in your packet.

This piece is full of ideas, but there are three main concepts in the piece: 1) the transmission model of communication; 2) the ritual model of communication; and 3) the symbolic construction of reality. You should be able to define all three concepts, and give examples for each. Ideally, you should be able to explain a) the differences between the transmission model and the ritual model and b) the relationship between the ritual model and the symbolic construction of reality. I'm planning to spend Wednesday and Friday on this piece.

What role did communication play in the crash of Valujet 592? Are there possible communication-oriented remedies to prevent similar accidents in the future?

This chapter has lots of people's names in it. Claude Shannon, Warren Weaver, Alan Turing and Norbert Weiner are all well-known authors in the field, as are the others mentioned. But I want you to focus more on the ideas:

What are the major characteristics of Information Theory? How do the earlier approaches listed in the "information and system" section of the chapter differ from the approaches highlighted in the "cybernetics" section of the chapter?

What is the 3rd person effect? Why does it matter for theories of mass communication?
What examples does Davison use, and how do they illustrate his argument?