Communications and Media - Senior

Course # MDIA 4885

Credits 12

Course # MDIA 4084

Credits 6

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites: None

Course Description:

This course focuses on modern political communication as purposeful communication about politics, government, and governance in both the overall global and specific Central Asian context. It starts with the discussion of history and hybrid nature of political communication as a social science and applied discipline. Next it examines political communication as messaging about acquisition, distribution, exercise of and challenge to power in a society as it is exercised by both current and aspiring power holders, as well as those who are subjected to power. Looking at the three key actors in the political communication process – political organizations, power holders and candidates; media, both traditional and internet-based, and citizens – separately and in interaction, the course analyses how political communication flows between and among these actors in a society and to what effect.

By studying the models, flows, and processes of political communication as well as theories of communication, persuasion, and media effects, the goal of the course is to develop an understanding of how political communication shapes modern societies and provides entry points for citizens to influence politics and push for meaningful policy changes.

Course Learning Outcomes

• Discuss the purpose, process, flows, models and actors of political communication, in both the global and regional Central Asian context
• Identify the goals and effects of current political campaigns and political advertising
• Discuss the landscape and the role of both traditional and Internet-based media in political processes in democratic, authoritarian, and hybrid regimes
• Explain citizen participation and engagement in political processes as well as the entry points and mechanisms of citizen empowerment through social media
• Evaluate political communication in a global crisis and its effects on Central Asian societies

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # ECON 4010

Credits 6

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites: None

Course Description

This course uses a project-based learning approach to help students provide useful applications and concrete contributions in support of local development. For Communication and Media students the focus is on audio and video production. Students work in teams (of four or five students) to integrate music, graphics and video technologies into entrepreneurial projects aimed at supporting the local communities. For Computer Sciences students, a variety of mobile applications, augmented virtual reality applications, Big Data applications, Internet of Things, Video Game Experiential Marketing applications, Machine Learning Methods, Mobile Operating Systems and Mobile Signals and Sensors applications and many more are on offer. Whenever possible, multidisciplinary collaborations between students will be suggested and recommended. The aim is to boost local development, preferably in the Naryn Oblast.

Student projects can be implemented in a variety of sectors such as tourism, agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, hospitality services (sports, leisure & recreation), public services, health, education, transportation, or any sector that contributes to support the development of local communities. However, an emphasis will be put on the tourism sector which has the potential to substantially contribute to Naryn’s economic progress.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion the course, students should be able to:

• Define local development priorities and strategies
• Explain how specific digital projects can contribute to these goals
• Collect relevant data on which to build a digital project
• Determine the needs expressed by actors on the ground and design potential solutions to address those needs
• Relate their theoretical knowledge to the design and implementation of concrete projects on the ground
• Develop appropriate technical solutions to serve the specific needs of economic and social actors in the region
• Present to the public at large specific finalized projects

Course Assessments and Grading

Course # HUSS 3126E

Credits 6

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites: None

Course Description

The unprecedented changes brought by technological development often referred to as digitalization shape society, culture, and human identity in today’s digital world. Humans are becoming hybrids, communities are emerging online, many people live in virtual reality and the digital world certainly has altered social norms and created new forms of communication and values. This transformation required anthropologists to use relevant approaches to study the current digital phenomena. Thus, the course invites students to explore how digitalization shapes human subjectivity and social relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. The course will introduce students to the new theoretical framework for the study of digital phenomena and provide ground for the study of digital culture which is a controversial point of many current debates on digitalization and its impact on society. Thus, the goal is to use anthropological approaches to the study of digital phenomena.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• Identify key theoretical frameworks and important debates in digital anthropology
• Apply anthropological approaches to study digital phenomena and their societal impacts as well as to digital technologies and practices
• Analyze the ways that digital experiences can differ across social, cultural, and political contexts
• Reflect on how digital technologies and practices are changing anthropological
• research
• Employ the methods of digital anthropology to organize, conduct, and analyze research

Course Assessments and Grading