Week 1: Lecture: Digital Turn in Media Environment (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 20. 2.

class organization
mechanical reproduction of text
mechanical reproduction of images
television audiences
digitisation of culture (ICT & Internet)
social media & digitisation of Self

Week 2: Seminar: Digital Turn in Media Environment 27. 2.

discussion of reading
Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin. 1999. Remediation. Understanding New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press. (Selected pages in one PDF file uploaded to Moodle: The Double Logics of Remediation & Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation)
homework submission:

self-observation of digital technology-dependance of individual´s everyday practices (600 words & visual diagram)

Week 3: Lecture: Entertainisation of Politics, Politicisation of Popular Culture (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 5. 3.

privatization of public sphere by mass media production
celebrity cult
affective turn in politics
political polarization of public on social media
toxic humor, xenophobia and xenoracism

Week 4: Seminar: Entertainisation of Politics, Politicisation of Popular Culture 12. 3.

discussion of reading:

Andrea Průchová Hrůzová & Jan Zápotocký. 2022. ´Seemingly Innocent Pictures. Visual representations of migrants and refugees circulating through the Czech Facebook nationalistic universe.´ Visual Studies 37(3). 348-362.

homework submission:

draft of the concept for the audio-visual media content that meets the format of entertainisation of politics (e.g. podcast, stream, blog, IG feed, TV series, …) (800 words)

Week 5: Lecture: Media & Activism (Elisabeth Kovtiak) 19. 3.

social movements in digital era
using social media as a tool for political resistance and citizen activism
employing artivism in digital campaigns
media afterline of offline artivist performances as a tool of citizen campaigning

Week 6: Seminar: Media & Activism 26. 3.

discussion of reading:

Kovtiak, Elisabeth. "Belarusian Artivism: How and Why Art and Activism Merged in the Belarusian Protests of 2020." Mezosfera, 2022.

homework submission:

draft a media campaign that would promote a particular agenda of the chosen activist group/community/movement on social media and beyond them; when preparing the concept select 2-3 campaigns as references and include them in your pitching (show the examples and explain what elements, approaches, techniques, you would like to use in your campaign) (600 words)

Week 7: Lecture: Critical Approaches to New Media (Andrea Pruchova Hruzova) 2. 4.

geology of media
technical & digital images: new aesthetics & non-human photography
algorithmization of digital culture
post-human turn in media studies

Week 8: Seminar: Critical Approaches to New Media 9. 4.

discussion of reading:

Siobhan Angus (2021), ´Mining the History of Photography´ in Capitalism and the Camera, eds. by K. Coleman & D. James, London & New York: Verso, p. 68-88.

homework submission:
make yourself aware of the digital sources of surveillance in your environment (e.g. non-human vision by cameras, data tracking, etc.), make a list and visualize it as a map of digital panopticon (400 words & visual diagram)

Week 9: Hacking the Media (Magdalena Michlova) 16. 4.

critical political economy of new media
digital infrastructures in the times of climate crisis
restatement of Marxist thought for the age of cyberspace and globalization
role of shared visions/future expectations & media

Week 10: Seminar: Hacking the Media 23. 4.

discussion of reading:

Russell, Legacy. 2020. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. Verso Books (chapters: Introduction, Glitch is error, Glitch encrypts & Glitch is virus)

homework submission:

Try it the hacker way: identify a (sociologically relevant) problem that currently available official tools fail to tackle and design a “virus”, no matter its real possibility of implementation, as a solution to it. Think about what, why and by whom should be done in order to come up with a solution to the identified problem. Example: Unaffordable housing in Prague being identified as an issue, you propose (hypothetically, by description only) a virus code that automatically limits the prices of the rents offered online, and explain why and who should collaborate on such a project. Or, breeding dogs for sale illegally being identified as a problem, you propose (hypothetically, again) a virus that automatically withdraws such ads from the online marketplaces. Or, the coal extraction industry being identified as a problem, you propose (hypothetically, again) a virus code that shuts down / causes errors on the heavy machinery needed in the industry (400 words).

Week 11: Lecture: Artificial Intelligence / Creative workshop with a critical designer Lenka Hámošová 30. 4.

Week 12: Seminar: Final Project Consultations 7. 5.

students discuss their ideas for final essay with their seminar leaders