Università Roma Tre

This course is offered as part of the Master Research Degree Program in Cultural Leadership offered at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. It is held at Roma Tre and can be attended by italian and Erasmus students as well. The two, final lessons will be run by Dr. Annie Van der Oefer (University of Groningen)

Content of the Course Unit

Media shape culture; the digital media are reshaping culture today. This module introduces a combination of perspectives on media objects and practices of use: historical, cognitive, sociological, ethnographic, esthetical, and curatorial. Media technologies are studied as tools for research (digital humanities), for education, and as curatorial tools used for presentation and mediation. The course is divided into three parts: 1) Media as systems of representation; 2) Media as cultural industry, 3) Media as technology. Each part is addressed first in theoretical terms and subsequently explored through selected cases studies and, occasionally, through the contribution of media practitioners.

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course unit, students are able to:
- Use the main theoretical and methodological approaches in analyzing the relationship between media and culture, with particular reference to Sociology and Cultural Studies
- Understand the key role of media in “shaping culture” and in the process through which culture and its (both symbolic and material, tangible and non tangible) expressions are assigned meaning and (aesthetic, social, economic, etc.) value
- Understand how the role of media in “shaping culture” has changed with the diffusion of digital technologies/environments, user-generated contents, the shift from “broadcast cultures” to “participative cultures”
- Deconstruct media representations of culture and its expressions, and uncover the functioning of discourses on culture that are reproduced by the media
- Understand the role and functioning of media as a cultural/creative industry, whose products are forms of culture in their own right (notion of “cultural reflexivity”)
- Develop their own analysis of media texts
- Effectively use media technologies and languages in cultural sector-related professions: as tools for research (digital humanities), for education, and as curatorial tools

Calculation of student workload
The seminar comprises 6 EC = 125 hrs. Breakdown in different tasks for the course:

Attendance meetings: 30 hrs
Studying compulsory readings in preparation of meetings: 30 hrs
Group assignment: 10
Individual assignment 1: 20
Individual assignment 2: 35
Total: 125

Assessment

Final evaluation ranges between the score of 18 out of 30 points and 30 out of 30 points. Students will be graded based upon three assignments:

1. Group assignment (score ranges between 0 and 4 points
2. Individual assignment n. 1 (score ranges between 0 and 14 points)
3. Individual assignment n. 2 (score ranges between 0 and 12 points)

Group assignement
In every meeting, a small group (2-3 persons, depending on the total number of students) presents one of the compulsory readings attributed for that meeting. Students are expected to effectively expose the content of the readings and to give their personal contribution. This can consists of an analysis of one of the aspects/topics/analytical categories addressed by the reading(s) and/or of a set of research questions, solicited by the readings, that students formulate on their own. At the beginnin of the course, students wil be asked to express their preferences for the date and content of their presentation.

Individual assignment n. 1
The first individual assignment consists of a written exam on the contents of compulsory readings, that students are expect to study throughout the entire Course, in preparation of each meeting (30 hrs of esitmated workload), and to review in preparation of the exam (20 hrs of estimated workload). This exam will take place within the second half of june.

Individual assignment n. 2
The second individual assignment consists of a short research paper (4-5 pages) on the topic of landscape and/in media representation. Deadline for paper sumbitting is the end of June. Further details (methodology, overall organisation, etc.) will be provided as the course begins.

* Students interested in taking this course are kindly requested to contact Dr. Giomi in order to access the folder containing teaching materials and readings (elisa.giomi@uniroma3.it). Lessons will take place in Aula 13A, at Dipartimento di Studi Aziendali, V. Silvio D'Amico 77

Day to Day program and Readings

FIRST WEEK
Lesson 1 – Dr Giomi
27.4.2018
The first lesson aims to answer the following questions: 1) why study the Media in a Cultural Leadership Course?, and 2) how to study the Media in a Cultural Leadership Perspective? We will be exploring the role of media in society, their shaping and reshaping culture, and their being deeply embedded in the “texture” of our everyday life experience. Secondly, we will be describing the course approach, that consider the media as cultural industries, systems of representation and technologies. We will subsequently start to illustrate preliminary and basic notions about the Media, starting from their evolution from the early days of printing in the late Middle Ages to the present age of information communication technology and the information society.

Readings
• “The texture of experience”, in R. Silverstone, Why Study the Media, Sage, London, 1999, pp. 1-12.
• On the MAG episode, that will be discussed in class: https://www.newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/make-art-history-great-again
• “The rise of Mass Media”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 35-59. (compulsory: to be read before lesson by everyone; provided by Dr. Giomi)

SECOND WEEK
Lesson 2 – Dr Giomi
2.05.2018 - What are the media?
In this lesson, some of the main concepts and models involved in the study of the media will be addressed. Topic include; the “mass” concept, the “mass audience”; “mass” and “popular culture”; the shift from broadcasting and mass audience to new media and participatory culture.

Readings
• “Concept and models for Mass Communication”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 61-89. (compulsory: to be read before lesson by everyone; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “What is new about new media”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 145-173 (compulsory for everyone and individual assignment n. 1: to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)

Lesson 3 – Dr Giomi
4.05.2017 - Media and Culture
In this lesson, the relationship between media and culture is approached, grounding on the assumption that it is impossible now to distinguish between a sphere of culture and that of media. An overview is provided of the Culturalist perspective on mass media, that considers all the different aspects of media at once: their content (that is, media representations), the context of media production and reception, and all the surrounding practices (media as cultural industry and technologies). In order to highlight the contribution of the Culturalist perspective, we will start by comparing common sense definitions of “culture” - provided by contemporary popular media texts, such as TV talk shows and magazine articles – to the definitions elaborated by the main Culturalist theories: the Frankfurt School and critical cultural theory, British Cultural Studies and their redemption of the popular. Other topics include: commercialization of culture; communication technology and culture.

Readings
• Voices “Culture” and “Cultural Theory” in The Sage Dictionary in Cultural Studies, Sage, London (4 pages in total). (compulsory: to be read before lesson; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Mass Communication and culture” di McQuail, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 121-144. (compulsory for everyone and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• Stuart Hall, “Cultural Studies and the Center: some problematics and problems”, in Culture, Media, Language. Working Papers in Cultural Studies 1972-1979, Hutchinson, London, pp.15-47 (non compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)

THIRD WEEK
Lesson 4 and Lesson 5
9.05.2018 and 11.05.2018 - Media as systems of representation: power, ideology, meaning
The first dimension of analysis of the media is addressed starting from the description of the mediation process, with specific focus on what is mediated (the meaning) and to the process by which meaning is given and taken (signification). The processes of meaning production are signifying practices and to understand culture is to explore how meaning is produced symbolically as forms of representation. This issue is approached through the theoretical tools elaborated by those Cultural Studies scholars who have focused on the questions of representation with an especial emphasis on the ways by which the world is socially constructed and represented to and by us. Issues that will be explored include: how representation is bound up with questions of power; the “politics of representation”; meaning and ideology: These issues and analytical categories will be applied to the analysis of a media product that had built up a cult following; the Twilight saga. Different and “competing” readings of this product and of its ideology will be compared in order to underline the “politics of representation” that is at work here.

Readings

• “Mediation”, in R. Silverstone, Why Study the Media, Sage, London, 1999, pp. 13-18. (non compulsory)
• Voice “Representation” in The Sage Dictionary in Cultural Studies, Sage, London (2 pages). (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Introduction”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 1-8. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Meaning, representation and power”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 13-38. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• Durham, M.G. [2012], Blood, lust and love, in «Journal of Children and Media», 6, 3, pp. 281-299. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• Franiuk, R., Scherr, S. [2013], The lion fell in love with the lamb, in «Feminist Media Studies», 13,1, pp. 14-28. (non compulsory)
To be watched before lesson n. 5: Twilight (film n. 1 of the saga)


FOURTH WEEK
Lesson 6 – Dr Giomi
18.05.2018 - Media as Cultural industry: the process of value production
In these lessons the processes of mediation and of meaning production will explored in relation to the economic, institutional and political forms of its organization. We will address how these forms have changed during the twentieth century, as well as issue of ownership and control of the cultural industries, and how these impact on meaning production. We will ground on the assumption that industry is central to controlling the circulation of meaning in society. Different types of cultural industry will therefore be explored, as well as how interactive technologies have changed the production of culture. The discourse then moves on to analyzing the relations between media (considered as both representations and as cultural industries) and “value”: media as actors contributing to the negotiation process through which culture and its (both symbolic and material) expressions are assigned meaning and (aesthetic, social, economic, etc.) values. The focal point is that there are principles of production of value laid out within the old media technologies that are still active and valid for the new media. The conceptualization of value in media (and other) production in terms of political economy (value in use or exchange) vs. other ways of understanding value, such as value as symbolic exchange; the relation of these two principles of value generation to each other as the key factor in understanding how value is created in both production and consumption. Issues that are explored include how value changes in changing media

Readings

• “The industrial production of meaning”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 39-57. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Introduction”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Media production and cultural industries”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• “New Organisational Forms of Value Production”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016 (non compulsory)

FIFTH WEEK
Lesson 7 – Dr Giomi
25.5.2018 - Media production, value production: the case of “Nordic noir” and of European TV crime series
In this lesson, the dynamic and process of value production will be explored taking as a case study that of “Nordic Noir” and of European TV crime series. Nordic Noir, or Scandinoir, defines a form of Scandinavian crime fiction whose most popular TV expressions come from Sweden and Denmark (the TV series Wallander, 2005–2014; Forbrydelsen/The Killing, 2007–2012, and Broen/The Bridge, 2011–present). Nordic Noir has had a global influence in Europe (to the point that Netflix has created a specific category, “European Crime Drama”) as well as outside Europe, and has helped in reinventing a new breed of miniseries, one that is uniquely suited to the requirements of the new broadcasting age. Such influence can be felt at many levels (aesthetic, narrative, ideological, moral, etc.). We will take into exam the visual one, focusing on the role of landscape. Landscape has become a distinctive feature of Nordic Noir, part of its appeal, an “entertainment value” in its own, and a “trade-mark” of quality (a presence, that is, indicating high aesthetic and production standards). At the same time, Nordic Noir has played a key role in producing the (aesthetic and economic) value of Scandinavian countries (the “Sweden trade-mark”): the portrayal of their landscapes offered by TV representations and their peculiar atmosphere have contributed to the “typification” of Scandinavian countries in collective cultural imagery, making these countries popular over the world and boosting their tourism. The same has happened with the so-called “Celtic Noir” such as Broadchurch, 2013–present; Southcliffe, 2013, Gwyll/Hinterland, 2013, Shetland 2013-present (all shot in the UK), and, more in general, with procedural recently produced in other European countries, ranging from Iceland to Finland, Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Examining the “landscape in Nordic Noir” case will serve the goal of laying down the theoretical and methodological background that will be used in the study of the Roman Aqueduct System case

Tv series (to be viewed at home)
First episode of Wallander, 2005–2014
or
Forbrydelsen/The Killing, 2007–2012
or
Broen/The Bridge, 2011–present
plus
Broadchurch, 2013
or
Gwyll/Hinterland, 2013
or
Shetland 2013-present
plus
Glacé /The Froezen Dead (2017)
(others will be indicated later)

Readings

• Creeber, G. [2015], Killing us softly: Investigating the aesthetics,philosophy and influence of Nordic Noir Television, in «Journal of Popular Television», 3, 1, pp. 21-35. (non compulsory, provided by Dr Giomi)
• Marit Waade, A., Melancholy in Nordic noir: Characters, landscapes, light and music, «Critical Studies in Television», First Published December 19, 2017 (compulsory; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• Roberts, L., Landscapes in the frame: exploring the hinterlands of the British procedural drama, «New Review of Film and Television Studies», 2016, VOL . 14, NO. 3, 364–385 (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)


SIXTH WEEK
Lesson 8 – Dr Giomi and Dr Addamiano
25.05.2018 Inter-modules case study: the Roman Aqueduct System
In this lesson, that is common to the Media Module and to the Sustainability and Cultural Awareness Module, the Roman Aqueduct System case study is addressed by means of a multidisciplinary perspective. We will analyze the ‘narrative stratification’ the Aqueduct has undergone in and through its numerous representations diffused by diverse media over the last 50 years. The goal is to deconstruct the overlapping “layers of meaning” that media storytelling has been accumulating so far. Drawing on the theoretical and methodological base provided in the previous lesson (especially in the one about Noridc Noir), we will focus on the role of landscape in media representations and value production. Research questions are: 1) how have the Aqueduct, its relation to the territory and its inhabitants, and to Italian society at large, been framed and represented by movies, documentaries, TV series, digital narratives produced in different historical moments? 2) How have these narratives/discursive constructions contributed to produce the (varying) value(s) of the Aqueduct and of its territory and landscape in different historical moments?
Films that will be screened and analysed during the lesson are:
- Mamma Roma (P. Pasolini, 1962 - English version available)
- The Great Beauty (P. Sorrentino, 2013 - English version available)
- Fortunata (S. Castellito, 2017 - English version not available: a montage will be shown and illustrated)
In each of them, the Aqueduct is a heritage element that connotes the territory, the environment, its social tissue in completely different ways.


SEVENTH WEEK
Lesson 9 and Lesson 10 – Prof Dr Van den Oever, University of Groningen
30.05.2018 and 31.05.2018 - (New) Media Technologies and Value Creation: Museums & Media Curating
Central to this last part of the course is the question of (new) media technologies and value creation. All the processes associated with the double role of media as systems of representation and media as a cultural industry in its own right, have become increasingly intense and have been reconfigured by the diffusion of digital technologies/environments, user-generated contents, and the shift from “broadcast cultures” to “participative cultures”.
This last week, we will explore the question of media from the perspective of a study of media as technologies which tend to have a specific material and sensorial makeup, and a specific impact on representation, audience experience, and practices of use. Media will be considered in their role as new media technologies which first have an impact (individually, culturally) and create novelty experiences; and next become part of a practice of media use in which they eventually may become old and obsolete (e.g., the typewrite) and are to be replaced by new devices (e.g., the pc, the tablet, the smartphone).
In order to highlight how media as specific information, communication, and visualization technologies impact on production and consumption processes, and on the entire “value production chain”, we will address the question: which specific role do media technologies play in the production of aesthetic, political, economic, and cultural value?
The examples to focus on will be related to media use in museums and big heritage institutions.

Readings

o Silverstone, R. [1988] “Museums and the media: A theoretical and methodological exploration.” In: The International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship. pp. 231-241. Available online.
o Peters, Benjamin. [2009] “And lead us not into thinking the new is new: a bibliographic case for new media history.” Available online.
o Fossati, Giovanna. [2009] “Framing Film (in Transition): an Introduction.” In From Grain to Pixel. The Archival Life of Film in Transition. pp. 13-32. Digital file attached.
o Odin, Roger. [2016] “Cinema in My Pocket.” In: Exposing the Film Apparatus. The Film Archive as a Research Lab. Giovanna Fossati and Annie van den Oever, eds., pp. 45-53. Digital file attached.
o Kittler, Friedrich. [1996] “The History of Communication Media.” Published online in ctheory http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=45 Available online.
o (For optional reading) Fossati, Giovanna, and Annie van den Oever. [2016] “Introduction”. In Exposing the Film Apparatus. The Film Archive as a Research Lab. pp. 13-37. Digital file attached.

COMPULSORY READINGS
• “The rise of Mass Media”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 35-59.
• “Concept and models for Mass Communication”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 61-89. (compulsory: to be read before lesson by everyone; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “What is new about new media”, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 145-173 (compulsory for everyone and individual assignment n. 1: to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• Voices “Culture” and “Cultural Theory” in The Sage Dictionary in Cultural Studies, Sage, London (4 pages in total). (compulsory: to be read before lesson; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Mass Communication and culture” di McQuail, in D. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory, 6th edition, Sage, London, 2010, pp. 121-144. (compulsory for everyone and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)
• Voice “Representation” in The Sage Dictionary in Cultural Studies, Sage, London (2 pages). (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Introduction”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 1-8. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Meaning, representation and power”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 13-38. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• Durham, M.G. [2012], Blood, lust and love, in «Journal of Children and Media», 6, 3, pp. 281-299. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• "The industrial production of meaning”, in N. Carah, E. Louw, Media and Society. Production, Content and Participation, Sage, London, pp. 39-57. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Introduction”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016. (compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Media production and cultural industries”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016. (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• Marit Waade, A., Melancholy in Nordic noir: Characters, landscapes, light and music, «Critical Studies in Television», First Published December 19, 2017 (compulsory; provided by Dr. Giomi )
• Roberts, L., Landscapes in the frame: exploring the hinterlands of the British procedural drama, «New Review of Film and Television Studies», 2016, VOL . 14, NO. 3, 364–385 (compulsory and to be presented by one or two students; provided by Dr. Giomi)
o Silverstone, R. [1988] “Museums and the media: A theoretical and methodological exploration.” In: The International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship. pp. 231-241. Available online.
o Peters, Benjamin. [2009] “And lead us not into thinking the new is new: a bibliographic case for new media history.” Available online.
o Fossati, Giovanna. [2009] “Framing Film (in Transition): an Introduction.” In From Grain to Pixel. The Archival Life of Film in Transition. pp. 13-32. Digital file attached.
o Odin, Roger. [2016] “Cinema in My Pocket.” In: Exposing the Film Apparatus. The Film Archive as a Research Lab. Giovanna Fossati and Annie van den Oever, eds., pp. 45-53. Digital file attached.
o Kittler, Friedrich. [1996] “The History of Communication Media.” Published online in ctheory http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=45 Available online.


OPTIONAL READINGS
• The texture of experience”, in R. Silverstone, Why Study the Media, Sage, London, 1999, pp. 1-12.
• On the MAG episode, that will be discussed in class: https://www.newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/make-art-history-great-again
• Stuart Hall, “Cultural Studies and the Center: some problematics and problems”, in Culture, Media, Language. Working Papers in Cultural Studies 1972-1979, Hutchinson, London, pp.15-47 (non compulsory, provided by Dr. Giomi)
• “Mediation”, in R. Silverstone, Why Study the Media, Sage, London, 1999, pp. 13-18. (non compulsory)
• Franiuk, R., Scherr, S. [2013], The lion fell in love with the lamb, in «Feminist Media Studies», 13,1, pp. 14-28. (non compulsory)
• “New Organisational Forms of Value Production”, in G. Bolin, Value and the Media: Cultural Production and Consumption in Digital Markets, Taylor and Francis, 2016 (non compulsory)
• Creeber, G. [2015], Killing us softly: Investigating the aesthetics,philosophy and influence of Nordic Noir Television, in «Journal of Popular Television», 3, 1, pp. 21-35. (non compulsory, provided by Dr Giomi)
• (For optional reading) Fossati, Giovanna, and Annie van den Oever. [2016] “Introduction”. In Exposing the Film Apparatus. The Film Archive as a Research Lab. pp. 13-37. Digital file attached.