NYU offers a vast array of courses on media and culture. Students must contact their academic advisor prior to registration to determine
which courses can apply to their degree program.
Below is simply a selection of courses. For a full list of media and culture courses taught in programs of study
throughout NYU, access course descriptions via the above links to our undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degree programs or, for registration, log on to Albert with your NYU ID.
Spring 2010, MW 11:00am-12:15pm
Instructor: Vasu Varadhan, NYU Gallitan
This course examines the concept of culture through its forms of communication. The shift from orality to literacy and on to electronic processing has important consequences for the social, political, and economic structures within a culture. If we take as axiomatic that every culture wishes to preserve itself through its forms of communication, we then need to ask ourselves which forms of communication are best suited for this purpose. What happens to cultures when traditional forms of communication are forced to compete with the newer technologies? What do we mean by “knowledge” in the age of information? The impact of written narrative on orality will be discussed as well as the changes brought about by the invention of the printing press. We will examine the development of electronic media including the newer technologies such as the Internet and analyze their effects on individual and cultural levels. Readings may include Plato’s Phaedrus, Ong’s Orality and Literacy, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, McLuhan’s Understanding Media, and selected readings on Internet culture.
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Spring 2010, R 6:20pm-9:00pm
Instructor: Paul Thaler, NYU Gallitan
The tension between free expression and social control has shadowed the Great American Conversation since the birth of this country. The constitutional ideal that our government “shall make no law” abridging free speech has given way, in fact, to laws that limit discussion, ostensibly for the public good. Likewise, new media technologies advance our ability to access and exchange ideas and information, but raise new questions as to the limits of such dialogue. This course, then, addresses the delicate balance between free speech and democracy, guided by our readings of Plato’s Republic, Lippmann’s Public Opinion, and McChesney's Our Unfree Press. We also examine important Supreme Court decisions that have shaped First Amendment rights in regard to hate speech, pornography, corporate control of mass media, and the rights of journalists. With this foundation, we ask: Are there any forms of free speech that should be restricted? If so, which? And, who should decide?
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Spring 2010, TR 11:00am-12:15pm
Instructor: Stephen Duncombe, NYU Gallitan
We are in the midst of a revolution. Computers permeate nearly every aspect of our life, yet we understand relatively little about how they work, their historical development, and their impact on our selves and society. Computing is transforming our economic and political landscape, bringing with it new possibilities and problems. In this course we will explore this ever changing and rapidly expanding terrain, paying special attention to how computers and the Internet are transforming how we experience and understand identity and community, control and liberation, simulation and authenticity, creation and collaboration, and the practice of democracy. Authors whose works we will read include: Plato, Lewis Mumford, Jorge Luis Borges, Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, Jean Baudrillard, the Critical Art Ensemble, Bill Gates, Donna Haraway, Ellen Ullman, Clay Shirky and Yochai Benkler.
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