Undergraduate - UnitATS3454 - Media audiences

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	Berwick First semester 2014 (Day) Gippsland First semester 2014 (Day) Gippsland First semester 2014 (Off-campus) Malaysia First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Larissa Walker

Notes

Previously coded COM3423

Synopsis

This unit addresses the key issues of: media audiences and audience activity;the relations between media, citizenship and community; and the impact of new communication technologies. Most importantly, it makes available to you the techniques and theoretical frameworks for researching and analyzing audience activity and interactivity. It also helps you learn how these frameworks can be deployed in research design. The unit is organized in three blocks: ways of being an audience, ways of theorizing audiences, and ways of researching audiences.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

demonstrate a developed grasp of the social conditions, material practices, products and outcomes of various media;
demonstrate an awareness of the connections between communications technologies and the formation of audiences, citizens and communities;
utilise the understandings in Objectives 1 and 2 to describe and analyse historical, current and likely future trends in audience formations;
identify and evaluate a range of theoretical approaches to understanding audiences;
demonstrate sound knowledge of some audience research techniques, issues and choices; and
utilize the understandings in Objectives 4 and 5 to design a research project.

Assessment

Participation in online discussion group (500 words): 10%
Research design proposal (2000 words): 50%
Exam (2 hours): 40%
Students taking this unit at Level 3 will be expected to demonstrate a more sophisticated understanding of research paradigms for the research design assignment. They will be expected to demonstrate (in their online postings and in the exam) a more sophisticated understanding of Objectives 1, 2 and 3.