Critical Studies of Communication

N/A

It will be used in this curricular unit an expository methodology, taking as its starting point the theoretical foundations of the discipline. This methodology will be complemented by the illustration of the theoretical principles from the use of empirical data. Use will be made of recent scientific articles that demonstrate the applicability of the theory to concrete situations. Students will be able to choose the form of Periodic Assessment (a written test, weighting 65%, and a practical assignment, weighting 50%) or Examination. There is a minimum grade of 8.0 values in each of the elements of the Periodic Assessment for approval in the course. The Exam Assessment will consist of a written test on all subjects, which will constitute 100% of the final grade.

It is intended that, after completing the course unit, the student understands and critically analyse:
a) the transformations in mediation technologies which, having emerged from the widespread use of the Internet, have been accompanied by specific developments in social life;
b) the transformations associated with the notion of interactivity and participation;
c) the transformations related to the classical and defining notion of public and private space;
d) the transformations of an identity nature promoted from the generalization of the new forms of social interaction;
d) changes in the mode of production and distribution of information contents.

1. Challenges of the digital culture: a technical-social model
The value of information in the digital age
New ways of organizing social life
Digital Media Architecture
“Life in the media”
2. Identity in the digital age
Social networks as a space for sociability
Redefinition of “I” spaces
Devices for the construction of the self
Online Identity Grammars
Impacts of social media on identity

• - Exam - 100.0%

• - Individual and/or Group Work - 50.0%
• - Frequency - 50.0%

NAO

BAYM, N. K., Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Polity Press, 2010.
BOYD, D., É Complicado, As vidas sociais dos adolescentes em rede, Lisboa, Relógio d’Água, 2015.
CARDOSO, G., Os Media na Sociedade em Rede (2ª ed.), Lisboa, Gulbenkian, 2014.
DEUZE, M, Media Life, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2012.
FERREIRA, G. B., Comunicação, Media e Identidade, Lisboa, Colibri, 2009.
FERREIRA, G. B., Sociologia dos Novos Media, Covilhã, Labcom, 2018.
FUCHS, C. Social Media, a critical introdution, SAGE, 2014.
TURKLE, S., Alone Together, New York, Basic Books, 2011.