COMM 1011 Data, Mediation and Power (WSTC)
Credit Points 10
Legacy Code 700269
Coordinator Chantal Rozairo Opens in new window
Description Data, Mediation and Power investigates the operation of power in contemporary digital media cultures and economy. The unit examines the primary role played by data in determining how we live in the world. This includes how we interact with the world, its people and digital artefacts, in terms of communication and meaning. The unit focuses on technologies of control and governance related to algorithmic architectures and data economies. Who benefits from data and mediation and what are the limits and possibilities of data? Ultimately, this kind of critical analysis invites us to think about what constitutes a just, democratic society and what constitutes an ethical media life.
School Humanities & Comm Arts
Discipline Communication And Media Studies
Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp
Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.
Level Undergraduate Level 1 subject
Co-requisite(s) Students enrolled in the combined DiplomaBachelor courses listed below must pass all College Preparatory units listed in the course structure before progressing to the Year Two units
Equivalent Subjects COMM 1023 - Mediated Mobilities COMM 1012 - Data Mediation and Power
Restrictions Students must be enrolled at Western Sydney University, The College. Students enrolled in extended diplomas must pass 40 credit points from the preparatory subjects listed in the program structure prior to enrolling in this University level subject.
Learning Outcomes
- Identify how data both mediates and governs society and daily life in ways often connected to commercial interests.
- Understand the ways in which data informs the production of meaning (eg assessment of performance, analysis of texts, policy making informed by demographic modelling.
- Develop a critical capacity with regard to the limits and possibilities of data and its relation to the operation of power.
Subject Content
2. Examination of cultural contexts and mobile media and assessment of the interrelation between mobile media, privacy and public culture.
3. Overview of policy and the impact upon the availability of mobile media commodities and access to content (eg the rise of ?enational webs?f).
4. Assessment of the impact of network cultures as emergent institutional forms that challenge more traditional, modern institutional forms (state, firm, union, university).
5. Critical investigation of concepts of freedom and the extent to which mobile media facilitate and/or restrict forms of social and cultural mobility.
6. Identification of the limits of mobility, media and geo-cultural settings.
Assessment
The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.
| Item | Length | Percent | Threshold | Individual/Group Task |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz | 10 questions | 5 | N | Individual |
| Applied Project | 700 words | 25 | N | Individual |
| Applied Project | 800 words | 30 | N | Individual |
| Essay | 1200 words | 40 | N | Individual |
Teaching Periods
Term 3
Nirimba Education Precinct
Day
Subject Contact Chantal Rozairo Opens in new window