History of Communication in the Contemporary Age

The goal of the course is to provide an introduction to the history of communication by analyzing how media networks originate, how they function and how they shape social practices and values. With reference to Marshall Poe's work, we analyse the five phases of the history of communication: speech, writing, printing, audiovisual media and the internet. Special attention will be paid to the re-mediatization of analogue media in the contemporary hybrid communication system.

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Know and understand the main phases of the history of communication
- Conceptualise, contextualise, and discuss the design and development of media networks in history
- Analyse and evaluate contemporary communication critically, based on a historical perspective.