Type of Credit: Elective
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Advertisements, movie billboards, neon lights, and electronic message walls—these media technologies are part of the spectacles and actively shape urban landscapes. Furthermore, the widespread use of GPS-equipped smartphones has transformed users' movements into data points that can be observed and traced by themselves and others. The availability of constant connectivity has also impacted how people communicate while on the move. These examples illustrate the close integration of media with the urban experience.
Urban Media Studies, also known as media geography or geomedia, is a newly emerging, cross-disciplinary field of research. Scholars in this field are interested in exploring the intersections of media ecology, communication, geography, sociology, and urban planning. This course aims to familiarize students with the latest theories, cultivate their skills as keen observers of everyday life, encourage exploring the symbols and practices within contemporary urban spaces, and facilitate an understanding of the complex interactions between media, humans, and the city.
能力項目說明
French sociologist de Certeau likened walking practices in the city to speech analysis: "The act of walking is to the urban system what the speech act is to language or to the statements uttered." Similarly, we can consider the city as a medium and study its text. For instance, we can view different spaces as TV shows, infrastructure and facilities as scripts, and city dwellers as actors. In other words, we can investigate the city from the media and communication research perspective. We will go on field trips to Xinyi District to do ethnographic observations, and to investigate the signs, practices and rhythms of the city. By the end of this course, students are expected to adopt sensory methodologies to observe urban public space, comprehend its rhythm, understand the practices of city dwellers, and recognize the structural forces that shape the city.
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
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週次 Week |
課程主題 Topic |
課程內容與指定閱讀 Content and Reading Assignment |
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1 (9/13) |
Course introduction |
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2 (9/20) |
Sociology of space and place |
- Urry, J. (2001). The sociology of space and place. The Blackwell Companion to Sociology, 3-15. - Löw, M. (2016). The Constitution of Space. The Sociology of Space: Materiality, Social Structures, and Action, 129-195. |
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3 (9/27) |
Mediatization and the city |
Jansson, A. (2013). Mediatization and social space: reconstructing mediatization for the transmedia age. Hepp, A. (2022). Digital media, data infrastructures, and space.
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4 (10/4) |
Digital Placemaking |
Wiken & Humphreys (2021). Placemaking through mobile social media platform Snapchat. Convergence, DOI: 10.1177/1354856521989518 Koch (2022). Cities, regions, and landscapes as augmented realities-Refiguration of space(s) through digital information technologies. DOI: 10.4324/9780367817183-7
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5 (10/11) |
XR Lab |
To visit the XR Lab at the Communication College, NCCU. |
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6 (10/18) |
Everyday practice |
- De Certeau (1984). Walking in the City. The Practice of Everyday Life. - Augé, M. (2002). In the Metro. |
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7 (10/25) |
Urban Rhythms and bodies |
- Lefebvre, H. (2013). Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday life. Ingold (1993). The temporality of the landscape. |
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8 (11/1) |
Multisensory approach method |
Dickinson, G., & Aiello, G. (2016). Urban Communication| Being Through There Matters: Materiality, Bodies, and Movement in Urban Communication Research. International Journal of Communication, 10, 15. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4280
Low, K. E. Y. (2015). The sensuous city: Sensory methodologies in urban ethnographic research. Ethnography, 16(3), 295–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138114552938 |
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9 (11/8) |
Field Trip |
to Xinyi District (15 minutes by bus) |
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10 (11/15) |
Discussion on fieldnotes |
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11 (11/22) |
Ways of walking |
- Ingold, T. & Jo Lee Vergunst (2008). Introduction. Ways of Walking. - Getreuer-Kargl, I. (2012). Gendered modes of appropriating public space. Urban Spaces in Japan: Cultural and Social Perspectives, 167-183. |
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12 (11/29) |
Guest speaker |
Dr. Ming Smith. Assistant Professor in National Donghua University
The "Atmospheric" Indigenous Villages: the Exploration of "Atmosphere" in Tourism Places and Tourists' Embodied Experiences
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13 (12/6) |
City encounters and soundscape |
Krajina, Z. (2019). Understanding Encounters for Urban Media Studies: Civic Intercourse, Screen Technologies, and Cultural Difference. International Journal of Communication, 13, 5351–5369. Bull, M. (2020). Soundscapes of the car: A critical study of automobile habitation. In Car Cultures (pp. 185-202). http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio-webdav/AudioMedia/Readings/Alphabetical/Bull-Soundscapes_of_the_Car.pdf
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14 (12/13) |
Geomedia: a critical concept |
Hartmann, M., & Jansson, A. (2022). Gentrification and the Right to the Geomedia City. Space and Culture, https://doi.org/10.1177/12063312221090600 McQuire (2021). Urban Digital Infrastructure, Smart Cityism, and Communication: Research Challenges for Urban E-Planning. |
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15 (12/20) |
Student presentation 1 |
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16 (12/27) |
Student presentation 2 |
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17 (24/01/03) |
Self-learning |
Paper revision |
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18 (24/01/10) |
Paper submission |
Final deadline for paper submission |
term paper 40%
field notes 25%
presentation 20%
participation 15%