This course offers a survey of different traditions in audience studies, including literature in communication, cultural studies, sociology, political science, and economics. It will explore methods of audience analysis, debates about audience agency versus effects, and the role of technology in shaping audiences. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding contemporary patterns of media use in digital cultures, and their implications for issues such as audience polarization, misinformation and the public sphere. Students will write a paper that reviews a body of audience studies literature in relation to an audience phenomenon of interest.

Despite the long history of communication, it seems that contemporary digital technologies have not only transformed how we use media, but have made media more central than ever to human civilization. Focusing on a series of key words in digital culture studies, this course asks: how can we make sense of these developments in communication technologies, and what are their implications for self and society? What is the impact of technological change on personal identity, social relationships, and political behavior? Is professional journalism viable or even necessary in an age of tweets, blogs and increasing numbers of amateur news images? Are new media really so new, and what happens to ‘old’ media like photography, television, books and music in a digital culture? And what might it mean for us to be perpetually available to others – and subject to perpetual surveillance by others - through mobile media?