| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Communication |
| Mode of Delivery: |
Face to face |
| Prerequisites: |
None |
| Language of Instruction: |
English |
| Level of Course Unit: |
Undergraduate |
| Course Coordinator: |
- - |
| Course Lecturer(s): |
İdil AKIN |
| Course Objectives: |
The students are expected to:
• Comprehend practical (legal, sociopolitical, and economic) issues and challenges around media rights and freedoms
• Learn about basic conceptual debates around media freedom and rights such as public vs. private, rights vs. security, and collective ownership and copyright
• Work towards developing solutions to the challenges faced in the information society in a well-grounded, analysis-based, and innovative manner. |
| Course Contents: |
This course deals primarily with the practical issues, opportunities, and challenges media users face in the information society, which is saturated by ever-changing communication tools and technologies. In doing so, this course will first equip students with the basic theoretical lenses and legal approaches to the key aspects of the freedom and rights in information society. These aspects include media and communication policies, communication ethics, freedom of expression, surveillance, data privacy, personal data, digital security, copyright, and digital activism. The course will then focus on specific cases from diverse areas for students to develop hands-on experience dealing with the issues of freedom and rights in the information society. |
| Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit (LO): |
- 1- Ability to express the key historical components of the ongoing public/scholarly discussions around media freedom and rights
- 2- Ability to participate in basic debates over the issues of media freedom and rights
- 3- Ability to analyze contemporary cases that embody the challenges and debates around media freedom and rights
- 4- Ability to develop innovative and research-based solutions to the challenges citizens, governments, and institutions face in information society.
|
| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods: |
The course consists of 3 modules. These are: 1. Historical foundation of media freedom and rights: Freedom of expression, media, and information 2. Considerations in information society: Surveillance, privacy, and personal data 3. Opportunities and challenges: Digital activism/hacktivism, issues of copyright, and citizen journalism During the semester, students will work toward one group project (10%) and in each module they will deliver one personal project (10% each). In addition to personal project reports, group projects will be presented orally in the format of team debates (20%). In addition, students will be evaluated based on their analysis of specific cases that will be assigned for each module and applied in-class (10% each). The remaining 10% of the letter grade will be covered by attendance and participation. |
| Week | Subjects | Related Preperation |
| 1 |
Orientation Week (Introduction and course plan) |
|
| 2 |
Module (I): Freedom of expression, media, and information: Histories, definitions, contradictions |
Reading from the course pack |
| 3 |
Module (I): Freedom of expression, media, and information: Global conditions, local regulations |
Reading from the course pack |
| 4 |
Module (I): Freedom of expression, media, and information: From penny press to Tiktok |
Reading from the course pack |
| 5 |
Module (I): Freedom of expression, media, and information : Debate: Free speech or hate speech |
Debate preview -- case analysis |
| 6 |
Module (II): Surveillance, privacy, and personal data: Public vs. Private |
Reading from the course pack |
| 7 |
Module (II): Surveillance, privacy, and personal data: Corporations and data |
Reading from the course pack |
| 8 |
Module (II): Surveillance, privacy, and personal data: Between rights and security |
Reading from the course pack – personal project |
| 9 |
Module (II): Surveillance, privacy, and personal data: Debate: public health or citizen rights |
Debate preview -- case analysis |
| 10 |
Module (III): Issues of copyright, digital activism, and citizen journalism: Ownership of information |
Reading from the course pack |
| 11 |
Module (III): Issues of copyright, digital activism, and citizen journalism: Intellectural property |
Reading from the course pack |
| 12 |
Module (III): Issues of copyright, digital activism, and citizen journalism: Activism/Hacktivism and citizen journalism |
Reading from the course pack – personal project |
| 13 |
Module (III): Issues of copyright, digital activism, and citizen journalism: Debate: Common use or intellectual property |
Debate preview -- case analysis |
| 14 |
Review Week |
|
At Kadir Has University, a Semester is 14 weeks; The weeks 15 and 16 are reserved for final exams.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO) AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS (PQ)
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PQ1 |
PQ2 |
PQ3 |
PQ4 |
PQ5 |
PQ6 |
PQ7 |
PQ8 |
PQ9 |
PQ10 |
| LO1 |
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| LO2 |
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| LO3 |
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| LO4 |
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Contribution: 1 Low, 2 Average, 3 High
