History of Communication
Code: 103854 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501933 Journalism | FB | 1 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Josep Maria Perceval Verde
- Email:
- josepmaria.perceval@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- Yes
Other comments on languages
Theory classes are taught in Spanish and practical classes in CatalanTeachers
- José Manuel Silva Alcalde
- Josep Maria Perceval Verde
Prerequisites
No specific knowledge is required other than those obtained after taking High School.
It is assumed that students dominate Catalan and / or oral Spanish, writing and reading comprehension.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The course is held in the first course during the first semester and belongs to the training block of "Communication".
From this subject students will achieve fundamental objectives of the Degree in Journalism, which should help them to:
- Demonstrate that they have a basic knowledge of the current dynamics of the world that allows them to frame current information in its context.
- Gather and relate data from everyday reality that include a reflection on relevant topics of all kinds to interpret and disseminate to society.
- Reflect on the changes that have taken place in the communicative field throughout the centuries, and how this transforms the human, cultural, political, economic and social relations of humanity.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
- Demonstrate adequate knowledge of Catalonia's socio-communicative reality in the Spanish, European and global context.
- Differentiate the discipline's main theories, its fields, conceptual developments, theoretical frameworks and approaches that underpin knowledge of the subject and its different areas and sub-areas, and acquire systematic knowledge of the media's structure.
- Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
- Identify modern journalistic traditions in Catalonia, Spain and worldwide and their specific forms of expression, as well as their historic development and the theories and concepts that study them.
- Manage time effectively.
- Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Use a third language as a working language and means of professional expression in the media.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
- Communicate using language that is not sexist or discriminatory.
- Contextualise the different journalistic trends and the work of renowned journalists.
- Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
- Demonstrate a critical and self-critical capacity.
- Demonstrate a self-learning and self-demanding capacity to ensure an efficient job.
- Describe the structure of the media and its dynamics.
- Differentiate the specificities of audiovisual languages.
- Disseminate the area's knowledge and innovations.
- Explain the development of modern international journalistic traditions.
- Find substance and relevance in documents on theory, structure and communication in a third language.
- Identify the fundamentals of theories and the history of communication.
- Identify the media system and groups that have had, at a given point in time, the power to inform, and be able to describe the legal framework that exerts a certain governance on the media.
- Identify the principal forms of sex- or gender-based inequality and discrimination present in society.
- Identify the social, economic and environmental implications of academic and professional activities within one's own area of knowledge.
- Identify the structural foundations of the communication system.
- Interpret and discuss texts regarding the main communication and journalism theories and present the summary of the analysis in writing and in public.
- Link social analysis and impacts of new communication technologies.
- Link the historic development of journalistic forms and traditions with the groups that have had, at a given point in time, the power to inform and the manner in which this power was accessed.
- Manage time effectively.
- Research, select and arrange in hierarchical order any kind of source and useful document to develop communication products.
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Content
The proposed teaching methodology and evaluation activities may undergo some modifications depending on the health authorities' attendance restrictions.
The calendar will be available on the first day of class. Students will find all information on the Virtual Campus: the description of the activities, teaching materials, and any necessary information for the proper follow-up of the subject. In case of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, teachers will make readjustments in the schedule and methodologies.
Topic 1. Introduction to the History of Communication
Definition, methodology and objectives. Visibility and invisibility of the "feminine" concept in the history of communication. Prioritization of the "masculine" in the history of communication: the androcentric model of worldview.
Topic 2. Oral-gestural communication
Explanation of the communication in the illiterate societies. Grammatics of the totem and taboo, organization of communication in animist societies and first iconic manifestations. The body as a communicative support (work on the body permanently -tattoos, incisions- and temporal -maquillatge, dress, consensual gestures ...). Continuity of oral-gestural communication to the present.
Topic 3. Writing. Birth, development and debates around writing.
Precedents and attempts to classify the different writing systems: from the pictogram to the phonetization. Effects and impact of writing on social, economic and cultural organization. The importance of support and tools. The invention of the book. The credibility of the writing. Writing as art. Monasteries and copyists. Consequences of literacy. Writing and Aristotelian model of thought. Writing as an attribute of power. Women and writing: weaving and writing. Societies without writing.
Topic 4. Printing
The originality and differences of Gutenberg's invention and its mobile types. The expansion of the book from incunabula to the formation of large libraries.The periodization of the news: the announcements to the gazettes and newspapers. The new individual sociability: the court, the lounge and the coffee, the printing of texts and their social influence; propaganda systems, Luther and the religious and political propaganda and origins of journalism. Academia-club-party-periodical press: the Enlightenment and the conformation of the bourgeois public opinion space.
Topic 5. Communication to the industrial revolution
Industrial revolution: conceptual and material bases. Industry, economy and energy revolution. The role of transport, communication channels. Technical progress in the world of communication. The abolition of distance: the telegraph, the telephone, the postal services. Takeoff of the press: serious press and popular press. Creation of press agencies. Photography and precedents of the moving image.
Topic 7. Digital revolution and knowledge society
The communication industry and the so-called technology companies as a factor of development and crisis; victory of the audiovisual over print and book culture; omnipresence of communication and globalization of the information society; computerization and new technologies in leisure and work. Reflections on the new global village (reality and mythification of the metaphor): communicative immediacy (from Internet to reality shows), new technological illiteracy and digital divide: the explosion of access to information and production (from MP3 to DVD).
The content of this subject is sensitive to aspects related to the gender perspective.
Methodology
Learning will be based on several aspects:
- reading basic texts about the history of communication. One of the texts will be compulsory and evaluable in the exam. The work will be indicated in the classroom.
- Oral presentations in the classroom about the subjects studied.
Collaborative work and the capacity for critical analysis and reflection will be encouraged.
Gender perspective
The subject promotes gender sensitivity in a transversal way. It does it specifically in the following specific aspects:
- Knowledge about the inclusion of the gender perspective in all the processes of the design and application of the research, including methodologies and research techniques with a gender perspective or feminist.
-Reflection on the role of information and communication technologies in the transmission of gender stereotypes and in social transformation.
- Recognition of the digital divide and the adaptation of ICTs to gender differences: barriers and opportunities.
-Recognition of the contributions of scientists to the discipline.
- Recognition of the role of gender inequalities in science, both in scientific production and in their professional and academic aspects.
- Recognition of the values of gender equality in professional practice.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 46 | 1.84 | 4, 1, 21, 2, 6, 5, 20, 13, 12, 16, 14, 23, 22, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Practical activities | 75.5 | 3.02 | 3, 7, 8, 10, 18, 19 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading | 21 | 0.84 | 4, 1, 21, 2, 6, 5, 9, 20, 15, 14, 17, 23, 22, 11 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the subject consists of three parts, the specific weight of which is:
- Practices: 50% on the grade
- Exam: 40% on the grade
- Participation in class and justified self-evaluation: 10% on the grade
To pass the subject, an average grade will be made between the 3 parts. It is necessary that the exam is approved with 5 points and that the score resulting from the average of the practices be a minimum of 5 points. All of them must have been done.
The last weeks of the course will be devoted to revaluation. To go to the revaluation it will be necessary that the students have done the exam of the course in first call and that they have obtained a minimum score of 3 points. Students will be entitled to the revaluation of the subject. They should present a minimum of activities that equals two-thirds of the total grading.The revaluation will consist of the theoretical exam and a practical activity.
Course work or the exam that has more than 5 spelling mistakes and / or grammatical structure will be suspended.
All the details of the evaluation system will be specified on the first day of class and will be made public in the Moodle Classroom of the subject.
Practical evaluable activities:
The evaluable practical activities are distributed throughout the course and are related to key aspects of the subject and the syllabus of the subject.
There will be a practical evaluation every month at least, the theoretical test at the end of the course and the revaluation if necessary.
In the case of a second enrolment, students can do a single synthesis exam/assignment that will consist of some of the main theoretical and practical activities. The grading of the subject will correspond to the grade of the synthesis exam/assignment.
Plagiarism. The student who performs any irregularity (copy, plagiarism, identity theft...) will be qualified with 0 in this assignment or exam. In case there are several irregularities, the final grade of the subject will be 0.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam | 40% | 3 | 0.12 | 4, 1, 21, 3, 6, 7, 5, 8, 9, 10, 20, 13, 12, 16, 15, 14, 17, 23, 18, 19, 11 |
| Participation in classroom activities and justified self-assessment | 10% | 3 | 0.12 | 4, 1, 21, 2, 3, 6, 7, 5, 8, 9, 10, 20, 13, 12, 16, 15, 14, 17, 23, 22, 18, 19, 11 |
| Practical activities supervised and directed | 50% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 23 |
Bibliography
REFERENCES
CALVET, Louis-Jean: Historia de la escritura, Barcelona, Paidos, 2001
DIAMOND, Jared: El mundo hasta ayer, Barcelona, Random House Mondadori, 2013.
FIGUERES, Josep M.: Resistència. La prensa en català. Censura i repressió. Base. 2019.
PERCEVAL, José María, Historia mundial de la comunicación, Cátedra, Madrid, 2015.
RUEDA-LAFFOND, José Carlos; GALÁN, Elena; RUBIO, Ángel. Historia de los medios de comunicaicón. Madrid, Alianza, 2014.
WILLIAMS, Raymond (ed.), Historia de la comunicación, Vol. I: Del lenguaje a la escritura. Vol. II: De la imprenta a nuestros días, Bosch Comunicación, Barcelona, 1992.
Software
No special software is required. Only Word or Powerpoint.