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History of Communication

Code: 104763 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2503868 Communication in Organisations FB 1

Contact

Name:
Maria Teresa Ferre Panisello
Email:
teresa.ferre@uab.cat

Teachers

Maria Teresa Ferre Panisello

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No specific requirements.


Objectives and Contextualisation

  • Understand the different dimensions of the field of Communication.
  • To inscribe the impact of the novelties that occur in the field of Communication within a chronological sequence that allows us to discern what is really new and involves new challenges.
  • To be able to deepen in the organizational character that is “constitutive” of all the established historical forms of Communication.
  • To be able to develop all the communicative functions in the organizational professional field with full awareness of its mediating dimension.
  • Take full consciousness of the systematic (ecosystematic) nature that all forms of social communication adopt.

Competences

  • Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
  • Differentiate the principal theories on communication in organisations, which underpin knowledge of the discipline and its different branches.
  • Display thorough knowledge of the contemporary world in its social, economic, political and cultural dimensions.
  • Manage time efficiently and plan for short-, medium- and long-term tasks.
  • Search for, select and rank any type of source and document that is useful for creating messages.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • 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.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Cross-check information to establish its veracity, using evaluation criteria.
  2. Define the basic concepts of communication.
  3. Describe the structure of the media and its dynamics.
  4. Find what is substantial and relevant in documents within the subject.
  5. Identify the fundamental principles of the theories and history of communication.
  6. Interpret and discuss documents on the main theories of communication.
  7. Plan and conduct academic studies in the field of theory, history and structure of communication.
  8. Present a summary of the studies made, orally and in writing.
  9. Propose projects and actions that incorporate the gender perspective.
  10. Relate communication systems to the cultural evolution of contemporary society.
  11. Submit course assignments on time, showing the individual or group planning involved.

Content

  1. The origin of social communication. The invention of writing.
  2. Distance communication in the pre-industrial era. The mail system.
  3. Humanism and the universalization of reading.
  4. The mobile type press and the functional use of printed paper.
  5. The birth of the press. From gazettes to the first daily newspapers.
  6. Telecommunications at the beginning of the industrial age. The telegraph.
  7. The introduction of the steam engine to communication. The mass media.
  8. The image in communication. From engraving to photography.
  9. Audiovisual culture: radio, television and cinema.
  10. The digital era. The new communication technologies.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lessons and seminars 48 1.92 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11
Type: Supervised      
Readings 48 1.92 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10
Type: Autonomous      
Work 52 2.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11

Lectures. lessons, seminars, readings and the final work/paper.

The detailed calendar with the content of the different sessions will be exposed on the day of presentation of the subject. It will also be posted on the Virtual Campus where students can find the detailed description of the exercises and practices, the various teaching materials and any information necessary for the proper monitoring of the subject. 

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Participation 10% 0 0 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Theoretical Exam 50% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Works 40% 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Continued avaluation

The continuous assessment is fixed in the following activities and percentages:

50% Theoretical exam
30% Practical exam
20% Work

 

Single assessment

Students will have the right to opt for the single assessment in the terms established by current regulations. The activities and percentages of this modality are set as follows:

50% Theoretical exam
30% Practical exam
20% Work

Students who opt for a single assessment can take both exams on the same day, as stipulated in the regulations.

The work delivery date will be the same as that established for students who take continuous assessment.


Continued avaluation recovery

Students will have the right to retake the subject if they have been assessed for a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to a minimum of 2/3 of the subject’s total grade.

In order to be able to retake the subject, an average grade of 3 out of 10 must have been obtained.

The recovery will consist of a theoretical and practical exam. The percentage of each part will be the same as in the ordinary assessment. The course work is not recoverable, so the grade will be the same as the one obtained initially.

The maximum mark that can be obtained in the recovery test is 5 out of 10.

 

Single assessment recovery

To opt for the recovery of the single assessment, it will be compulsory to have taken the ordinary single assessment and obtained an average grade of 3 out of 10.

The recovery will consist of a theoretical and practical exam. The percentage of each part will be the same as in the ordinary assessment. The coursework is not recoverable, so the grade will be the same as the one obtained initially.

The maximum mark that can be obtained in the recovery test is 5 out of 10.

 

General observations

The student who commits any irregularity (copying, plagiarism, impersonation, etc.) that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, will be graded with 0 for that assessment act. If more than one irregularity occurs, the final grade of the subject will be 0.

Throughout the evaluation process, criteria from a gender perspective and respect for cultural diversity will be taken into account.

 


Bibliography

Briggs, Asa (2002), De Gutenberg a Internet. Una historia social de los medios de comunicación, Madrid: Taurus.

Camprubí, Xevi (2020), La revolució de la impremta. La contribució de la tipografia al desenvolupament de la Catalunya moderna, Catarroja: Afers.

Freund, Gisèle (1993), La fotografía como documento social, Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.

Gómez Mompart, Josep Lluís; Marín, Enric (1999), Historia del Periodismo Universal, Madrid: Síntesis.

Marín, Enric; Tresserras, Joan Manuel (1994), Cultura de masses i postmodernitat, València: 3i4.

McLuhan, Marshall (1993), La Galaxia Gutenberg. Génesis del Homo Typographicus, Barcelona: Círculo de lectores.

Moragas, Miquel de (2022), La comunicación y sus cambios. De los orígenes al móvil, Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Vázquez Montalbán, Manuel (1985), Historia y comunicación social, Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Williams, Raymond (1992), Historia de la Comunicación, Barcelona: Bosch.

 


Software

No knowledge of specific software is required beyond the usual office suites.


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(SEM) Seminars 71 Catalan first semester afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 72 Catalan first semester afternoon
(TE) Theory 7 Catalan first semester afternoon