You are here:

Print View

Our Focus : Today's and Tomorrow's Media

The Discipline focuses on understanding, analysing and engaging with web and mobile-enabled digital, social and participatory media. 

Media Studies is a discipline which necessarily changes in response to technology innovations, government policy, and developing media practices. The questions it asks are important and enduring ones: what has been produced by the ability to communicate through mass distribution platforms, and what could - and should be - achieved in future through the new forms of communciation technologies. Making sense of media's capacity to transform and re-make the world is an exciting, absorbing and important task, whether one is motivated by a desire to work in media, or simply wants to use, understand or make media. 

We include the study of the history of older communications' technologies and broadcast media.  Print, telephony, television and radio remain important media, and now the economic, social and political impact of new and interactive media will be felt not only in those mainstream media industries, but in education and training sectors, by governments and by the corporate and small business sectors. Being media-savvy and digitally literate are now necessities for full participation in one's society. The consumer, citizen or 'prosumer' choices available, along with the speed, transparency and accountability potential of Web 2.0 technologies, are already affecting print and broadcast media, advertising revenue and media business models.  The new communication technologies also provide a new means for mass cooperation between people, and more problem-solving capacity than ever before.  The C21st, though so young, has been hailed as 'the collaboration age' and this vision of the future presents an inspiring goal for all those involved in new media. 

Commencing and continuing students will find program structures in the program finder: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/programfinder/2008/bmedi_bmedia.html#studyplan.

Media Coursebook 2008 (doc 275kB)