CRESCENT
UNIVERSITY, ABEOKUTA
COLLEGE OF
SOCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES (COSMAS)
DEPARTMENT
OF MASS COMMUNICATION
Course: MAS
318 Information Technology and Media Practice (2 credits. Compulsory)
Students: 32
Lecturer: Okunnu G. O
M.Sc. Communication Studies (LASU);
B.Sc. Mass Communication, (LASU).
Department of Mass Communication,
Crescent University,
Abeokuta
Course Description
The course is designed to introduce communication
students to information and communication technologies that influence media
practice. The benefits of ICT to the media are fully examined. These will
include online news research and reporting; web journalism and the world of
blogs, flickers and twitters.
Course Objective
Information
technology is increasingly affecting our lives in a manner which has become
commonplace. It has become an integral and accepted part of everyday life for
many people, and it is believed that this trend will continue, to the extent
that, these technologies will become a vital aspect of people’s work and social
lives. Journalism is one area in which these technologies
has influenced, in terms of how journalists gather and disseminate information
to the mass audience and also how the audience receive the message. Hence, this
course is expected to introduce communication students to these technologies
and how they influence and will continue to affect media related activities. In
specific terms, at the end of the course students should be able to:
1.
Appreciate the
historical trend of ICT and its effect on media practices
2.
Identify and understand
the theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon
3.
Identify the
various technologies and how they influence media practices
4.
Highlight emerging
issues affecting the media practices due to the nature of these technologies
Method of
Grading
Students will be graded based on the following
criteria:
|
Criteria
|
Score (%)
|
|
Weekly assignment
|
20
|
|
Class Test
|
10
|
|
Attendance and
active participation in class
|
10
|
|
End of
Semester Examination
|
60
|
|
Total
|
100
|
Lecture Contents
Week 1: Introduction
to Information Technology and Media practice
Week 2 & 3: Theoretical
framework
Week 4: From Gutenberg
Technology to the Digital Age: An analysis of mass media history
Week 5: Appraisal of how information and
media technologies influence media practices (news gathering, news production
and news distribution)
Week 6: Evaluation of digital tools for
media practice
Week 7: Web Journalism (story telling on
the web)
Week 8: Appraisal of emerging issues
affecting web journalism (legal factors, reporting restrictions, copyright
issues, socio-cultural factors)
Week 9: Freelancing on the web
(the opportunities and challenges associated with writing for publication on
the web. Writing for the web. The online audience. Online
research. Sourcing stories from the web.)
Week 10 & 11: Challenges, benefits and
prospects of ICT for media practices in Nigeria
Week
12: Revision
SUGGESTED BOOKS
Bruce D. Itule &
Douglas A. Anderson (2008) News Writing & Reporting for Today’s Media. New
York: McGrawHill
Gill Branston & Roy
Stafford (2006). The Media Student’s Book. 4th Edition. New York:
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
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