Students

MMCC7000 – Media and Social Media

2021 – Session 1, Weekday attendance, North Ryde

Notice

As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group activities on campus, and most will keep an online version available to those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.

To check the availability of face-to-face and online activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor
John Potts
john.potts@mq.edu.au
Contact via 9850 2163
10Ha 165J
Wed 1 - 2
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MRes
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

Media and social media dominate our political, social and cultural landscapes. This unit investigates their multilayered dynamic by incorporating a range of disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary approaches within media, communications, cultural studies and media arts. It surveys approaches to media and representation in the broad media and communications discipline. A section of this unit specifically addresses issues in social media. Students will explore how academic research can be utilised to study a rapidly evolving cultural reality and technological infrastructure.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: demonstrate a coherent knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within a discipline area.
  • ULO2: develop and demonstrate a high level of oral, written, and discipline specific communication skills.
  • ULO3: communicate research principles and perspectives situated in a disciplinary area.
  • ULO4: apply informed and logical judgments to the arguments of others.
  • ULO5: synthesize and apply ideas to new contexts.

General Assessment Information

Late Submission Penalty:

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (including weekends) after the original submission deadline.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Essay 30% No 20/4/21
Research Essay 50% No 4/06/21
Seminar Presentation 20% No Weeks 12 and 13

Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 20/4/21
Weighting: 30%

This essay requires student to critically engage with unit content and independent research.

Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate a coherent knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within a discipline area.
  • develop and demonstrate a high level of oral, written, and discipline specific communication skills.
  • communicate research principles and perspectives situated in a disciplinary area.
  • apply informed and logical judgments to the arguments of others.
  • synthesize and apply ideas to new contexts.

Research Essay

Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 46 hours
Due: 4/06/21
Weighting: 50%

This essay requires students to critically engage with current literature and undertake in-depth independent research.

Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate a coherent knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within a discipline area.
  • develop and demonstrate a high level of oral, written, and discipline specific communication skills.
  • communicate research principles and perspectives situated in a disciplinary area.
  • apply informed and logical judgments to the arguments of others.
  • synthesize and apply ideas to new contexts.

Seminar Presentation

Assessment Type 1: Presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Weeks 12 and 13
Weighting: 20%

Students will be required to present on a specific unit topic.

Refer to iLearn for further information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate a coherent knowledge of the principles, methods and concepts within a discipline area.
  • develop and demonstrate a high level of oral, written, and discipline specific communication skills.
  • communicate research principles and perspectives situated in a disciplinary area.
  • apply informed and logical judgments to the arguments of others.
  • synthesize and apply ideas to new contexts.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Readings will be provided by the convenor. Some readings are available online for download, as detailed in the Unit Schedule.

Unit Schedule

MMCC7000 Unit Schedule

Week 2: 1st March – Introduction to Media and Social Media (John Potts)

Week 3: 8th March - Media Studies (John Potts)

Reading: Turner, G. (2015), 'Introduction', Re-Inventing the Media, London and New York:

Routledge. pp. 1-15.

Background Reading: Cunningham, S., and Turnbull, S. (2014). 'Introduction' and The Media

and Communications: Theoretical Traditions', The Media and Communications in Australia 4th

Edition. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. pp. 1-30.

Week 4: 15th March - Cultural Studies (Joseph Pugliese)

Reading: Nicole Anderson and Katrina Schulnke, 'Introduction: Theory to Practice' in Anderson

& Schulnke, Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009

Week 5: 22nd March - Writing (Willa McDonald)

Reading: Macnamara, A,  "Six rules for practice-led research",  TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, Scott Brook and Paul Magee (eds), Special Issue, Website Series, no. 4, 14 October 2012. http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue14/McNamara.pdf 

Recommended readings:

Christine Owen,  'Academic Research and Creative Writing: Redrawing the Map and Finding One's Allies (and avoiding the Corbett phenomenon)', TEXT, Vol 10, No 2, 2006 

 Available at: www.textjournal.com.au/oct06/owen.htm 

Shady Cosgrove, 'Getting my hands dirty: research and writing', TEXT, Special Issue 27, Creative Writing as Research III, October 2014 (eds Nigel Krauth, Donna Lee Brien, Ross Watkins and Anthony Lawrence), online at: 

 http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue27/Cosgrove.pdf

Week 6: 29th March - Music (Julian Knowles)

Reading: Hesmondhalgh, David and Negus, Keith (2002) 'Introduction - Popular Music Studies:

Meaning, Power and Value'. In David Hesmondhalgh and Keith Negus (eds), Popular Music

Studies. London: Arnold, pp. 1-10.

MID-SEMESTER BREAK

Week 7: 19 April - Creative Arts and Media Arts (Julie-Anne Long and Jon Burtt)

Reading: Barrett, Estelle. 2010, 'Introduction’, in Barrett Estelle, and Barbara Bolt (eds) Practice

as Research: Approaches to creative arts enquiry, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) pp. 1-13

Week 8: 26th April - Screen Studies (Karen Pearlman)

Reading: David Bordwell, 'The Viewer's Share: Models of Mind in Explaining Film' (2012)

at http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/viewersshare.php

Week 9: 3rd May - Social Media 1 (Tai Neilson)

Readings to be provided.

Week 10: 10th May - Social Media 2 (Tai Neilson)

Weeks 11: 17th May - Media Disciplines and Sub-disciplines (John Potts) 

Weeks 12 and 13: 24 May - 31 May - Student Presentations (John Potts)

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to help you improve your marks and take control of your study.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2021.03 of the Handbook