10439 Communication: Technology, Culture and Social Change

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Communication or in Sociology & Anthropology

Prerequisites: none

Recommended: Introduction to Sociology, Introduction to Mass Media

Authors: Dov Shinar, Hanan Golan, Oren Tokatli. The materials include a reader: The internet – communication, society and culture.

Objectives: To examine the mutual relations between communications technology, society and culture; To expose the plurality and variety of models of communication that stem from socio-cultural change and technological development; To present technological aspects of communication and trends in communications technology, focusing on channels of communication that have developed in recent decades.

The main issues discussed are historical and contemporary developments in communication technology; social and cultural expressions of communication technologies; the mutual impact of communication technologies and societal characteristics; reciprocal relations between changes in communication technologies, social and political organization and their underlying cultural perceptions; new digital communication systems and the post-industrial society; relations between communication technologies, society and culture in Israel.

Topics: Technology, communication and social organization; Technology and society: theoretical approaches; Social implications of contemporary communication; New media; Communication policy in a changing environment: Israel.