HFMA03131U FM,Social media & civic engagement CANCELED

The internet is becoming increasingly social and mobile technologies continue to blur the distinction between online and offline. The road from internet talk to street action is shortening, as portable communities with ever-changing structure and dynamics become increasingly visible and influential. Blogs, content sharing platforms and social network sites are increasingly at the core of these contemporary processes.

The course focuses on the role of social media in shaping civic and political engagement. It takes the challenge of pinning down the generous, but equally fuzzy concept of social media historically and within the context of media ecology. It discusses theoretical approaches to social media as genres, technological affordances and networked users. It offers key-readings on the much-debated concepts of civic engagement and political participation, and provides several cases studies and methodological approaches in discussing the democratizing potential of social media.