Courses taught by Leah Lievrouw

College of Communication and Information Science
Department of Telecommunication and Film

This course introduces both communication majors and non-majors to the processes, history, and issues associated with the development of complex communication technologies in society. The readings and lectures reflect the assumption that there is a close relationship between the basic processes of human interaction and the media that we use to enhance or facilitate that interaction. As a result of taking the course, students should be able to describe the major communication systems; articulate their basic historical and technical development; and describe the social impacts of such systems.

This course introduces students to the basic concepts and techniques of communication research. Students are not expected to have prior experience with social science research. At the end of the course, students should be able to: (1) demonstrate their understanding of basic communication research principles, and (2) act as critical consumers of communication research findings.

This course is a general introduction to the major areas of media theory and research, designed for graduate students at both the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. The course reviews the basic history of media research, and the major research questions and issues, theoretical perspectives, and influential researchers in various specialty areas. The course begins with a broad historical overview, followed by weekly discussions of individual specialties led by the instructor and guest members of the graduate faculty of the College of Communication. The course concludes with a broad review of the basic philosophical issues relating to communication research (and to the social sciences generally), including theory and problem choice, the nature of observation and measurement, epistemology, and explanation.

MC 650 (Topics): Communication and Change / Recent Advances in Social Theory (graduate)

In recent years theorists across many disciplines have begun to recognize the centrality of communication as the primary constitutive process of society. Increasingly communication is seen as the link that crosses the longstanding theoretical divide between social structure and individual action.

The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to the recent work of social theorists whose central concern is the relation between communicative action, including those employing communication technologies, and the evolution of society. The seminar is also intended to encourage students to apply these frameworks in their particular areas of interest in communication research. In the course, students will explore several major theories and the main concepts associated with them, including Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration; theories of risk perception and communication proposed by Ulrich Beck and Mary Douglas; Jurgen Habermas’ theories of communicative action and public life; Michel Foucault’s theories about the relation between knowledge, discourse and social structure; and theories of self as "distributed" in society via interaction and the media (e.g., the work of Joshua Meyrowitz and Kenneth Gergen).

In this seminar, the ways that people identify and act on their needs for information, and the technological and social systems which are developed to fulfill those needs (e.g., new communication media, databases, libraries, organizational structures, social institutions, etc.), are explored. The course has two main purposes: (1) to introduce students to the theoretical perspectives and methodological tools for conducting original research in the area, which attempt to link the micro level of individual behavior to the macro level of social systems and structures; and (2) to encourage students to begin conceptualizing and formulating their own theoretical ideas about human information-related behavior.

In the course, students will discuss particular issues, such as why humans engage in information-related behavior; characterizing such behavior; relating the various forms of information-related behavior; the "fit" between information-related behavior and the social and technical aspects of information system design; and analyzing the structure and performance of existing information systems in their respective social contexts.

Each new medium of communication seems to renew the belief that it can radically change people's perceptions, and therefore that the medium changes social reality. In their turn, television, movies, printing, radio, photography, cable services, the telephone, even perspective drawing before the Renaissance, all provoked remarkably similar responses, with observers seeing media as the causes of social change. However, if society is really changed by the media, how do we know? Have the influences of communication media become so powerful and important that we have indeed become an "information society"?

As a result of instruction in this class, students should be able to identify the major areas of social impacts of communication media, especially new electronic channels such as enhanced telephone services, computer mediated communication, and satellite systems; they should also be able to describe those impacts as part of the emerging "information society" framework.

In this course a wide range of communication theories are introduced that relate to the current media environment, which includes both traditional "mass" media and more innovative technologies. Both the social-scientific and humanistic-critical perspectives are considered.

As a result of instruction in this class, students should be able to describe the major issues and processes related to telecommunication effects, identify them in everyday social contexts, and apply their knowledge of these processes to new or emerging developments in the field of new communication technologies.

Courses Taught at Rutgers University, 1986-1990

School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Department of Communication

This course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts and techniques of communication research. Students are not expected to have prior experience with social science research. At the end of the course, students should be able to: (1) understand basic communication research principles, and (2) act as critical consumers of communication research findings.

The course is divided into three sections, which cover social scientific inquiry, research processes and approaches, and measurement and data analysis, respectively. An examination will be given at the end of each of the three sections.

The health care system in the U.S. is one of the most complex, and one of the most studied, sectors of society. Accordingly, there is a vast and complex set of interrelationships in health care, ranging form dyads like nurse-patient or generalist-specialist, up through huge bureaucratic networks like the Department for Veterans' Affairs or the National Institutes of Health. All of these relationships are essentially communication paths or channels; their interconnections comprise networks which shape the nature and process of how Americans seek and obtain health care.

This course is designed as an overview of the communication processes and media that are used in the health care context, and their effects on larger social and institutional structures. It is intended for upper-division undergraduate students in communication or the allied health professions who have a particular interest in the relationship between communication processes and health care.

In this course the history, fundamental technical concepts, and social impacts of telecommunication technologies are introduced. The course is designed for students without prior knowledge of electronics or media production. The basic technical characteristics of the various technologies are briefly reviewed, but the main focus of the course is on the historical and policy developments that have had the most influence on the applications of communication technologies in society today.

This seminar deals with the precursors to, and characteristics of human information-related behavior, both within and outside of institutional contexts. Emphasis is on the relation between the behavior of individuals who must identify and act on their needs for information, and the technological and social systems which arise in response to such behavior (e.g., databases, libraries, new communication technologies, bureaucratic organizations, etc.).

The course is divided into two major segments which address the subtopics identified above. In the two segments, students will address particular issues, such as why humans engage in information-related behavior; characterizing such behavior; relating information use to other forms of information-related behavior; developing structures for relating information-related behavior to the social and technical aspects of information system design; and, analyzing existing information systems in terms of this structure.

The current theoretical perspectives on information-related behavior will be explored, as well as the methodological tools for conducting original research in the area. Because the course addresses a newly-emerging topic of research, emphasis will be placed on the formulation of relevant theory.

In western society, universities and certain other research-and-development organizations are unique institutions because they are specifically responsible for the creation, evaluation, and maintenance of knowledge: scholarship is truly a "knowledge culture." Given this mission, and the growing economic impact of the knowledge generated in universities and other R&D organizations, the communication behavior of scholars is of particular interest to many communication researchers. The values, institutions, politics and personalities of research create an environment for communication that differs in many respects from other organizational and interpersonal settings.

In this course, the unique aspects of communication behavior in the scholarly arena will be examined. It has been designed as an interdisciplinary review and exploration of current research in the communication behavior of researchers. Though scholarly and scientific communication has been of only periodic interest among communication researchers, literatures have accumulated in other specialties that have a direct bearing on the study of scholarly communication. Therefore, readings in this course will be drawn not only from communication research, but also from relevant work in the fields of history, philosophy, sociology, and information science.

The course will be divided into four segments, which will focus on the structures, processes, products, and reward systems of scholarly communication, respectively. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which the conceptual thinking of scholars in various specialties is transformed into documents which are subsequently reproduced, stored, and used in turn by other scholars.

| Top of Page | Home Page | Lievrouw Bibliography |

Updated January 9, 2007.
All course descriptions and syllabi © 2007 Leah A. Lievrouw.
For further information, contact Prof. Lievrouw at llievrou@ucla.edu