Emerging Media and Communication
EMAC 2321 Writing and Research for Emerging Media (3 semester credit hours) This writing-intensive course focuses on writing for new and emerging environments. While a number of technologies will be introduced and discussed in the course, the focus of the course will not be on the particular details of any one technology but rather on developing technological literacy; that is, the ability to understand and master new and emerging technologies as they appear. (3-0) S
EMAC 2322 Theories of Emerging Media and Communication (3 semester credit hours) The course will examine the history and theory of digital communications with a critical view of their effects on society. The focus will be on the role of the Internet in contemporary life. Prerequisite or Corequisite: EMAC 2321. (3-0) S
EMAC 2323 Code and Culture (3 semester credit hours) At the intersection of theory and practice, in this course students will consider how code affects culture and how culture informs code. Topics may include: the ideology of programming languages; how social, national, gendered, and racial formations are reflected in coding culture; political philosophies of free/open-source/proprietary software; the sociality of coding platforms; the semiotic, cultural, and legal implications of hacking and remixing; maker culture and code; or code as discourse. This course includes the study of code in theory and operation. Prerequisite or Corequisite: EMAC 2322. (3-0) S
EMAC 2330 Historical Perspectives on Emerging Media (3 semester credit hours) This course examines the history of emerging media by foregrounding the relationship between new media technologies and cultural, social, political, economic, and epistemological transformations. The history of emerging media will be considered in light of previously emerging systems, such as the shift from orality to writing, the social impacts of the printing press, the rise of broadcast media, and the development of the internet. (3-0) R
EMAC 3300 Reading Media Critically (3 semester credit hours) Addresses the process of reading and interpretation in the larger context of communication theory. Focuses on the interpretation of communication created for and disseminated through mass media. Prerequisite: RHET 1302. (3-0) S
EMAC 3326 Emerging Media Production (3 semester credit hours) The course will introduce emerging practices in new media. It will blend theoretical studies and project-intensive practice in leading-edge applications of digital media, interactive media, and Internet communications. Prerequisites: EMAC 2322 and ATEC 3361. (0-3) S
EMAC 3328 The Digital Society (3 semester credit hours) This course will examine the way the digital network changes our society. Students will examine various shifts that have occurred in our public and private lives as a result of the digital network. The class will cover a range of issues which, depending on the instructor, may include social networks, privacy, journalism, politics, and intellectual property, among others. May be repeated for credit as topics vary (6 semester credit hours maximum). Prerequisite: EMAC 2322. (3-0) Y
EMAC 3335 Media Psychology (3 semester credit hours) This course will examine evidence for the role that psychology plays in the production and consumption of media. The course will cover traditional media, such as television, newspapers, and film, as well as a variety of content genres, such as entertainment, news, and video games, but emphasis will be placed on how emerging media complicates how human beings process media from a psychological lens. Topics of discussion may include emotional response, arousal, unconscious processing, memory, and attention. Prerequisite: PSY 2317 or instructor consent required. (3-0) R
EMAC 3343 Social Networks (3 semester credit hours) This course introduces the theoretical perspectives and practical applications of the study of social networks, which include (but are not limited to) friendship networks, political discussion networks, social support networks, health networks, organizational networks, and online networks. The emphasis of the course will be placed on the impact of communication technologies on the creation, maintenance, and transformation of social networks in contemporary media environments. Students will also learn to analyze and visualize networks using computer programs. (3-0) Y
EMAC 3350 Reading in a Networked Era (3 semester credit hours) This course examines literature's transformation in the era of electronic networks. Topics may include the history of writing and technology; the influence of new reading practices; distribution channels, and changes to the publication industry on literature; emerging literary and popular genres, participatory publics, remix cultures, and virality; literature's position within a media ecology of video games, movies, and television. (3-0) R
EMAC 4314 Persuasion and Digital Media (3 semester credit hours) This course will survey research about persuasion and digital media, focusing on changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Prerequisite: RHET 1302. (3-0) S
EMAC 4325 Digital Writing (3 semester credit hours) This class will introduce the forms and strategies of digital composition. Through this writing-intensive course students will learn to write in and about digital networked spaces, focusing on changes that the switch from analog to digital has brought to representation. This course will explore writing in the digital age across a range of technologies, environments, and spaces. Prerequisites: RHET 1302 and EMAC 2321 and EMAC 2322 and upper-division standing. (3-0) S
EMAC 4326 Advanced Emerging Media Production (3 semester credit hours) The course explores production studio and field practices in the development of emerging forms of digital media and communications. Students will work individually and in teams to produce new media projects using a variety of different methods and technologies. Areas of investigation may include social media, mobile media, and trans-media projects. Prerequisite: EMAC 3326. (0-3) S
EMAC 4335 Emerging Media and the Digital Economy (3 semester credit hours) This course considers the affordances of emerging media to reshape the economies of multiple industries, modes of production, and sectors of society. Topics may include the impact of new platforms on the structure and performance of media operations; information delivery and revenue generation; algorithmic shaping of online economies; audience behaviors and preferences; competition; digital labor; emerging economies such as virtual currencies, barter economies, and markets in biolabor; intellectual property; and peer production. Prerequisite: EMAC 2322 or instructor consent required. (3-0) R
EMAC 4350 Networked Identities (3 semester credit hours) This course considers the interplay between emerging media and social and individual identity, with a focus on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, class, age, and nationality. Topics will include how such identities are represented in media and how people use media to reshape such representations. Prerequisite: EMAC 2322 or instructor consent required. (3-0) R
EMAC 4372 Topics in Emerging Media and Communications (3 semester credit hours) The course studies fundamental principles and basic techniques of emerging media and communication. Sections may be devoted exclusively to a single aspect of emerging media and communication or to a multiplicity of subjects related to the field. May be repeated for credit as topics vary (12 semester credit hours maximum). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing. (3-0) R
EMAC 4380 Capstone Project (3 semester credit hours) Culminating course in Emerging Media and Communication. Students will engage in the creation of an advanced creative and/or research project exploring emerging media and communication. Restricted to students majoring in Emerging Media and Communication who are enrolled in their last long semester at UT Dallas. Instructor consent required. (3-0) S
EMAC 4399 Senior Honors in Emerging Media and Communication (3 semester credit hours) Intended for students conducting independent research for an honors thesis or project. Students will engage in the creation of an advanced creative and/or research project and paper exploring the interaction of emerging media and communication. Restricted to students majoring in Emerging Media and Communication who meet honors requirements and are enrolled in their last long semester at UT Dallas. Signature of instructor and second reader on proposed project outline required. Instructor consent required. (3-0) S
EMAC 4V71 Independent Study in Emerging Media and Communication (1-3 semester credit hours) Independent study under a faculty member's direction. Signature of instructor and Associate Dean on proposed project outline required. May be repeated for credit (9 semester credit hours maximum). Prerequisites: Upper-division standing and completion of all lower-division requirements in EMAC and instructor consent required. ([1-3]-0) R