Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Fall 1998

Abstract

Course syllabus for MCOM 740 Trends in Communications Technologies

Course description: This graduate media communications core course is a graduate seminar surveying and examining many of the new and emerging communications technologies now rapidly developing in the midst of the "communication revolution" or the "information age." Particular attention is paid to alternative television technologies, although separation of media into video, audio and data is increasingly arbitrary as digital media converge or are used in combination. New television technologies developments include the move to digital; communications satellites; direct broadcast satellite; compressed video; high definition television; multi-media; new video distribution systems; video cassettes and discs; other increasingly miniaturized and computerized camera, audio, editing and tape systems, including DAT. Various applications of these technologies are considered including the burgeoning field of Distance Learning.

Most recently, initiatives by government and mergers by cable, telephone, and computer hardware and software companies have given rise to the concept of the "information superhighway" aka the National Information Infrastructure. Continuing, dynamic changes in technology frequently alter the direction and form of these efforts. One result is the relatively recent exploding development of the World Wide Web and the widespread use of the internet. In the Fall, 1998, as a second year experimental demonstration of technology and internationalization, students at GSU will be integrated into teams debating technology issues with students at the University of South Australia in Adelaide.

Especially of concern to this course is the proposed or potential utilization of particular technologies and their associated developmental issues. Computer and microprocessor technologies are examined only in relation to other media technologies. Technologies surveyed will be studied in greater depth within group (task force) and individual student projects.

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