Objectives and competences
Objectives of the course:
• to address the role of the media in contemporary society with particular attention to the field of tourism,
• to highlight the symbolic and material aspects of the media and to clarify the interrelation between tourism and media practices in everyday life,
• to discuss the implications of new communication technologies for tourist practices and experiences.
Competencies acquired by students:
• the ability to apply key concepts of media studies to the analysis of contemporary popular culture and popcultural tourism,
• the ability to critically understand the symbolic and material aspects of the media and to evaluate its implications for tourist practices and experiences.
Content (Syllabus outline)
Introduction to social communication and contemporary media culture:
• Levels of communication.
• History of media and key milestones in the development of communication technologies.
• Transmission and ritual view of communication (Carey).
Media as Text:
• Basics of semiotics: a model of sign, 3 types of sings, denotation and connotation, qualitative (semiotic analysis) and quantitative approach (content analysis) to text analysis.
• The concept of representation and media construction of reality (images of tourists, destinations or travel in general).
• The circuit of culture and the production of meaning
• Dominant, negotiated and oppositional reading of text (Hall)
• Analysis of selected media genres related to tourism and tourist imagination: e.g. documentary TV, reality TV etc.
Media, audiences and popcultural tourism:
• An overview of the research of media effects from earlier theories of direct and strong effects to modern theories of active audience: the hypodermic needle theory, the theory of minimal effects, uses and gratification theory, cultivation theory, agenda setting theory, framing theory.
• Popular culture.
• Audience and fandom.
• Popcultural tourism: forms, research model and principles of popcultural tourism.
New communication technologies and transformations of tourist experiences:
• Media convergence.
• Mobile revolution and changes in everyday life.
• Augmented reality.
• Locative media and spatial practices.
• Smartphone uses and spillover effects model.
• Digital platforms and sharing economy in tourism.
Learning and teaching methods
• Lectures.
• Case studies.
• Videos and films.
• Students’ presentations.
• Team work with active participation/discussion groups.
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
• To differentiate between transmission and ritual aspect of communication and to illustrate this distinction on concrete communication cases.
• To analyze media texts with conceptual apparatus of semiotics.
• To explore the media construction of reality on selected cases (e.g., the construction of the image of tourists or destinations).
• To conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of any media text and summarizes key findings of one and the other approach to text analysis.
• To explain three types of reading of a selected tourist text.
• To demonstrate the circuit of culture and the production of meaning in the case of a selected tourist object.
• To distinguish between key ideas of individual theories of media effects and to apply these ideas to the field of tourism.
• To analyze cases of popcultural tourism according to the principles of popcultural tourism.
• To understand the spillover effects model and explain the effects of smartphone uses on a tourist experience.
• To define locative media and analyze its consequences for spatial practices, the transformation of social relations and patterns of interactions when travelling.
• To evaluate the potentials/advantages and dilemmas/challenges of sharing economy trend in tourism on the case of a chosen platform.
Readings
Osnovna literatura / Essential sources:
Crouch, D., Jackson, R. in Thompson, F. (ur.) (2005). The Media and the Tourist Imagination: Converging Cultures. New York: Routledge.
Beeton, S. (2005). Film-induced Tourism. Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Wilken, R. In Goggin, G. (ur.) (2015). Locative Media. New York: Routledge.
Priporočena dodatna literatura / Recommended additional literature:
Reijnders, S. (2016). Places of the Imagination: Media, Tourism, Culture. New York: Routledge.
Francesconi, S. (2014). Reading Tourism Texts: A Multimodal Analysis. Bristol: Channel View Publications.
Munar, A. M., Gyimóthy, S. in Cai, L. (ur.) (2013). Tourism Social Media: Transformations in Identity, Community and Culture. Bingley: Emerald.
De Souza E. Silva, A. in Sheller, M. (ur.) (2015). Mobility and Locative Media: Mobility communication in hybrid spaces. New York: Routledge.
Elektronski viri/e-sources:
Seznam dodatnih študijskih materialov bo razdeljen študentom ob začetku predavanj. / A list of additional study materials (published papers etc.) will be distributed when the course begins.
»Seznam dodatnih študijskih materialov in revij bo razdeljen študentom ob začetku predavanj.
A list of additional study materials (published texts, journals, etc.) will be distributed when the module begins.«
Prerequisits
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Additional information on implementation and assessment Written examination. 60%
Completed tutorial (student presentations, short written assignments and/or a seminar paper). 40%
For completition of the course both parts of the final grade have to be grated positive!
