MCN 333-NEW MEDIA COMMUNICATION 60 Hrs

In the world of corporate globalization, media that can be made or used with the help of
computer plays an important role in interacting with the audience in the digital form. This
latest communication technology is most important for students, both because they are
the biggest players and the decision makers for the future of New Media -A field in
which the medium is becoming the message.

Objectives: To introduce students to personal and participatory media-To expose

students to the socio-cultural and political dimension of new media -To help students
acquire conceptual, linguistics and visual skills required for new media communication

Course Approach
Online exposure through web presentations, power point tools and multimedia
presentations will equip students with the required update in technology. They will also
have to represent themselves through creative presentations like pop-up captions,
contextual advertising, content contribution to websites and New Media art.

Module I –Introduction
Understanding new media- Difference between new media and old media- Rise of
Internet - Globalisation of communication - Liberalizing political controls on media -
Virtual space or cyber space – Digital democracy – Digital divide – Influence of new
media on politics, economy and societies - Cyberjournalism – E-newspaper – Internet TV
– Internet radio- Wiki – New media terminologies - Cyberculture

Module II –Blogs
Difference between blogs and websites - Origin of blogs - Power of blogs - Blogs as
personalized journalism - Effect of blogs on political and social events - Famous bloggers
- Capitalization of blogs - Misuse of blogs - Blog as mass media - Blogs as watchdogs -
Blog as a parasitic medium on the Internet - Categorization of blogs - Blogs as virtual
libraries of intellect - Corporate blogging – Blogging as internal communication - Social
network services and blogs.

Mobile Phones
Introduction to SMS text - Linguistics in SMS text - Use of emoticons - SMS grammar -
Graphitic representation of texts - Picture messages - Coding in SMS text -Rise of mobile
phone captured films and pictures - MMS benefits and controversies - Questions on
privacy and legality - Advertising using SMS - Internet accessibility on the mobile phone
- iPods: functions and potentials - Convergence and mobile technology.

Module III –New Media and Business

Consumer societies and new media - E–commerce, trading, booking, management
extensions - Video conferencing, Travel booking and hotel business - Online shopping -
Customer care - Online forms and reply - E-governance: potentials and criticism. –
YouTube - Podcasting - Hypertext fiction - Email- Viral marketing - Chat – Interactive
CD ROMs –
Module IV – Writing and Design for online medium
Interactivity in new media- Interactivity from Content – Linear writing v. interactive
writing – Writing in interactive media- Grammar of interactivity – Choosing interactive
content – User’s grammar – Writers grammar – Computer v. TV screen – Interactive
story telling – CD ROM v online – Writing and World Wide Web - Writing for online
portals, e-newspapers, journals – E-content writing, Language, presentation - Content for
digital technology.
Conceptualising websites - Web layout - Aesthetics for online portals: design, layout,
colour, graphics and visual information - Product oriented communication –– Visual
design – Instructional design
Note: The students need to be trained in the basics of HTML, FrontPage, Photoshop, and
Flash. These are expected to be taught in the workshops. To ensure students learn these
applications and programmes, classroom projects should be given as part of CIA.

Practicals:
Students should develop individual websites with journalistic content with self-written
text and their own visuals (self-clicked photographs etc). This should form 25% of
assessment. Students should be assessed on layout, content and presentation and more
importantly their communicative value. This can also be a group project with maximum
of three students per group.

Students should be given a project to launch using only the new media. 25% of the
assessment should be based on that.

Assessment of both these student works should be done people from the industry.

Bibliography
1.Bob Dematteis, Andy Gibbs Michael Neustel (Eds).2004. The Patent Writer; How to
write Successful Patent Applications, London Square One Publishers.
2.Bonime, Andrew, and Ken C Pohlmann. Writing for New Media. New York: John
Wiley, 1998.
3.Brain R Holloway. Technical Writing Basics: A Guide to Style and Form (2nd Edition).
4.Bruce Ross-Larson, Writing For The Information Age, London W.W. Norton &
Company.
5.David Ingre Survivor’s Guide To Technical Writing, London. South – Western
Educational Publishing.
6.Geralad J.Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Oliu, St. Martin’s Hand Book of
Technical Writing Press, London St. Martins Press.
7.Gurak, Laura J and John M Lannon. A Concise Guide to Technical Communication.
Longman: New York, 2001.
8.Heinich, Robert, Michael Molenda, and James D Russell Instructional Media. New
York. Macmillan, 1993.
9.Jason Whittaker Web Production for writer & Journalist, London Routledge.
10.Kamalipour, Yahya R. ed. Global Communication. Australia: Wadsworth, 2002.
11.Matt Young Technical Writer’s Handbook: Writing With Style and Clarity, New York
University Science Books.
12.Stafford, Marla R, and Ronald J Faber. Advertising, Promotion and New Media. New
Delhi: Prentice Hall of India, 2005
13.Ward, Mike. Journalism Online. Oxford: Focal Press, 2003.
14.Watson, James Media Communication 2 ed. Palgave, 2003.
15.William Sanborn Pfeiffer Technical Writing: A Practical Approach (5th edition) New
York Prentice Hall.