Course: COBF 2252 - Digital Media Studies
Institution: Shu (University)
Instructor: Dr. Jess Rauchberg, Ph.D.
Semester: Fall 2025
Email: jessica.rauchberg@shu.edu
Course Description
This course introduces students to scholarly literature in the humanities-based field of media studies on the way the digital revolution and mobile technologies are changing the nature of television and film production, distribution, and consumption and changing the way people construct their identities and their social relations through social media.
Course Structure
Section AA (F25) is designed around three units:
- Unit 1 (Weeks 1-5): Histories & Infrastructures
- Unit 2 (Weeks 6-10): Industry & Uses
- Unit 3 (Weeks 11-15): Audiences, Selves, & Digital Research
Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
Upon course completion, students should be able to:
- Understand digital media from a critical humanistic perspective to examine the enmeshed relationships between media, power, and culture
- Describe the relationships between infrastructures, industries, and audiences as they relate to critical humanistic study of digital media
- Demonstrate fluency in discussing complex and sensitive issues about digital media as they relate to race, disability, gender, class, sexuality, and nationality in a diverse group setting
- Exhibit the critical thinking, information literacy, and pedagogical research skills necessary to adapt and succeed in producing creative scholarly projects
- Refine research skills to craft an original research project oriented towards critical humanistic and qualitative paradigmatic approaches
Required Text
(Text information to be announced)
Tentative Reading Schedule
Week 1: Course Introductions/What Is Media?
Required readings:
- Benjamin Peters, “Digital”
- Jonathan Sterne, “Analog”
Recommended readings:
- Pew Research Center, “Teens, social media and technology 2024”
Week 2: Digital Media Histories
Required readings:
- Adam Fish, “Mirror”
- Bernard Dionysus Geoghegan, “Information”
- Christopher Kelty, “Participation”
- Ted Striphas, “Culture”
Week 3: A Brief History of the Internet/Video Essay Workshop
Required readings:
- Adobe, “How to make compelling short-form videos”
- Janet Abbate, “What and where is the Internet?”
- Thomas Streeter, “Internet”
Required viewing:
- Linh Truong, “How to film yourself”
Week 4: Infrastructures: On Forms & Formats
(Content continues…)
Assessment Components
(Details about assignments and grading to be provided)
Course Philosophy
This course takes a critical humanistic perspective on digital media studies, examining how digital technologies reshape cultural production, social relations, and identity construction. Students will engage with both theoretical frameworks and practical applications through creative scholarly projects.
Note: This syllabus represents a comprehensive introduction to digital media studies from a critical humanities perspective, combining theoretical analysis with hands-on creative research projects.