Essence of Humanities and Social Sciences35:Media Studies

Academic unit or major

Humanities and social science courses

Instructor(s)

Hiroichi Yanase

Class Format

Lecture

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

5-6 Wed

Class

-

Course Code

LAH.S431

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2021

Offered quarter

1Q

Syllabus updated

Jul 10, 2025

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Overview: In this lecture, we will deepen comprehensive understanding of "media". Until the 20th century, "media" often means "mass media" such as television, newspapers, magazines, radio, web news and more. With the penetration of the Internet and the spread of PCs, mobile phones, smartphones, etc., the development of SNS etc., the 21st century became the "everyone becomes a media" era. In the light of this change, we learn the history and current state of mass media, the mechanism and features of new media services such as SNS, and learn basic knowledge on the media.　　

Aims: Media Study tends to be generally considered as a literary subject, but the media is based on science and engineering skills and services including IT. Media is also an area that science students can be directly involved in the future. Furthermore, in the case of a research position, personal ability to transmit information through media is required. It is the aim of this lecture to have students in the master's course of Tokyo Institute of Technology acquire the basic knowledge and a culture of the media.

Course description and aims

① Obtain basic knowledge about media. ② Understand the concept of media. ③ Understand that the mass media have undergone significant changes due to the appearance of the Internet. ④ Understand the current situation that all individuals and organizations became media. ⑤ Understand occupation in media industry.

Keywords

Internet,　 SNS, 　Smartphone,　 Platform, 　Mass Media, 　Personal Media

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Each lesson is based on a set of real-time lessons at zoom and video distribution lessons using youtube. It is possible that we invite guests to have all 100 minutes of zoom lessons. The zoom address and youtube video distribution address will be emailed directly to the students via ocwi. For the convenience of attending, leave 10 minutes before the class starts.

Textbooks are not used, but reference books are specified, materials are distributed each time. I plan to utilize PowerPoint, video, audio etc. in lessons. Also we are planning guest guests.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Do not use textbooks in particular.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

"Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man" (Marshall · McLuhan) and others

Evaluation methods and criteria

Attend scores on attendance and reports.
Class participation point(Attendance and Assignment achievement) 60 points Report point 40 points

Related courses

• LAH.S112 ： Media Studies A
• LAH.S213 ： Media Studies B
• LAH.S312 ： Media Studies C

Prerequisites

None

Other

No classes will be given on April 14 (Wed).
Seven total classes will be held for this course: April 21 (Wed), April 28 (Wed), May 12 (Wed), May 19 (Wed), May 26 (Wed), June 2 (Wed), June 9 (Wed).

Should the number of applicants for this course exceed the limit, a lottery system will be used to determine which students are admitted. Be sure to attend the first class.