COMM 1000H-A Introduction to Communications Class Notes

Course Details
- Start Time: 8:30 AM
- Instructor: Dr. Andrew Alexander Monti
- Email: andrewmonti@trentu.ca
- Location: DRA Room A116 for lectures and workshops, Office: DRA Room A105
- Office Hours: Mondays 8:30-9:30 AM, by appointment
Institution Acknowledgment
- Trent University acknowledges the treaty and traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg, expressing gratitude to the First Peoples.

Primary Text:
- Susan R. Beauchamp and Stanley J. Baran, Introduction to Human Communication: Perception, Meaning, and Identity, Chapter 12 (2020).
- Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the Frontier of Power, Chapters 3 & 10 (2019).
Optional Supplementary Readings:
- Gordon, R. (2016). Ch 13: Computers and the Internet from the Mainframe to Facebook. The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (pp. 441-460).

Trent University employs software to detect plagiarism, including AI misuse. Violations can lead to severe penalties including grade reductions and expulsion.
Students requesting accommodations should contact the instructor and Student Accessibility Services.

Recapping Core Concept 1: The accumulation of good ideas.
- Tomasello, 2009: “As intelligence piles on intelligence, the speed changes” (Healy, 2001).
Technological Sequences:
- Comparison of technological adoption rates:
- Electricity: Took 45 years for 25% of the U.S. population to have electricity.
- Television: Achieved the same milestone in only 25 years.
Understanding Technological Media History:
- Manovich (2020): "The history of technological media can be imagined as overlapping stages… older practices continue to coexist with new ones."

Media Evolution:
- Revolution similar to the printing press and photography now seen in culture shifting to computer-mediated forms. It includes:
- Acquisition, manipulation, storage, and distribution.
- All types of media: texts, images, sound, and spatial constructions.
- Introduction of the Digital/Interactive Word that transforms receivers into senders and producers.
Internet Evolution Timeline:
- 1960: ArpaNet, a military network developed into the Internet.
- 1980s: World Wide Web.
- 1990s: Commercial browsers introduced.
- Statistics of Internet Usage:
- 2000: 50% of American adults online.
- 2008: 75%.
- 2017: 90%.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT):
- Acronym representing essential components of modern communication, only 7% of the economy in 2014 was ICT-related.

Personal Computers: Became widespread in the 1980s enabling productivity through various software applications.
- Concerns: Issues like privacy, hacking, identity theft, and digital literacy emerged.

Definition:
- Predicted the number of transistors on a microchip would double approximately every two years, resulting in advancements in computing power.
- Annual growth rate: 34.7%.
Technological Stagnation:
- Insight from Hal Varian at Google regarding a stalemate in desktop computer technology, shifting investments towards larger systems and battery life.

Interestingly, NVIDIA has managed to exceed Moore's Law via:
- Architectural improvements and innovations in AI and deep learning technologies.

Considers the convergence of various technologies and user-generated content leading to four new core elements:
- Hypertext, hashtags, profiles, cookies.

Definition: Small blocks of data created by a web server while a user is browsing to track user activity and preferences.

Timeline of hashtag evolution from C programming language to social media usage post-2007.

Constant connectivity through smartphones leading to multitasking behaviors and hyperconnectivity as noted by Sage Elwell (2013).

Movement towards analyzing digital traces left during interactions for social science research, contrasting earlier self-reported data collection methods.

The platform promotes content creation and sharing while also enabling self-expression through public channels.

Compiling definitions from scholarly works concerning the roles of social media and user-generated content.

Double-edged Sword: New communication technologies yield both positive and negative consequences. Immediacy, cheapness, reach, storability, and collaboration are positive, while customization, addiction, loneliness, and privacy invasion are concerns.
- Privacy Infringements: Involves misuse of personal data and tracking user behaviors.

Definition: Proliferation of information leads to a scarcity of attention requiring efficient allocation due to the overwhelming amount of accessible content.
- The design of online platforms aims to capture maximum user attention through persuasive techniques and analytic feedback loops.

Concept: New economic order that commodifies personal experiences and behaviors for prediction and profit.
- Shoshana Zuboff outlines how private experiences are extracted and utilized as raw materials for behavioral prediction, presenting threats to democracy and human rights.
Key Principles of Surveillance Capitalism:
- Not merely technological or corporate phenomena but represents a governing model with profound implications for societal power dynamics.
- The idea of behavioral surplus leading to new predictive models that inform commercial strategies and consumer behaviors.

The course will delve into how these concepts impact everyday life and communication practices, with group projects focusing on data collection illustrating practical applications of the discussed theories.

Required readings focused on Media Literacy & Critical Skills for upcoming discussions.
Workshop 9 emphasizes project analytic papers, reinforcing the practical application of course concepts.