Future of Media (IUM), DM2571, fmed11

1. GOALS

The course is aimed at making media technology and media management students highlight and explore the relationship between technology, economy and social factors in processes of technological innovation and development. This provides a foundation from which students in the course then develop and refine a specific, established form of media. The course is conducted in project form to mimic working life conditions. This means that the focus is on interaction and cooperation between students who take the course and that the process is equally important as the results of students’ projects.

Students who have taken the course should be able to:
• demonstrate detailed knowledge of the principles of  the structure and functioning of a media technicogical system
• analyze, compare and evaluate different aspects of complex media technology products or systems
• contribute to new knowledge in media technology through generalization, analysis and synthesis
• propose, explain and defend the design solutions for complex media technology products or systems
• actively be involved in change and development of media technology products or systems
• participate in and effectively manage large media projects in which different skills and interests are represented
• in dialogue with others make oral and written presentations and discuss conclusions to media technological problems and solutions in Swedish and English.

The course is assessed mainly through:
• Attendance during course moments that are important for the implementation of the course - compulsory attendance (75%) during the start-up part of the course.
• Active participation in discussions and at seminars and lectures
• Oral and written presentations during the course.
• Different types of representations of future media (mock-ups, prototypes, movies, visualization of visions, scenarios, sketches, etc.).
• A major public presentation of the project at the end of the course.
• A summary of your project and its results in the form of a book chapter.

2. COURSE CONTENTS

This is a project course. That means that it is both a project and a course. The course is primarily intended for students in the final year of the Masters program in Media Technology (TMETM) and the Masters program in Media Management (TMMTM). The overall theme of the course is "re-engineering media" – i.e. analyzing, reflecting, reassessing and further developing an established media form. Within this general framework, students work on a different theme each year and this year’s theme (2011) is "The Future of radio / Radio of the future".

3. THEME

Radio is the oldest ether media (broadcasting signals through the air), and the first mass medium with which it is possible to instantaneously reach mass audiences. As such, it has been important for reaching and teaching the population of a country, and for rousing or uniting a nation in times of crisis. Taking control over radio and television stations are often among the first goals of a military coup.

Experiments in radio during the last decades of the 19th century (“wireless telegraphy”) and developments in radio during the first decades of the 20th century (including for military and marine purposes) led up the first regular broadcasts (in many different countries) in the first years of the 1920’s. A patent deadlock delayed developments in radio for some years before that, as equipment manufacturers could not do anything without violating patents of other manufacturers (do compared this with today’s patents on software that tends to lock up innovation). At the time, radio was a technology in search of a business model. Early radio stations were (for example) owned and operated by radio manufacturers or department stores that broadcasted radio in order to sell the physical radio sets.

Two different models of how to operate radio emerged during the 1920s; commercial radio in the USA and public service radio in the United Kingdom (BBC). Radio in Sweden was closely modeled on the BBC-public service model. Radiotjänst (Radio Service) was founded in 1925 and was responsible for all broadcasting in Sweden. It was renamed Sveriges Radio (SR, Swedish Radio) in 1957. SR has never been directly owned by, but has always had a close relationship to the Swedish state. SR is regulated (advertising is for example not permitted) and funded through a fee that is determined by the Swedish Parliament. More than 4 million people listen to SR every day.

From having been closely regulated and quasi-state controlled, radio in Sweden has gone through a large number of changes and developments during the last two decades. The 1990s saw the emergence of a number of commercial alternatives to SR. Still, a radio license (the permission to broadcast on a specific frequency) was until recently a scarce (and expensive!) commodity. This has changed dramatically with the explosion of the internet being utilized as a channel for distributing radio during the last 10-15 years.

Radio is many different things. A bunch of technologies for modulating, broadcasting and receiving radio signals (electromagnetic waves). Or another bunch of technologies for creating and distributing digital radio. Radio is also a number of different commercial or state-supported “business models” for financing and running radio (including contributions and sponsorship). In the case of amateurs and radio enthusiasts of different kinds, it can also be a variety of ways to organize, produce and distribute radio without anyfinancing. Radio is also a large number of types of radio programs, also referred to as genres or formats (news, radio drama, children’s programming, talk and call-in radio, sports, comedy, weather/traffic, education, entertainment, music etc.). Some of these formats are inexpensive to produces (talk radio) while others are very expensive (news). Radio is finally also a habit and a place in countless millions of people’s everyday lives, and radio not just talks to us, but also affects us in ways that are less easy to substantiate, but still no less real. Here is an example:

United States President Roosevelt broadcasted 30 radio addresses between 1933 and 1944, his “fireside chats” (with a real fire crackling in the background), but he did not deliver bombastic, officious-sounding speeches, but rather informal talks, as if he was sitting in front a fire having a conversation with a group of select friends (he began several of the talks with “Good evening, friends”). These talks were a way comfort and reassure a nation during hard times (the great depression) and to urge for support of his political measures (the New Deal) and Roosevelt’s fireside chats were tremendously successful.

Perhaps more well-known examples of the power of radio™ are exemplified by Roosevelt’s contemporaries during the second world war; Hitler’s and Churchill’s use of radio for purposes of information and propaganda through their rousing radio broadcasts. A recent example of the power and reach of broadcast media is Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s talk to the nation two days after the massacre at Utøya one month ago (transcribed and translated into English and available at: http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/smk/Whats-new/Speeches-and-articles/statsministeren/statsminister_jens_stoltenberg/2011/address-by-prime-minister-in-oslo-cathed.html). One characteristic of radio is that it is personal and that people on radio talk “directly” to us (we feel).

The opportunities to create radio, or to find niche radio stations and radio shows have never been greater than today. Today anyone with an internet connection can listen to anything. But what will the future bring us? What genres, what purposes of using radio, what content, what technologies and what business ideas will emerge and become important in the future? These are questions that are open for you to answer during this course. What will radio look like 10, or 20 years from now?

4. COURSE STRUCTURE

This course is offered during a late, or the very last semester in the KTH Masters programs in Media Technology and Media Management and it is usually followed by the final course in the educational programs; the individual master’s thesis. The form of the course (project work) partly resembles what can be expected in the student's future career, as well as partly what is expected in order to successfully complete a master’s thesis. The main idea of the course is that students work in project groups and based on own interests define their own projects and project goals, organize their own work and take responsibility for their own learning. The purpose of the course is not to impart some predetermined package of knowledge concerning a specific topic. The course is open-ended.

The course consists of two parts: a six-week long start-up phase followed by a project phase that extends over the rest of the semester. The start-up phase encompass weeks 35-40 (Mon Aug 29 – Fri Oct 7). All course activities are done together during this phase. During week 41, the start-up is phased out and the project is phased in.

During the project phase, the majority of all course activities are done independently and in smaller project groups consisting of 5-7 persons each. In addition to these group activities, a handful of review meetings are also scheduled (see below).

5. START-UP

Guest lectures

Seminars

The goal is that the whole class will acquire a set of common understandings of the theme and about important trends as the start-up phase winds down. The hope is for an emerging consensus to form during the start-up phase, so that the whole class can share a common basis for further (diverging) work in the area. With support from literature and our guest lectures, we will discuss and ventilate thoughts, ideas and suggestions at the seminars. A prerequisite for forming an emerging consensus is that everyone participates actively at the seminars and in discussions.

The start-up phase largely consists of a series of guest lectures. Our guests come from both academia and the industry. Taken together, they will illuminate the subject from a variety of angles and a variety of perspectives.

Guest lectures will be intermingled by seminars where we will discuss technical, economic and social aspects of this year's theme, based on common course readings and guest lectures. After the last seminar, students will choose project groups and the specific area of interest that they will work with during the rest of the term.

6. PROJECT

Group tutoring

Midterm critique

Final presentation

Coordination group

Executive group

The second part of the course - the project phase - largely consists of independent work within the various project groups, but with four planned review meetings to support this process. Two review meetings are group tutoring sessions and two are meetings with the whole class (midterm critique and general rehersal). A few additional guest lectures might also appear in the beginning of the project phase (for example if a guest becomes ill and has to cancel/move her lecture).

During the project there will be two group tutoring sessions. Each group will meet, confer with and get feedback and suggestions from the teachers on their project ideas, their proposed work process, project status and how the group can move forward with their work.
 
During the midterm critique, two experts are invited to review and provide feedback and constructive criticism on all groups “half finished” ideas and presentations. The midterm critique is also an occasion that gives all students the opportunity to:
• learn about the ongoing work (both in terms of process and the emerging results) of the other groups ...
• ... in order to detect overlaps and possible synergies between groups...
• ... in order to better coordinate and prepare for the joint final presentation

Project groups’ results will be presented partly through a joint report, and partly in the form of a larger public final presentation in the end of the term (December). You can expect hundreds of persons in the audience (many of the course participants have been part of that audience several times). The exact date and location will be determined in consultation with the students at the start of the project phase. The final presentation will be preceded by a general rehearsal. Although the project groups will mainly work independently throughout the autumn term, there is a need for a certain degree of consistency and coordination before the joint final presentation.

Each project group has to have a project manager. The project managers are part of the coordination group. This group will meet regularly during the project phase in order to coordinate and bring together the project groups’ results (both the oral presentation and the book chapter) to a consistent whole.

There will be one ”project group” that will not work in a project that is related to the theme, but that will instead work on coordinating the project and produce the project webpage, the final presentation and the book. All members of the executive group are also part of the coordination group.

7. EXA-MINATION

Individual

Group

There is no traditional exam in this course. Instead, each participant will produce deliverables at the individual and the project group level (and of course work towards the joint final presentation that ends the course).

Since this is a project course and the nature of the task and the results are very open, it is difficult to examine (judge, grade) the final results. It is not possible to in detail and in advance specify exactly what conclusions project groups should arrive at without at the same time limiting the ability to freely explore those aspects of the theme that you find to be most interesting. Therefore, not only the result, but also the process will be examined – much like with a thesis. Many of the items listed below are thus a way to make the work of the individual and the project group visible for the teachers.

Each participant shall (as part of the examination):
• Write two essays to be submitted at the start and at the end of the course.
• Based on the literature and on guest lectures, formulate and submit a question before each seminar for discussion at the seminar, as well as actively participate and contribute to discussions and seminars.
• Attend course moments that are aimed at providing a set of common understandings of the course’s theme.

Each group shall (as part of the examination):
• Write a project plan for what that group will do; what topic or problem is to be examined/explored, how the group plans to go about doing that, suggestions/plans for where to look, what to read, who to talk to, when to do it, and what the group wants to or expects to achieve.
• Prepare for and present current results at the review meetings, as well as take in and follow up on the feedback received during these meetings.
• Develop a design representation of the results (which should support and be utilized in the final presentation). This could be done in the form of a mock-up, a prototype, a short film, a website, or through visualizations of visions and scenarios.
• Produce a text that will become a chapter in the jointly produced book. This is where the team presents is work and results through text. The text should follow the graphic template that the executive group will produce. Consideration should be given to the recommendations of the executive group.
• Develop an oral presentation that is part of the joint public presentation at the end of the term. Consideration should be given to the recommendations of the executive group.

Pass/fail on LIT1 (3 credits) is based on the individual's attendance and active participation during discussions, seminars and lectures. Grades A-F on PRO1 (7 credits) are based on the activities of the project group (see the enumeration above). Do note that every member of the group will receive the same grade.

8. FACTS ABOUT THE COURSE

Course Code: DM2571
Score: 10 credits
Level: D
Grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, Fx, F
Examination:
LIT1 – Literature, 3 credits, grade scale: P, F
PRO1 – Project, 7 credits, grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, Fx, F
Language: English
Period: 1, 2
Lectures: 32
Exercises: 14h
Other: 6h