Saint-Louis University - Bruxelles
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COMU2205 - Theories of participation and communication


USL-B


Credits : 5

Lecturer :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , second term, 30 hours of theory.

Language of instruction :
French

Learning outcomes :
• Skill 1 - The ability to manage an organisation's presence in social and collaborative media
Learning Outcomes (students will be able to):
1. Perform prospective analysis of an organisation's interactive & collaborative communication activities, taking into account the market in which it operates, as well as social, cultural, technological, commercial, political and legal contexts.
• Skill 4 - As a basis for personal critical reflection or use in research projects - use appropriate methods to gather, marshal and generate useful knowledge in the field of interactive and collaborative communication.
Learning Outcomes (students will be able to):
1. Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the principal theoretical and methodological approaches in the field of social media and interactive and collaborative communication research.
2. Draw on knowledge from different disciplines to develop and defend personal critical reflection on the human and social implications of digital technologies, including relating to legal, deontological and ethical questions.


Prerequisites :
None

Co-requisites :
None

Course contents :
Participation is a trendy notion circulating in all kinds of "optimistic" or even "utopian" discourses that see ICTs as a guarantee of "greater participation" or "better collaboration" in social, cultural, media and political life (cf. "participatory media", "participatory democracy", etc.). While this notion is unavoidable when it comes to the web and digital technologies, it is at the same time very vague, which does little to help clarify what is actually at stake when there is (or should be) "participation". The EU is deepening a series of fields of study, theoretical approaches and normative frameworks which, in different ways, help to break out of this semantic vagueness and question the transformation of relationships between institutions/organisations and individuals.

Course outline :
Political and democratic theory
- Theories of democracy
- Minimalist and maximalist approaches to participation: access, interaction, participation
- Legitimation of participation

Citizen participation and deliberative democracy
- Participation as co-decision, redistribution of power, collective decision-making processes (political, professional, economic, associative) with active contribution.
- Discussion, conditions of deliberation and public space
- The deliberative shift in political thinking and the rise of the participatory imperative in public action

Institutionalised e-participation and governance
- The development of public policies. Integrated public management. The citizen as a consumer or as an actor.
- Participation and urban planning: NIMBY syndrome, agonistic conception of the common good. Processes of institutionalisation of participation and evolution of norms of action.
- The communicational issue of participation: informed opinion, reciprocal learning.
- E-participation for better relations between administrations and citizens: e-participation, e-government, open government.

The media and communication
- Interactivity and participation of audiences and publics: audience reception and imagined community, engagement through social media, reception and civic agency.
- Link between media and citizenship. Media and deliberation. Participatory vision of the media: empowerment, reflexivity, self-education, experimentation, re-appropriation of speech.
- The culture of convergence: transmedia, rewriting, digital convergence and globalisation. Production to produsage: user-led, distributed creativity. Open collaboration, knowledge and information sharing.
- Participation in organisational communication: engaging communication. Community/participatory communication: fostering interaction, community management.

Online activism
- The transformation of the repertoires of action: Individualisation and pluralisation of forms of commitment, personalisation of political action. Online participation and changing political practices. Renewed forms of activism and ICTs, participatory culture and community engagement.
- Activist uses of social media and online collective action resources.
- Empowerment of individuals: empowerment of individuals. Power and learning. Empowerment and communication. Social media training for temporary deliberative counter-powers.
- Mediactivism: multifaceted strategy of action on public opinion. Information mobilisations and social movements, new media tactics. The production of information as an issue of struggle. Expressivism and expressive individualisation. Instrumental and persuasive communication.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
The course is organised on the model of the "translated class" which invites students to read/study at home each week, at their own pace, the material for the session that follows or which encourages them to carry out documentary research or preparatory work. The time spent in the session can then be devoted to case studies, modelling, analysis and application. To this end, the EU alternates quite varied sessions: collective discussion on texts read by students and deepening certain aspects of the subject, and sessions of reflection or collective analysis on current issues, concrete cases (brought by the teacher and/or students), highlighting concepts through the analysis of external resources (videos, texts, documentaries). The teacher will therefore regularly propose: project-tasks, concrete realisations, role-playing, individual/small group presentations or speeches (rapporteur), written mini reports, collective realisations (cumulative), and promotion of the productions.
Teaching will make use of pedagogical techniques. Students will therefore be led to participate very actively during the sessions and to take on the role of active learners: presentations, syntheses, discussions and peer reviews. The philosophy of reverse pedagogy and the organisation of the translated class will be explained in detail during the first session and students are invited to read the explanatory document on Moodle. Absent students can review the course recording on Moodle and submit the work from the ongoing assessment via Moodle as well.

Assessment methods and criteria :
The evaluation will be ongoing and has 7 components:
During the course weeks
1) The analysis of a document (written, sound or video) using a lexicon/dictionary of participation: 10% of the overall mark
2) Application of the AIP model to a case: 10% of the overall score
3) The choice of subject and the submission of a note of intent for the final individual written work: 10% of the overall mark
4) Research, reading and presentation of a scientific text related to the work: 10% of the overall mark
5) Presentation of the work in progress and criticism of a peer's work according to a guide: 20% of the overall mark (2x10%)
6) Submission of the collected data and the final version of the work: 20% of the overall mark
During the session
7) The development of two examination questions (reverse pedagogy) and an oral examination which will assess the students' ability to apply the concepts seen in the course to their work and to cases taken from current events: 20% of the overall mark.
The instructions are explained in detail during the first session. The detailed written instructions are available on Moodle after this session, as is the precise planning of activities and preparations.
Students who are expected to represent the EU in the second session will have to represent any part for which they have not achieved the equivalent of at least 10/20.

Recommended or required reading :
Barats, C. (2013). Manuel d'analyse du web en sciences humaines et sociales. Paris : Armand Colin.
Blondiaux, L., & Sintomer, Y. (2002). L'impératif délibératif. Politix, Revue des sciences sociales du politique, 15, 17-35.
Bruns, A. (2008). From production to produsage. New York : Peter Lang.
Cardon, D., & Granjon, F. (2014). Médiactivistes. Paris : Presses de Sciences Po.
Carpentier, N. (2011). Media and Participation. A site of ideological-democratic struggle. Bristol: Intellect.
Granjon, F. (2001). L'Internet militant. Mouvement social et usages des réseaux télématiques. Rennes: Apogées.
Macintosh A, & Smith E. (2002). Citizen Participation in Public Affairs. In Traunmuller R & Lenk K (Eds.), Electronic Government (pp. 256-264). Aix-en-Provence: Springer.
Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
Sintomer, Y., Bacqué, M.-H. (2011). La démocratie participative?: Histoire et généalogie. Paris : Editions La Découverte.