Media and Communication Studies
Additional credits in Media and Communication Studies
Students interested in Media and Communication might also want to check courses listed under "Communications".
SCMS 270 can be used for lower-level MACS credit for the MACS minor. Students in the Associate of Arts (MACS) program should check with the Arts Advice Centre before taking SCMS 270.
The following SCMS courses can be used as upper-level MACS credit. Course descriptions are found under Social, Cultural, and Media Studies.
• SCMS 334 — Cultural Policy
• SCMS 460 — Issues in the Information Society

MACS 1103 credits
Introduction to Communication Theory
Prerequisite(s): None
This course provides an introduction to some of the major theories in media and communication studies. Topics include mass society and propaganda theories, limited-effects theories, critical and cultural theories, and audience theories.

MACS 1303 credits
Mass Communications in Canada
Prerequisite(s): None
Corequisite(s): None
This course examines mass media industries in Canada, such as television and the press; the political, economic, legal, and geographic factors that have shaped them; and the effects of these industries on Canadian political and cultural life. Recent developments in digital and interactive media are also considered.

MACS 2103 credits
History of Communication
Prerequisite(s): None
Systems of communication, from cave paintings to computers, are examined in relationship to shifts in perception. The focus of this course is on innovations in communications technologies in Western civilization: how they arose, their effects on social systems, and their impact on older forms of communication.

MACS 2123 credits
Applied Communications
Prerequisite(s): C or better in one of CMNS 125, CMNS 155, CMNS 165, or ENGL 105
This course assists students to develop practical strategies to communicate clearly to a variety of different audiences. Topics include the role and function of specialist languages in advertising, advocacy, and the media; social marketing; audience analysis; and desktop publishing.
Note: Credit cannot be obtained for both MACS 212 and CMNS 212.

MACS 2153 credits
Advertising as Social Communication
Prerequisite(s): MACS 110 or 130
An interdisciplinary examination of the significance of advertising as a social message system in consumer society. The course presents a way of assessing the role that advertising plays in defining how we see ourselves, one another, and the world at large. There is a brief history of advertising but the focus is on current styles and functions of the global advertising business.

MACS 2213 credits
Media and Audiences
Prerequisite(s): MACS 110 or 130
Corequisite(s): None
This course provides an introduction to the field of cultural studies, particularly as it relates to contemporary popular culture. Writers in cultural studies endeavour to take a critical look at the mass media and their audiences. How do media and audiences affect each other, and how does this relationship make for a better or a worse society?

MACS 2303 credits
Introduction to Communication Media
Prerequisite(s): None. MACS 110 or MACS 130 recommended
Corequisite(s): None
This course explores communications industries in Canada with an emphasis on film, music, and book publishing. It reviews the history, current state, and future of each of these three industries, including government interventions, technological challenges, the functions of key personnel, the production and promotion process, and significant works. Among the readings are personal narratives from people involved in film, music, and publishing in Canada.

MACS 2403 credits
The Political Economy of Communication
Prerequisite(s): MACS 110 or MACS 130
This course explores the political economy of communication. Scholars working within this perspective are interested in cultural industries. They study how such industries gather, select, package, promote, and distribute information and entertainment in the world today. In doing so, scholars focus on how financial and political factors shape the content and form of what ultimately reaches audiences around the world. The course includes a look at the political economy of communication in Latin America.

MACS 4804 credits
Crisis Communications
Prerequisite(s): 60 university-level credits, including six credits of lower-level MACS or CMNS or a combination.
Crises are unexpected threats for which response time is short. Their origins can be natural (as with ice storms or tsunamis) or human (as with acts of terrorism or oil spills). This course uses Canadian and foreign examples to explore how to (and how not to) deal with serious challenges to public safety. To do so, it draws on both theoretical and practical approaches to communicating with diverse audiences in crisis situations.
Note: This course is offered as CMNS 480 and MACS 480. Students may take only one of these for credit.

MACS 4904 credits
Directed Studies in Media and Communications Studies
Prerequisite(s): 45 credits, to include nine credits of MACS or relevant SCMS, and written permission of the instructor and the department head.
Designed for upper-level students who wish to examine in greater depth a particular problem/issue in media and communication studies.

Last updated: April 11, 2008