NMC 105 | Course Introduction and Application Information - Department of New Media and Communication

Course Name

Visual Culture

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
NMC 105	Fall	3	0	3	4

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	Required
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	face to face
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	Discussion Group Work Critical feedback Simulation Lecture / Presentation
National Occupation Classification	-
Course Coordinator	Arş.Gör.Dr. SEVDA KAYA KİTINUR
Course Lecturer(s)	Arş.Gör.Dr. SEVDA KAYA KİTINUR
Assistant(s)	-

Course Objectives	This course is an introduction to how visual communication works, with a focus on the viewing and interpretation of visual information and images from a variety of sources as well as the expression of meaning through visual means.
Learning Outcomes	The students who succeeded in this course; discuss what makes some visuals more powerful, persuasive or beautiful than others in particular contexts. identify the ways that visuals can be used to communicate meanings both similar to and different from other forms of communication. analyze the ways that new technologies shape visual meaning making and create hybrid texts. discuss the ethical issues involved in utilizing visual image. visually convey meaning for a variety of audiences.
Course Description	In the scope of this course analysis and interpretation of imagesand visual communication materials will be thought to students in order for them to be able to evaluate the aesthetic merit of visuals, articulate the social impact of visuals that would provide with basis of their future production work or images that effectively communicate the intended messages to the audience.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses	X
	Major Area Courses
	Supportive Courses
	Media and Management Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

Week	Subjects	Related Preparation
1	Course Introduction & Orientation
2	What is Visual Culture?	Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Routledge, 1999. (Chapter 1: “What is Visual Culture?”) W. J. T. Mitchell, “Showing Seeing: A Critique of Visual Culture.” Journal of Visual Culture 1, no. 2 (2002): 165–181.
3	Ways of Seeing & Mechanical Reproduction	John Berger, Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972. (Chapter 1) Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken Books, 2007, 217–251.
4	Representation & Ideology	Stuart Hall, “The Work of Representation,” in Representation, 2nd ed., ed. Stuart Hall, Jessica Evans and Sean Nixon. London: Sage / The Open University, 2013, 1–15. (Chapter 1) Richard Howells and Joaquim Negreiros, Visual Culture, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012, 83–111. (“Ideology”)
5	Semiotics and Visual Codes	Roland Barthes, “Rhetoric of the Image,” in Image-Music-Text, trans. Stephen Heath. London: Fontana Press, 1977, 32–51. Gillian Rose, "Semiology," in Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, 2nd ed. London: Sage, 2007, 74–106. (Chapter 5)
6	The Gaze	Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in Visual and Other Pleasures. London: Macmillan, 1989, 14–26. bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators,” in Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992, 115–131.
7	Surveillance & Visual Power	Michel Foucault, “Panopticism,” in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books, 1995, 195–228. Nicholas Mirzoeff, “Introduction: The Right to Look, or, How to Think with and Against Visuality,” in The Right to Look: A Counterhistory of Visuality. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011, 1–34.
8	Midterm Exam
9	Visual Storytelling	Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, "Narrative Representations: Designing Social Action," in Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2006, 45–78.
10	Photography, Identity & Self-Representation	Susan Sontag, "In Plato's Cave," in On Photography. New York: RosettaBooks, 2005. E-book. Theresa M. Senft, "Microcelebrity and the Branded Self," in A Companion to New Media Dynamics, ed. John Hartley, Jean Burgess and Axel Bruns. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2015, 346–354. (Chapter 22)
11	Digital Images: Circulation & Platform Aesthetics	Hito Steyerl, "In Defense of the Poor Image." e-flux journal, no. 10 (November 2009). Lev Manovich, "Part 3: Instagramism," in Instagram and Contemporary Image. Published online (manovich.net), 2017, 71–113.
12	Popular Culture & Consumer Visuality	Paul Duncum, "The Bright and Busy," in Popular Pleasures: An Introduction to the Aesthetics of Popular Visual Culture. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021, 31–44. John Berger, Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972. (Chapter 7)
13	Images, Memory & Visual Activism	José van Dijck, "Digital Photography: Communication, Identity, Memory." Visual Communication 7, no. 1 (2008): 57–76. Nicholas Mirzoeff, "Afterword: Visual Activism," in How to See the World: An Introduction to Images, from Self-Portraits to Selfies, Maps to Movies, and More. New York: Basic Books, 2016, 132–136.
14	Final Presentations
15	Review of the semester
16	Final Exam

Course Notes/Textbooks

Richard Howells and Joaquim Negreiros, Visual Culture, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012.

Suggested Readings/Materials

Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2023.

Nicholas Mirzoeff, ed., The Visual Culture Reader, 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2013.

Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture, 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

Semester Activities	Number	Weigthing
Participation	1	10
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques	1	15
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments	1	40
Presentation / Jury	1	15
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exams
Midterm
Final Exam	1	20
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade	4	80
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade	1	20
Total

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Theoretical Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours)	16	3	48
Laboratory / Application Hours	16		0
Study Hours Out of Class	12	1	12
Field Work			0
Quizzes / Studio Critiques	1	10	10
Portfolio			0
Homework / Assignments	4	5	20
Presentation / Jury	1	10	10
Project			0
Seminar / Workshop			0
Oral Exam			0
Midterms			0
Final Exam	1	20	20
		Total	120

#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	* Contribution Level
#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.	-	-	X	-	-
2	To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
3	To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.	-	-	-	-	-
4	To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.	-	-	-	-	-
5	To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.	-	-	-	-	-
6	To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
7	To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.	-	-	-	-	-
8	To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.	-	-	-	-	X
9	To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.	-	-	-	-	-
10	To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
11	To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).	-	-	-	-	-
12	To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.	-	-	-	-	-
13	To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.	-	X	-	-	-