Aims

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the mechanisms and issues involved in the interaction between technological development and ways of social communication (semio-pragmatic mechanisms, languages, interactional modes, cultural references etc)
By the end of the course, the head of the group of Communication Studies students should be able to interact with the engineers who design the equipment and the technicians who install them and make them work.
The head of the group of Engineering students should be able to interact with the practitioners of audio-scripto-visual communication who create the media message.

Main themes

The course aims to teach students:
- the functioning principles behind the principal social communication technologies.
- the key mechanisms of storage and transmission.
- how to convert, code and compress analogue and digital audio-scripto-visual signals.
- network architecture.
- security and authentification mechanisms
- the suitability of communication technologies to society.
- the effects of the emergence of new technologies on communication practices and their anthropological context.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisite: There is no prerequisite. This is a general introductory course
Evaluation: Students are evaluated on their knowledge of what has been presented during the course and on a case study.
Course materials: Course notes, bibliographical references, web site.