Course Code: BMN02

Media Education, Information & Communication Technologies in Christian Ministry

BD II, Semester 1, 4 Credit Hours, College Paper

Course Objectives

1. To create awareness on mass media issues and use the information technologies appropriately in Christian ministry.
2. To help students to understand the need for and acquire skills of modern communication technologies for the ministries of the church.
3. To help students critically evaluate the phenomena of cyber society and cyber-church and related issues in Christian ministry.
4. To help students evaluate the emergence of digital divide and its ethical, social implications.

Course Requirements

• Final Examination: 60%
• Internal Assessment: 40%

Course Outline

Section I: Media Education

I. Introduction to Media Education

1. Definitions of Media Education
   • Awareness, Education, Orientation and Approach
   • Skills on mass media issues and its effects
2. The power and Effects of Mass Media
   • Power, Persuasive, Influential, Effective
   • Effects: Short Term and Long Term Effects
3. Role of Mass Media in Society
   • Information, Education, Entertainment, Watchdog, Agenda Setting and Propagation
4. Issues of Mass Media
   • Imbalance flow of Information, Exaggeration of issues, cultural infliction and digital divide
5. Responses of the Church in Media Issues
   • a. Instrumentalist
   • b. Interventionist
   • c. Functionalist

II. Media Education and Christian Institutions

1. Media Education in Church Organizations
2. Media Education in Schools
3. Media Education in Theological Seminaries/Colleges

III. Skill in Analyzing Media Texts

• Book reviews, film appreciation, Advertisements analysis, narrative analysis

Section II: Information and Communication Technologies

I. Introduction to Information and Communication Technologies

• Definition of terms: ICT, cyber-space, cyber society, digital divide

II. Perspectives on Information Technology and Society

III. Information Technology as a Convergent Technology

• A. Telecommunication and Digital Communication
  1. 1. Printing Technology
  2. 2. Telegraph and Telephone
  3. 3. Video-Telephone
  4. 4. Satellite Communication
  5. 5. Human-Computer Interface
• B. Technological Convergence
  1. 1. Need for a new media paradigm
  2. 2. Need for a new media literacy

IV. Information and Communication Technology

• i) The Internet as Mass Medium
• ii) The Internet as a Decentralized Network
• iii) Information Superhighway
• iv) Cyber Space as Virtual reality
• v) Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Blog, MySpace etc.)

V. Cyber-Ethics

• A. Ethical Issues
  1. i) Technology and Social Life
  2. ii) Information Society: Transformation of labour and leisure
  3. iii) IT employees and their labour fights
  4. iv) Identity and Deception
  5. v ) Morality in Cyberspace
  6. vi) Cyber Crimes
• B. Digital Divide
  1. i) Inequality in Access, Capability and Distribution
  2. ii) Political Exclusion: Lack of freedom of expression
  3. iii) Social Exclusion: Class, Caste, Ethnicity, Gender

VI. Virtual Church

• i) Participating in Worship in Various virtual-churches
• ii) Critical Study of their Worship, Preaching, and other Ministerial Activities
• iii) Challenges of virtual prayers, virtual baptism, virtual-Eucharist, etc.
• iv) Virtual-church: An Alternative or Extension of the Real Church?

VII. Cyber-Theology

• i) Experience of God among Cyber communities
• ii) The indwelling presence of God in Cyberspace
• iii) Cyberspace – a new context for doing theology

VIII. Response of the Church

• i) Pastoral ministry among IT and BPO personnel
• ii) Bridging the digital divide
• iii) Partnering with cyber communities
• iv) Adopting ICT for the Mission and Ministry of the Church
  • a) On-line Counselling
  • b) Network of Support System for Pastoral Ministry

Bibliography

Essential Readings

• Arthur, Chris. The Globalization of Communications: So, ie Religious Implications. Geneva: WCC & WACC, 1998.
• Baym, K. Cybersociety: Computer-mediated Communication and Community. London: Sage, 1995.
• Ermann, M. David and Mary B. Williams. Computers, Ethics and Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
• Hamelink, Cees. J. The Ethics of Cyberspace. London: Sage, 2000.
• Holmes, David. Communication Theory, Media, Technology and Society. London: SAGE, 2007.
• Jordan, Tim. Cyberpower: the Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet. London: Routledge, 2000.
• Loader, Brian D. Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency and Policy in the Information Society. London: Routledge, 1998.
• National Council for Civil Liberties, ed. Liberating Cyberspace: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and the Internet. London: Pluto Press, 1999.
• Pullinger, David. Information Technology and Cyberspace. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2001.
• Raja, Joshua, and Margret Kalaiselvi. Introducing Communication and Media Studies to Theological Students. Bangalore: BTESSC, 2013.
• Singh, Peter. Cyber Theology. Delhi: ISPCK, 2009.
• Traber, Michael, ed. The Myth of the Information Revolution: Social and Ethical Implications of Communication Technology. London: Newbury Park, New Delhi: SAGE Pub., 1988.

Suggested Readings

• Bell, David and Barbara M. Kennedy. The Cybercultures Reader. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Brook, Tai, ed. Virtual Gods: The Seduction of Power and Pleasure in Cyberspace. Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1997.
• Buick, Joanna and Jevtic, Zoran. Cyberspace for Beginners. Cambridge: Icon Books, 1995.
• Castells, Manuel. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture I: The Rise of The Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
• .. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture II: The Rise of The Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
• .. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture III: The Rise of The Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
• Cobb, Jennifer. Cybergrace: The Search for God in the Digital World. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998.
• Colomb, Robert M. Information Spaces: the Architecture of Cyberspace. London: Springer, 2002.
• Dodge, Martin and Rob Kitchin. Mapping Cyberspace. London: Routledge, 2001.
• Eysenck, H. J. Media Culture and Society. London: Sage Publications, 1986.
• Franci, Anne Cranny. Multimedia. London: SAGE, 2005.
• Gates, Bill. The Road Ahead. New York: Viking, 1995.
• Hughes, James. The Church in Cyberspace: The Coming Impact of the Computer on the Church. Ontario: Scarborough, 1997.
• Lochhead, David. Shifting Realities: Information Technology and the Church. Geneva: WCC, 1997.
• Lowery, Sheron. Milestones in Mass Communication. New York: Longman, 1983.
• Lyon, David. Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life. Buckingham, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2001.
• Singhal, Arvind and Everett M. Rogers. India’s Communication Revolution: From Bullock Carts to Cyber Marts. New Delhi: Sage, 2001.
• Smith, Marc A. and Peter Kollock. Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge, 1999.
• Sparks, Colin. Globalization, Development and the Mass Media. London: SAGE, 2007.
• Thurlow, Crispin, Laura Lengel and Alice Tomic. Computer Mediated Communication: Social Interaction and the Internet. London: SAGE, 2008.
• Victus, Solomon. “Indian Conservative Evangelicals and Modern Market Expressions” in Discipleship and Dialogue: New Frontiers in Interfaith Engagement (eds) by Eric J. Lott, M. Thomas Thangaraj & Andrew Wingate, New Delhi: ISPCK, 2013.
• Warschauer, Mark. Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Williams, Brian K. and Stacey C. Sawyer. Using Information Technology. 3rd ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 2000.
• Williams, Noel. How to Get a 2:1 in Media, Communication & Cultural Studies. London: SAGE, 2004.
• Wyatt, Sally. Technology and Inequality: Questioning the Information Society. London: Sage, 2000.
• Zaleski, Jeffrey P. The Soul of Cyberspace: How New Technology is Changing Our Spiritual Lives. San Francisco: San Francisco University Press, 1997.

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