Moodle@Warwick

Syllabus

Week 1: Art, media, and activism—how we got to today (lecture and seminar)

Sets the scene through a brief history of art- and media-activist practices leading up to today, examining the impact of social and technological change; also looks at the impact of networks on art’s autonomy, and the relation between theory and practice, as well as the specificity of the digital as a medium

Week 2: Capital, labour, and value in a digital age (lecture and seminar)

Looks at the ways contemporary political economy has been theorized, together with the possibilities and difficulties that communicative capital poses for organising, popular resistance, and subversive artistic praxis

Week 3: Tactical media, performance, design (lecture and seminar)

Looks at a variety of critical and aesthetic interventions, including electronic civil disobedience, DOS attacks, cybersquatting, Floodnet applications, tactical cartography and visualization, and so forth; also looks at the media activism as performance and aesthetic practice the role of art and design in critical media interventions, especially the role of speculative design fiction

Week 4: The Twitter Revolution (lecture and seminar)

Looks at the role of social media activism in protests and unrest in Moldova, Iran, and the Arab spring examining the relation between twitter and the streets, and the limits and possibilities of digital participation

Week 5: Media squares (lecture and seminar)

Looks at technologies of communication and participation in the Occupy, 15-M and Nuit Debout movements, examining the relation between digital and real-world organising, as well as connections between smart mobs and DIY artistic production

Week 7: Designing media activism (workshop)

In-class crits with pecha kucha presentations of group design projects

Week 8: Digital populisms and far-right co-options (lecture and seminar)—with visiting speaker Dr Paolo Gerbaudo (KCL)

Looks at the use of digital strategies by populist movements today, such as the gilets jaunes, and at the appropriation of critical and tactical-media approaches by the far right, evaluating the political ramifications of these developments for the theory and practice of media activism

Week 9: Digital parties and democratic reformations (lecture and seminar)

Looks at how digital technologies are transforming democratic forms and institutions, with a focus on the potential for social media to reconfigure representation and the relation between leader and base, and on how big data is changing campaigning

Week 10: Whither media activism? (workshop)

A hands-on exploration of online interventions, micropractices, and design fictions that speculate about or advocate for digital futures.

For further information please contact cim@warwick.ac.uk or visit https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/apply-to-study/cross-disciplinary-postgraduate-modules/im933-media-activism/

This course gives some basic knowledge about what a SEM is, it's operating principles and capacities. After going through the content of the course, you need to pass the test before participating any hands-on training sessions. 

Please note the following (these are points reflecting the kinds of queries we have typically received in previous years and are not necessarily relevant to this year, but provided here for information):

(1) It is not possible to have scripts remarked. All module marks are final.

(2) As always, we have followed a rigorous procedure for marking. All markers followed detailed marking guidance. All markers participated in a calibration exercise to ensure that marking was conducted consistently. Following the completion of first-marking, a moderation process as required under University regulations was followed. Finally, a random sample of scripts was sent to an external examiner, who verified the consistency of marking, and also ensured that the standard of marking was in line with marking standards in the sector.  (Also, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Law School Education Executive reviewed marking at the module level). 

(3) Please note that University Regulation 42 governing academic appeals, paragraph 1.2, provides as follows: "The Regulation Governing Academic Appeals does not allow students to challenge marks they have been awarded for a particular piece of assessment. Decisions made by a Board of Examiners about the academic merit of a piece of work are academic judgements and cannot be challenged via this, or any other, Regulation."

(4) Should you have any other feedback queries, we shall be available to answer any individual feedback queries you might have at the start of the new academic year. In line with Law School policy, we shall make arrangements for this for weeks 1 and 2 of Term 1. We will send you further information about this in September. 

Unfortunately, we cannot reply to queries before then unless absolutely urgent. We apologise in advance for this. We are unusually busy this summer with preparations for the next academic year. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Welcome

This is a course on the law and policy of international trade. The course will build on the short introduction to the WTO in the IEL core module and explore the treaty-based WTO international economic law system, its principal agreements and institutions, its core doctrines, and the current proposals for reform. 

The WTO is regarded as one of the most successful international organisations governing activities between states because it has a highly effective dispute settlement system. The course will explore whether the WTO remains relevant in an increasingly globalised world where economic disputes typically cover national, transnational and international law as well as a multiplicity of economic actors, like states and multinational corporations. It will evaluate the effectiveness of the WTO rules against the background of the rise of the mega-regional agreements- the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). It will consider how demands for trade justice affect how we interpret the WTO rules and what reforms of WTO rules may be necessary to achieve that goal.