International Telecommunications - Travel

Catalog description

This course focuses on how a nation or region's unique cultural and political environment shapes the development and impact of its media and telecommunications industries, and how those industries in turn influence the nation's or region's cultural and political trajectory. The course includes one week of travel to the country or region being studied during the semester. A passport and an additional mandatory fee to cover partial travel expenses is required. Students will explore how information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as computers, telephone networks, mass media, and the Internet develop within a particular cultural context and how they influence the socio-economic and political development of a society. Students will study the historical development of telecommunications within the country or region being studied and examine how that nation or region's geographic, cultural and political environment shapes its response to technological change and where future opportunities may lie. The class will also explore ways ICTs can be used to foster economic development, human rights and international development. Ultimately, students will come away with a better understanding of how ICTs influence society and how the adoption and use of ICTs is grounded within a particular cultural context.