Coventry University Department of Media and Communication
Encyclopedia
The Department of Media and Communication is part of Coventry School of Art and Design
in Coventry University
. It is located within the Ellen Terry Building, which is a £7 million refurbished 1930s cinema in the centre of Coventry
, UK.
Its courses include undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Media, Media Production, Photography, Advertising and Media and Media and Communications (Formerly Communication, Culture and Media). It has masters level degrees in Applied Communication, Automotive Journalism, Film and Visual Cultures, Global Journalism, Global Media and Communications, Health Journalism, Digital Media and Culture and Media Production .
, HEFCE as well as a number of industry and charitable partners. The department goes back to 1975, when It was among the first places to launch a degree in Communications studies in the UK.
In 2006 it launched a weekly industry talk series called the Coventry Conversations whose long list of speakers includes Jeremy Paxman
, Murray Walker
, Donal Macintyre
, Jeff Jarvis
, Paul Abbott
, Jeremy Vine
, Baroness Valerie Amos and many more. Jon Snow
, of Channel 4 News, is a visiting professor in the department. The department also has talk series in Open Media and Photography
The department is underpinned by its "Open Media" approach to education in the fields of Media, Culture, Communication, Photography and the Visual Arts. This approach emerges from the issues, new working practices and substantial changes that have been brought about by development in digital culture and communications technologies over the past decade. As a result of this approach, it was the first practical media department in the UK to start broadcasting lectures to the iTunes U platform and onto the YouTube Edu platform in 2009 and has innovated in teaching learning through open technologies and pedagogies including the development of the worlds first open iPhone application for a photography degree course as well as various other projects in Open Education in Photography and Creative Activism for which it has won international recognition.
In terms of access to research - in July 2009 MC publicly established what was the 1st Green Open Access Mandate for a Humanities Department in the UK and only the 3rd for a Humanities Department in the World; it was also the UK's 24th Green Open Access Mandate This mandates faculty to make academic research output freely available online.
The department is also home to the Coventry University East Asian Film Society and the CU Today Online Magazine
Coventry School of Art and Design
Coventry School of Art and Design is part of Coventry University in Coventry, West Midlands in the UK. It is home to a number of departments that teach and research in the areas of art, media and design including the Department of Industrial Design, The Department of Media and Communication, the...
in Coventry University
Coventry University
Coventry University is a post-1992 university in Coventry, West Midlands, England. Under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, the institution's name was changed from Coventry Polytechnic to Coventry University...
. It is located within the Ellen Terry Building, which is a £7 million refurbished 1930s cinema in the centre of Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, UK.
Its courses include undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Media, Media Production, Photography, Advertising and Media and Media and Communications (Formerly Communication, Culture and Media). It has masters level degrees in Applied Communication, Automotive Journalism, Film and Visual Cultures, Global Journalism, Global Media and Communications, Health Journalism, Digital Media and Culture and Media Production .
Research, impact and recognition
The department has a long established research culture in the fields of Media and Communication contributing to debates at local, national and international level. This includes major projects funded by JISC, the AHRCAHRC
AHRC can refer to:* Asian Human Rights Commission* Arts and Humanities Research Council* Association for the Help of Retarded Children* American Homeowners Resource Center* Australian Human Rights Commission...
, HEFCE as well as a number of industry and charitable partners. The department goes back to 1975, when It was among the first places to launch a degree in Communications studies in the UK.
In 2006 it launched a weekly industry talk series called the Coventry Conversations whose long list of speakers includes Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
, Murray Walker
Murray Walker
Graeme Murray Walker, OBE is a former Formula One motorsport commentator...
, Donal Macintyre
Donal MacIntyre
Donal MacIntyre is an Irish investigative journalist, specialising in investigations, undercover operations and television exposés. His work is in the area of care homes for the elderly and the learning disabled...
, Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. Previously he was a television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner.-Career:Until recently Jarvis was...
, Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
, Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...
, Baroness Valerie Amos and many more. Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
, of Channel 4 News, is a visiting professor in the department. The department also has talk series in Open Media and Photography
The department is underpinned by its "Open Media" approach to education in the fields of Media, Culture, Communication, Photography and the Visual Arts. This approach emerges from the issues, new working practices and substantial changes that have been brought about by development in digital culture and communications technologies over the past decade. As a result of this approach, it was the first practical media department in the UK to start broadcasting lectures to the iTunes U platform and onto the YouTube Edu platform in 2009 and has innovated in teaching learning through open technologies and pedagogies including the development of the worlds first open iPhone application for a photography degree course as well as various other projects in Open Education in Photography and Creative Activism for which it has won international recognition.
In terms of access to research - in July 2009 MC publicly established what was the 1st Green Open Access Mandate for a Humanities Department in the UK and only the 3rd for a Humanities Department in the World; it was also the UK's 24th Green Open Access Mandate This mandates faculty to make academic research output freely available online.
The department is also home to the Coventry University East Asian Film Society and the CU Today Online Magazine
Open media
The department has a reputation for its distinct approach to learning called 'Open Media'. Open Media is the term, which captures a series of interconnected principles that inform all the work of the department. In short Open Media & Communication means:- Open Media - positive and innovative engagements with new media technologies and new media and cultural forms and relationships, this is ‘open’ in the sense that it adopts a collaborative ethos and makes use of ‘freemium’ and ‘prosumption’ models of media and cultural practice;
- Sustainable Professional Practice – building independent (staff and student) professional profiles through newly emerging media practices and relationships; engaging from the outset with new communities of scholarship and practice.
- Engagement - the active participation of staff and students in live and transformative projects and with diverse communities of interest, be they professional, academic, cultural, or social. These activities open the university, by linking the delivery of content in traditional formats with projects that have a positive impact on the lives of those inside and outside its walls;
- Globally Visible Media & Communication - using emerging media practices and networks to multiply and leverage the scope, scale and impact of our (staff and student) work. Engaging in work that is simultaneously local and global in scope and ensuring that this good work is accessible and visible at the same level
- Open Pedagogies – teaching and learning which is collaborative, media-enabled and expanded – i.e. this approach begins by conceiving of the Department as our own community of learning, it makes use of innovative and collaborative learning styles, as well as the contributions of and dialogue with leading scholars and professionals across the globe, evaluates and uses libre material and crowd-sourced knowledge and encourages the strategic and reflective use of new technologies to develop extended communities of learning;
Academics
The Department of Media and Communication includes a number of academics working across a range of areas including Digital and Open Media, Global Media and Communications, Journalism Studies and Creative Media Practice. These include:- John ListerJohn Lister (journalist)Dr John Lister is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication.John has worked in print journalism since 1974, and also been involved in public relations and research on health policy in the UK and world-wide.He has focused on health journalism...
(Senior Lecturer in Health Journalism) - John MairJohn Mair (journalist)John Mair is an Associate Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism at the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication.John is a former BBC current affairs producer who has also worked for Channel Four and ITV...
(Associate Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism) - Andrew NoakesAndrew NoakesAndrew Noakes is an Associate Senior Lecturer in Journalism, specialising in Automotive Journalism, at the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication.-Early Career:...
(Senior Lecturer in Journalism, specialising in Automotive Journalism) - Jonathan ShawJonathan Shaw (photographer)Jonathan Shaw is a photographer and educator. His practice can be situated within a long photographic tradition of experimentation that has deployed the camera as both an instrument of scientific record and of aesthetic exploration...
(Associate Head of Department) - Peter WoodbridgePeter WoodbridgePeter Woodbridge is a Digital Media and Culture Specialist and Lecturer in Open Media in the Coventry University Department of Media and Communication...
(Lecturer in Open Media and Digital Media Specialist) - Jonathan WorthJonathan Worth (photographer)Jonathan Worth is a British portrait photographer working for clients including the New York Times, New Scientist Magazine, Universal Music and Vogue amongst others. His shot-list includes musicians, sports stars and Hollywood actors like Jude Law, Colin Firth and Casey Affleck...
(Associate Senior Lecturer in Photography and Freelance Photographer) - Marcos YoungMarcos YoungMarcos Young is an Associate Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism at Coventry University's Department of Media and Communication.Marcos has worked as a Broadcast Journalist at the BBC since 1991...
(Associate Senior Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism)
Notable alumni
- Pete Ogden, Television Broadcaster, Producer of X Factor and Big Brother
- Gideon Coe (BBC radio presenter. BBC 6 Music)
- Kevin de la Noy (film producer, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Mission Impossible, Blood Diamond, Batman: The Dark Knight)
- GhostpoetGhostpoetGhostpoet is a British singer and producer.In June 2010, Ghostpoet released his first EP The Sound Of Strangers on Brownswood Recordings and was later featured in The Guardian’s “New Band Of The Day”....
(Singer and Songwriter Nominated for the 2011 Mercury Music Prize) - Stephen Brookes (disability and equality consultant; former advisor to The Labour Party’s communication department)
- Evodokia Thomopoulou (freelance artist and designer)
- Simon O Grady (head of Media Studies, Stratford upon Avon College of Further Education)
- Sara Noel (Vogue magazine – fashion shoots and syndications co-ordinator)
- Tom Howie, Television Producer, including Arsenal TV
- Line Lonning-Andersen (Artistic Director, Operaen i Kristiansund/ Kristiansund Opera, Norway)
- Dominic Breadmore (founder Predacom productions, video and multimedia artist)
- Laith Al-JuneidiLaith Al-JuneidiLaith Al-Juneidi , is a Palestinian film director and producer. He studied Bachelors of Arts in Communication, Culture and Media at Coventry University Department of Media and Communication, graduating with First Class Honours degree then his post-graduate studies in Visual Cultures at the same...
(Palestinian film-maker)