The Media and Communication Seminar is a practical study of the investigation, analysis, and substantiation process focused on various media phenomena. Specifically, lectures will explain the theories for analyzing media text and introducing analytical methods. After learning theories and methodologies, students are assigned to groups to analyze media texts such as TV commercials, visual works, and news. Several lecturers teach the class, each of whom bring their expertise, allowing students to learn plural approaches to the media. This learning process nurtures the insight to observe the media’s political, social, and cultural roles in detail and builds reading comprehension skills to understand and interpret media texts while collecting, organizing, and examining the materials for discussion. This seminar will also cultivate the ability to solve issues through working with other students.

The course is designed to provide students with the basic knowledge of information law. Specifically, students will learn about laws related to personal information protection, Internet regulations, AI, personal rights, legal systems related to e-commerce, and the surveillance society. Policy cases associated with promoting digitalization will also be introduced to deepen students understanding from theoretical and practical perspectives. The laws, policies, and social issues covered in this course are not limited to those of Japan, but also includes those of Europe, the United States, China, and many other countries. In Information and Law, students will use the knowledge they acquire to develop the ability to deal with a wide range of social issues. For example, the ability to consider solutions to social issues from a legal perspective and the ability to analyze the nature of issues from multiple perspectives. In addition, by understanding the laws related to information, which are closely intertwined with our daily lives, we aim to cultivate the judgment and knowledge necessary to protect ourselves in an information society.

The course aims to explore social research concepts and acquire methodologies for quantitative and qualitative research. Specifically, students will plan research, collect and tabulate data, and analyze and discuss the data. During the quantitative research term, groups design a questionnaire and conduct an on-campus survey. In the qualitative research term, each student conducts an interview and provides an analysis. The course will explain the manners and ethical considerations required when conducting interviews and how to prepare an interview guide. In Social Research Methods, students learn how to manage quantitative and qualitative data and the characteristic of that data. This method cultivates the ability to think about contemporary society based on data and the ability to consider how data in social research is generated and what limitations such data has. These are the foundations of social research used in a variety of fields. After completing this training, students will be able to conduct research.