I must admit that when I first chose the class it was because there were few post graduate courses available at FDV (faculty of social science in Ljubljana). I had no expectations for this course at all. Actually I was a bit frightened as I am not used to doing classes in this field (that I would name "communication"). When I further found out that half of the course was in slovene I was quite ready to give up.
But after reading the syllabus for the course and looking through the different materials I have changed my mind:
- First of all because I use new media quite a lot. I already have a blog that I use for travel reports, and since I was ten years old I have used computers for communication; When I was ten for chatting with other Spice Girls fans - now for keeping in touch with friends on facebook, skype etc. Furthermore I always have my computer with me; in class, at work, at home... and I can not imagine life without it. I even google everything these days!
- Second of all because I study political science... and there is very little focus on communication and writing skills in the everyday classes. At the same time more and more employers actually look for employees with good writing -and communication skills. That's a mismatch that I hope the course can solve!
- Third of all because I am interested to learn more about what the internet can be used for and look into how it is in fact used by different actors. Last semester I wrote a paper on how the the Danish ANTIFA makes their identity through internet foras and news data bases. That was quite interesting and I wish I knew more.
Well that was a bit about my reasons and expectations for taking this course. But I also need to present myself:
My name is Annika Mogensen, I am Danish and I am 25 years old. I am a bachelor of political science from Copenhagen University and started studying my masters in political science this summer. I am not sure what my main interest in the field of politcal science is. But so far I have worked a bit with human rights and international relations... but I also wish to take some courses related to anthropology and sociology to broaden my perspective.
I hope that with this course I can combine these interests and my knowledge of politics with the use of new media. I think that I will do my seminar paper on identity exploration and construction or digital activism.
