Social Media has often been called the contemporary panopticon where everyone can see and be seen; where the use of visual imagery, spectacle and performance has become increasingly important and changed the relationship between audiences and texts.

This class will focus on the important aspect of the visual and its implications for cultural and civic life.  We will explore the various ways through  which images circulate on different platform and to difference audiences, study issues of representation and personification in the public sphere; the growing importance of commodification; iconic photography and appropriation; semiotics and symbols; architecture, graffiti, online design and the importance of style.