Reddit reviews A First Look at Communication Theory (Conversations with Communication Theorists)

u/ExpressNess I think Communication Studies is a fun minor to have if you are looking to use computer science to create positive change in society or communicate better with people. It's a lot valuable life-skills, work/life relationship skills, ethical reasoning skills, and soft-skills that non-programming Computer Science classes try to teach and just aren't able to teach effectively. I personally only know 3 other people in Computer Science actively pursuing it. Here's my experience:

Comm Theory is definitely a harder class in my opinion (it's a pre-req) because of memorization and if you aren't used to studying human communication and relationships, but it's definitely valuable in learning. A lot of things seem like common sense but they are based on different theories.

Textbook: https://www.amazon.com/First-Communication-Theory-Conversations-Theorists-ebook/dp/B00VF61QTC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=238JE3CAIS2CI&keywords=communication+communication+communication&qid=1554518401&s=books&sprefix=communication+communication+comm%2Cstripbooks%2C210&sr=1-3

Beyond that class, there's a lot of cool opportunities and fun and useful classes.

I already had public speaking out of the way coming to UNC Charlotte and took COMM 2102 - Advanced Public Speaking to enhance my public speaking abilities since I do a lot of workshops and talks in tech. I've learned so many other ways to give speeches that I've never have thought about. It's gotten me skills to be confident enough to write an outline and practice a speech to submit for a TED talk. Also, I learned a bit of voice acting.

COMM-3120 Mass Media was fun! I took it with Prof. Tim Horne online and basically watched a lot of Netflix and wrote about how media and tech shapes manipulation of our reality. If anything, I learned a lot of skills to spot fake news if I daresay.

COMM-3136 Leadership, and Service with Adam Burden was amazing. Got to do volunteering work and meet a lot of student leaders on campus and learn about leading a team. The things I've learned in that class has helped me in a lot of group projects and I learned a lot on my personal strengths and values when working in teams and organizations. There's a service project which is just group volunteering which does help you with your soft-skills on your resume. It's based on relational leadership:

This is an awesome textbook that's used for that class: https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Leadership-College-Students-Difference/dp/1118399471

There also a lot about the process of being inclusive and empowering others purposefully and ethically which a lot of tech companies are looking at as it's generally a problem in the tech industry.

Global Media - You learn a lot of views of the whole world and how technology effects culture and vice versa. It really opens up on a lot of ethical perspectives on how tech and media effects democracy and marginalized communities. Really, I think it the class should be called "Working towards achieving world peace through emerging tech, civilizations, media, and economies" tbh. Also, the professor is famous, worked for the United Nations, and wrote the textbook.

Textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Citizenship-Democracies-Engagement-Marginalized-Communities-ebook/dp/B075R3YXJ2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=democracy+marginalized+economies&qid=1554517749&s=books&sr=1-1

For a related LBST 2102 Global Connections class, I'd also recommend taking Language, Media, and Peace with Prof. Jillian Wagner at the same time with Global Media or Mass Media if possible. This class is similar but focuses on the power of language and peace.

There's also Interpersonal Communications, Group Communications, etc...