US universities offering 'selfie courses'

WASHINGTON: Do you think you have mastered the art of taking selfies? Universities in US have taken the art of clicking pictures to the next level by introducing courses on the latest social media fad.

Eve Bottando, an Indiana University Northwest communications professor, will explore selfies in a 400-level class this year.

The class will discuss research being done on selfies as well as the questions the pictures raise about the society, 'Msn.com' reported.

Other universities have also introduced courses around the culture of taking selfies.

At University of Southern California (USC), Mark C Marino asks his class to examine five of their own selfies and consider the potential implications from the perspectives of race-ethnicity, socioeconomics, sexuality, and gender.

The course is titled #SelfieClass, a new spin on Writing 150: Writing and Critical Reasoning: Identity and Diversity, according to 'BTRread'.

Students are instructed to broaden their understanding concerning themselves, the world, and their place in it.

Marino believes that the likes, comments and followers gained from a selfie post on social media carry a much deeper meaning beyond the increase in online friends and animated hearts.

A similar class is available at University of California, Los Angeles. In the Digital Humanities department, Miriam Posner teaches a course called Selfies, Snapchat and CyberBullies: Coming of Age Online.

There is also a Selfies Research Network composed of an international group of intellectuals who examine the social and cultural significance of the selfies in today's world.