Social Media and Digital Communication MA

This module provides students with a theoretical understanding of the development, significance and contemporary uses of social media. It fosters both critical analysis and reflective practice in the networked digital media environment. Students will critically engage with key ideas of creativity, sharing and visibility in social media, and will participate in creative and reflective practice using leading social media tools and platforms. This will involve using social media tools to explore course concepts and theoretical materials by, for example, blogging about course readings, making an online video presentation to introduce a weekly seminar discussion, or making a photo essay in response to a key module theory. This module uses a flipped classroom approach through which informational content is made available to learners in advance of the on-campus class sessions, which are dedicated to discussion activities.

The module covers a range of theoretical approaches to studying media and communication in a loosely historical order. Students will acquire an understanding of the historical contexts in which these ways of thinking emerged, be introduced to the leading thinkers driving these approaches and to key concepts associated with them. The focus will be on critically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and students will be encouraged to carefully consider the applicability of each to the current communications landscape. The module will finish with a look at the most recent debates in the field, addressing the question whether new media do indeed require new theory. Students will be assessed in two written essay assignments on their ability to engage with often complex ideas and to test the utility of these for understanding current phenomena. Students will acquire an understanding of what is a history of our field, though it needs to be remembered that this is one possible history of many, and that many non-Western approaches have not been included due to the time constraints of the module.

This module enables learners to develop and carry out an independent research project. It provides them with a theoretical and practical understanding of key methodological approaches to social and digital media and communication research. Each learner will identify their own area of research interest, and will design, develop and investigate an original research question. Candidates will present their findings as a written dissertation of 12,000 words. Learners who have appropriate skills and experience can propose the option to present their research findings in alternative formats to the written dissertation. Learners will develop their project proposals in the first half of the academic year; from Semester 2, each learner will work with an individual supervisor to complete their project for submission in August.

This module will provide an overview of contemporary developments in the global media and communication industries and their impact on cultures worldwide. It will explore the changing political economy of the media related to questions of collective culture and identity in the new global context. The module will focus on transformations in existing media, with a particular emphasis on broadcasting and the audio-visual media and look at innovations of new information and communications technologies, especially the Internet. The module will examine the complex relation between the global and the local, reflected in the growing ‘glocalization’ of Western media products as well as the increasing globalisation of non-Western media such as Japanese comics, Brazilian soap operas, Arabic news networks and the Indian film industry. In exploring such phenomena, one key aspect of the module will be to analyse how the commercial media ecology impacts on the public media and the public sphere. The module will also analyse the role of the Internet in the development of transnational social movements and civil society.

This module provides a broad introduction to the political economy approach to the media, communication, culture and digital media. The module provides an introduction to political economy in general and the political economy of communication in particular, which entails a focus on political economy theories, the history of the political economy of communication-approach, the political economy of media concentration, the political economy of advertising, the political economy of global media, the political economy of cultural labour, the political economy of the Internet and digital labour, and the political economy of the information society.

This module is intended to lay the theoretical foundations when it comes to investigating and understanding how digital data and society intersect. The main focus of this module is on digital data practices and how they shape and are shaped by socio-cultural, political and subjective factors. Students will be introduced to key concepts and theoretical frameworks from an interdisciplinary perspective and engage with those during seminars and independent study. The assessment consists of a creative data project as well as a written essay.

This module introduces students to the main critical theories of digital media, and provides specific focus on the implications of race and culture on the development, infrastructures and ownership of digital media. This module has a particular interest in the power structures generated by geo-politics and fosters international knowledge of digital media. It uses readings and videos about the ways race, class and gender impact the production and circulation of digital culture and helps breaks down the popular mythologies about a placeless virtual reality and borderless digital culture. Whilst providing students with a theoretical and critical base, practical skills will also be developed through the making of a digital video artefact.

This module is designed to introduce learners to some important methods in social and media research. We shall look at how to undertake selective quantitative and qualitative research methods, understanding and exploring the different stages of the research process, from a definition of a research hypothesis, to data design, collection and analysis. We shall also look at the theoretical reasoning behind different methodological approaches to media and society, in particular the politics of social research.

Building on Data in Communication and Society, this module places an emphasis on methods for researching datafication. This module is intended to provide an introduction at the postgraduate level to the methodological tools for collecting, analysing and visualising digital data, both as an object of study and a means for analysis. The focus is on qualitative, quantitative as well as digital data methods. The module consists of a range of lectures and seminars.

This module critically investigates the relationship between media, activism and politics. It offers a critical assessment of the role of media in political mobilizations, social movements, elections, and political and social crises. The module looks at issues around the media and democracy, public opinion and the public sphere. It critically investigates the role of humour, art, satire, memes and creative practices in political communication. It also examines issues of censorship, surveillance, freedom of expression and radical transparency in a variety of countries and political processes. The module also critically discusses the power dynamics that shape the media representation of political issues, as well as the role of the media in the framing of humanitarian crises. 

A critical study of the news media in the context of current society. Looking into news creation and the history of journalism, the module aims to link the broader patterns of social change to a critical study of mass media and the techniques to steer them (spin doctors) and thereby explores contemporary journalism and its ethics from a historical and conceptual perspective.

The first part of the module reviews a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, focusing on and critiquing key debates on media audiences. Using a global perspective and different genre-based case studies, the second part of the module is devoted to discussions of digital media, post-modernity and identity.

In this module, students learn about the different facets of podcast making, exploring genres (e.g. journalistic/investigative, personal storytelling, fictional narrative, sports, comedy, interest groups) and the production techniques required for specific formats. Students also learn about idea incubation, pitching, marketing and monetisation.
 

We are surrounded by artificial intelligence (AI) applications, whether we are aware of this or
not. From personal assistants to automated news, from facial recognition technologies to selfdriving cars, these are just a few examples of how AI is already impacting our lives. This module
explains what AI is and offers a systematic overview of what is behind AI. It also looks into the
controversies and challenges related to AI. The module teaches students to think critically about
AI and assess the societal impact of AI. By mapping a broad range of applications, issues
arising, and key debates, the module will equip students with a systematic understanding of
current AI developments and their impact on society.