Module overview
This module introduces you to key theoretical, cultural and historical aspects of computing in art, design, industry, entertainment and everyday life. You will explore and respond to these aspects through digital media production and presentation, developing skills in critical thinking and analysis along with technical skills in working with, for example, web media, digital video, and game-based media. You will be introduced to university-level practices and standards of research and scholarship.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- ideas, objects, theories and makers that have informed your discipline in a global context
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- test ideas through critical reflection using a variety of physical and digital sources
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- identify strengths and weaknesses in your academic skills
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- use appropriate platforms and applications in the development of project work
Syllabus
The module topics will vary year to year according to staff and student interest, and will be responsive to current events and developments in digital culture. They might include issues of identity and data privacy, surveillance, e-waste and sustainability, theories of posthumanism and cyborg selves, online activism, meme culture, social media or online gaming cultures, and creative forms of digital media from games and interactive narrative to AI and robotics art. You will explore the chosen topics through a set of written and creative responses, collated in a digital format such as a Wordpress blog or other content management system. These responses might include short written pieces, visual essays, memes, interactive narratives, simple game ideas and video.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching will include lectures and screenings, seminars on set reading, and workshops in which creative responses to the topics and reading will be produced. Staff will support students in a range of digital media formats such as web (HTML, css) and digital media (photography, video), interactive narrative and blog platforms (e.g. Wordpress).
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Independent Study | 248 |
| Teaching | 42 |
| Total study time | 290 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Giddings, Seth (ed) (2011). The New Media & Technocultures Reader. London: Routledge.
Zylinska, Joanna (2020). AI Art: machine visions and warped dreams. London: Open Humanities Press.
Berry, David M. & Dieter, Michael (2015). Postdigital Aesthetics: art, computation and design. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
In-class activities
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback:
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio of practice | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio of practice | 100% |