Module overview
The module will introduce you to some of the debates key to understanding digital media in terms of culture, identity and society. You will develop awareness and understanding of current debates around and critical approaches to digital media and representation, with particular emphasis on as gender, sexuality, race, class and disability in relation to the technologies and cultures of digital media.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the work of key cultural writers relevant to digital media and the socio-historical and contemporary intellectual contexts in which those critics work
- the historical and contemporary relationship between digital media, culture and identity
- the ways audiences/users interact with digital texts within cultural contexts and in relation to identity
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate effective critical thinking skills
- plan and prioritise learning and research activities
- clearly articulate written arguments to academic standards
- locate and use appropriate critical resources
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate the skills and methods required for a critical engagement with scholarship on digital media and communications: such as, how to embark on research, how to write a critical essay, or how to reference your scholarly sources and archival research findings
- research and critically engage with academic debates about society, identity and culture in relation to digital media
- confidently recognise, use and apply specialised terminology as part of your critical thinking and writing about digital media
Syllabus
On this module you will learn about the crucial interconnections between digital media, culture, identity and society. Through knowledge of key scholars and established critical debates, you will see how a broad range of digital media representations (from film, television and radio to social media, gaming and podcasts) inform and are informed by wider culture and ideas about the self and how these interact with and are shaped by the technologies of these media forms.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Tutor-led lectures and seminars
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Teaching | 72 |
| Independent Study | 228 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
D. Nicole Farris (2020). Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age. Springer.
Catherine J. Nash and Andrew Gorman-Murray (2019). The Geographies of Digital Sexuality. Palgrave Macmillan.
Cynthia Carter Ching and Brian J. Foley (2012). Constructing the Self in a Digital World. Cambridge University Press.
George Goggin and Christopher Newell (2003). Digital Disability: The Social Construction of Disability in New Media. Roman & Littlefield.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Critical essay | 50% |
| Case Study Analysis | 20% |
| Critical evaluation | 30% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Critical essay | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Critical evaluation | 30% |
| Case Study Analysis | 20% |
| Critical essay | 50% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External