| Unit name | Digital Culture |
|---|---|
| Unit code | SOCIM0038 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Coleman |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
Digital Culture examines the increased digitisation and mediatisation of everyday and popular culture, considering the continuities and changes between today’s culture and that which has gone before. How do digital technologies shape ordinary practices of intimacy, belonging, mobility, work and leisure? To what extent are digital technologies imposed on us? Can we use them to resist and reshape culture? In exploring questions such as these, there will be a focus on the cultural politics and ethics of digital culture, including in relation to questions of gender, sexuality, race, class, dis/ability and age, and the body, affect, time and space. The unit will draw on leading-edge research publications from across the social sciences, arts and humanities, putting these into dialogue with classic work on ordinary, everyday cultures and politics, demonstrating the necessity of interdisciplinary thinking, approaches and analysis for the study of contemporary digital cultures.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
As a specialised unit of the MSc in Digital and Technological Society, this unit’s focus on digital culture will enable you to critically examine different people’s experiences of everyday life in various contexts, developing your knowledge and understanding of technologised and digitised societies and social change. As an option for other MSc programmes, it will provide you with key theories, debates and approaches in the interdisciplinary field of digital culture. In both cases, the unit will consider and explore questions regarding the relationships between digital culture, social change and social justice, which are central to how we do and might live today.
An overview of content
Content will focus on case studies in order to critically examine key theoretical and methodological debates on digital culture. Emphasis is therefore placed on teasing out the relationships between existing classical and contemporary theory and methods and exploring whether and how new approaches are required.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to critically reflect on their own and others’ digital cultures. This will enable a greater understanding of everyday life, including how it might be different. This, in turn, will facilitate students to consider how they and others are able to navigate and intervene in the fast-changing digital world.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate:
Teaching will be in two-hour weekly blocks. This will enable sessions to be arranged flexibly according to unit content and student interests. For example, some weeks will include a traditional lecture followed by a discussion-based seminar focused on key literature. Others will be run as interactive workshops that enable students to work on a specific issue. Digital media platforms and methods will be incorporated into sessions and/or independent study activities as relevant. For example, students may be provided with guidelines to conduct a virtual ethnography or walk-through, or will be asked to examine the codes, conventions and architectures of popular and accessible platforms, apps, devices, to explore and reflect on how theories and methods about digital culture work in practice, and to apply and adapt them as suitable. This will facilitate students in developing understanding of, analytic concerns about and critical engagement with digital culture to meet unit learning objectives.
Tasks which will help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative)
Presentations: Students will present on their plans for their summative assessment and receive verbal feedback from peers and verbal and written feedback from staff (ILO 4). Presentations will be between 10-15 minutes each and will be scheduled during the last three weeks of the unit. Presentations may be recorded in advance and shown during the presentations slot.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
Summative assessment (100%).
Portfolios address all ILOs. Each will respond to between one and three issues covered on the unit, to ensure connections are made across the unit. The portfolio will involve students producing short digital media work (e.g. short videos [circa 1 minute], audio/podcasts, still images, data visualisations) as well as written text. The portfolio will be aimed at communicating knowledge and understanding gained from the unit to a non-academic audience.
This assessment provides students with the opportunity to ground theoretical ideas covered on the unit in the digital mediums they are studying. Guidance on the portfolio will be covered on the unit and students will be offered the opportunity to consult with the unit leader on their summative assignment.
When assessment does not go to plan
Where a student is eligible to resubmit they will normally complete the reassessment in the same format as outlined above. For the portfolio, students are expected to select new issues raised on the unit to which to respond.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. SOCIM0038).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
