SC224-5-FY-CO:
Digital Society
2016/17
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 5
Current
30
06 March 2014
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA LP33 Media and Digital Culture,
BA LP34 Media and Digital Culture (including Placement Year),
BA P300 Media and Digital Culture (Including Foundation Year),
BA PL33 Media and Digital Culture (including Year Abroad)
'Does technology determine history?'
'Can games teach us about power?'
'Does software shape society?'
The aim of this module is to situate digital media within the context of dynamic social interactions in a complex and rapidly changing world. Students will therefore be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the role being played by human-machine relationships in processes of contemporary cultural change. In order to do so, we will undertake a sustained critical engagement with the era of personalised media consumption currently being shaped through digital technologies.
Students will be encouraged to evaluate the most recent developments in media technologies and to interrogate the various uses and practices that surround them from a wide-ranging sociological perspective. As such, the module introduces students to a broad range of social phenomena arising across the globe through the application and conceptualisation of digital technologies - from the sociology of the virtual body and cyborg sociology, to the rise of cybercrime and identity theft, from the utopian ideals of virtual democracy to the Orwellian nightmare of the surveillance society, from the free software movement to the hacker ethic and pirate politics.
Finally, all students will be expected to design and maintain a blog as part of their assessment. Though you can blog about anything you want, you will be encouraged to design a blog that concentrates on a particular subject and to produce content that is journalistic, for example: political blogs, health blogs, travel blogs, gardening blogs, fashion blogs, education blogs, music blogs, etc.
Lecture 1 week 2 {Introductions} Digital Britain
Lecture 2 week 3 {Continuity and Change} Digital Media and Social Theory
Lecture 3 week 4 {Digital Change} The Post-Industrial/Network Society
Lecture 4 week 5 {Digital Capitalism} The Digital Divide
Lecture 5 week 6 {Digital Surveillance} The Surveillance State
Lecture 6 week 7 {Digital Politics} CyberDemocracy
Lecture 7 -week 8 {Digital Politics} Alternative and Activist Digital Media
Lecture 8 week 9 {Digital Bodies} Cyberculture and Posthumanism
Lecture 9 week 10 {Digital Literacy} E-learning and Online risks
Lecture 10 week 11 {Summary Week} Essay surgeries
Lecture 11 week 16 {Introductions} Technology and Society SCOT Meets ANT
Lecture 12 week 17 {Continuity and Change} Whats New about New Media?
Lecture 13 week 18 {Digital Change} Convergence
Lecture 14 week 19 {Digital Capitalism} Copyright / Creativity / Commons
Lecture 15 week 20 {Digital Politics} The Hacker Ethic and Pirate Politics
Lecture 16 week 22 {Digital Surveillance} Software Sorting of Everyday Life
Lecture 17 week 23 {Digital Bodies} Cybernetics and the Informational Human
Lecture 18 week 24 {Digital Literacy} Interactivity / Interfaces / Gaming
Lecture 19 week 25 {Summary Week} Essay surgeries
No information available.
No information available.
Compulsory for all second year BA Media, Culture and Society Studies and BA Criminology and Media students
Available to second year students
A range of teaching and learning methods will be used, including one-hour weekly lectures, seminars and personal tutorials (as required). Lectures are used to introduce an overview of the key theoretical issues and debates. Seminars provide an opportunity to review the lecture material through illustrative readings, group discussions and activities. Personal tutorials will provide students with guidance about and feedback on assessed work and any other academic problems you are encountering on the module.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay 1 |
|
25% |
| Coursework |
Essay 2 |
|
25% |
| Practical |
Presentation |
|
25% |
| Practical |
Blog Assignment 3 |
|
25% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Michael Bailey, Dr James Allen-Robertson
Yes
Yes
No
Dr Lydia Martens
The University of Keele
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 69 hours, 18 (26.1%) hours available to students:
16 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
35 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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