So, what are you studying Reedz?

This is perhaps the most asked question that I get next to “Where are you studying Reedz?” So I decided to answer the question with today’s post. I am also planning to post some of the more interesting stuff that I find in my readings for my dissertation. So for those of you who are interested in ICT (specifically e-government) from a socio-political persepctive, do stay tuned 🙂 But first things first, what exactly am I studying here kan? Well, read on…

The MA New Media and Society course is a one-year full time taught course. It aims to provide students with a critical knowledge of the historical development and key paradigm shifts in the study of media, culture and communication and with a comprehensive grounding in the theories and research necessary for studying, analysing, and understanding media and communication processes in both national and global contexts. The course provides extensive training in communication research, methodology and theory.

NEW MEDIA CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

This module offers a broad but in-depth introduction to theories of the new media. It covers approaches to understanding technology and its role in society. It explores theories such as the network society, information society and post-industrial capitalism. It compares new to mature media, and discusses concepts such as media convergence and multi-platform media. Finally, it considers the changes in everyday life introduced by the new media, and examines employment and work in the network society, as well as the role of new technologies in shaping selves and identities. Throughout the module, students will be exposed to important and critical works, and will be encouraged to think critically about the opportunities, potential and dangers of the new media.

RESEARCH METHODS AND MANAGEMENT

This module introduces students to the key research methods and approaches used in the study of media and communication processes. It reviews the development of methods, examines their application to the study of media and communication, and sets out the context and background to various research and theoretical traditions. Students get an opportunity to apply selected research methods in practice, and are introduced to the use of computers in social science data analysis.

GRADUATE SEMINAR: IDENTITIES AND BOUNDARIES

The graduate seminar and the assignment for it are focused on practical web research skills. The interactive sessions are designed to enable tutors and students to exchange perspectives on these skills and reflect on boundaries and identities in the context of globalization in the information age. The module explores multiple perspectives, which take account, for example, of questions of place, culture and gender, and the ways in which identities and boundaries are integral to critical understanding of globalization and communications. It includes discussion of how we think about the authoritative nature of different kinds of online information, and problems of reliability and validity confronted when undertaking web research, and ways of thinking about and tackling them.

NEW MEDIA CULTURES

This module adopts an applied approach to the new media. The module will look at changes in the practices of journalism through blogs and citizen journalism. It will cover the new and important changes in the construction of gendered and political identities in online media. In addition, the module looks as the changing patterns of production and consumption through reference to the online market, while also exploring the changing experiences of the “internet natives”, children and young people. It further looks at the way in which creative output has changed in an “age of digital reproduction”. At the same time, the new media have brought on new divisions and separations and along with them new antagonisms, which will also be explored in this module.

RESEARCH METHODS AND MANAGEMENT II

This module provides students with the ability to evaluate research findings, and shows in practical terms the potential and problems of different research methods. Questions of research policy, funding, organisation, design and management are discussed. A continuation of the Semester 1 module, the module involves further examination of research in practice.

TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE AND POWER: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

The Internet has prompted fresh thinking about the social implications of technological change. What kind of communications revolution does it herald and what are the conceptual tools we need to understand it? These are central questions addressed by the module, which examines how the interaction of technological and cultural processes helps to explain power in the global system. It explores the new realm of virtual politics and the complexities of cultural exchange in the contemporary media and services era. Assessments are linked to a broader discussion of processes of globalization and the role of technology within them.

THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

This module examines the nature of the digital economy, its virtual characteristics, and the ways in which these reshape the communications economy as a whole. Its context is a consideration of the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in social transformation. It includes an examination of the Internet environment and the major players within it, including corporations, governments and key civil society actors such as NGOs. Conglomeration developments in the commercial world concentrating on multi-media capacity are discussed. The module investigates the distinctions and linkages between profit-oriented and non-profit-oriented endeavours and the new political economy of the digital age. Focus is placed on different approaches to empowerment within the digital economy and questions of autonomy, creativity and connection in relation to the use of ICTs.