Digital Media and Society

The course provides an overview of the impact of the advent of digital media on society and its cultural, social, economic and political implications.  The increased power and speed of the Internet, in terms of its capacity to deliverand manipulate content, has enabled a new culture to emerge, the culture of convergence whereby individuals can deliver content and news with potentially the same capacity as traditional centralized information producers. Furthermore, the decentralized production leads to processes with rapid interactive feedbacks resulting in changes in the social behaviour when the information is consumed, repackaged and recombined with other sources. According to Manuel Castells and other scholars, digital communication networks are transforming society as a whole. The ‘network’ is becoming the predominant form of organization in advanced societies.  This is evident in business, in patterns of work, in identity and community, in politics and social movements. But what exactly is a ‘Network Society’?  And do we live in one? The course will critically engage with these developments and introduce some of the key debates and theoretical approaches concerning interactive digital applications and tools. We will investigate the implications of social technologies and new models of content production, discussing issues of identity, community, production and consumption, as well as campaigning and activism.