- UCAS course code
- P390
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description
Further core units in subsequent years include: ‘Big Questions in the Digital World', ‘Researching with Digital Methods' (Y2) and ‘Digital Futures' (Final Year). These units will familiarise students with contemporary issues and debates concerning digital technology, broaden their digital skills, and inspire them to devise creative solutions to digital challenges. Students will also produce an independent research project (dissertation) in their final year of study.
Additionally, students will be able to take optional units to expand their knowledge and skills according to their interests. These additional units will be offered from within and beyond the Digital Media programme, expanding such topics as race; gender and sexuality; climate change; fake news and disinformation; activism and social change; visual communication; and mobility. There will also be an opportunity for students to undertake a year-long work placement.
Aims
The BA Digital Media, Culture and Society examines how the digital revolution is reshaping our world, leaving many benefitting from the changes, while others are becoming increasingly marginalised.
Those who enrol on the course will explore the ways digital developments have influenced our lives and gain the tools and inspiration to craft innovative solutions to digital challenges - putting them at the cutting edge of advancements in the modern world.
Teaching and learning
For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study. The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written or creative work, and collaborating with other students on projects.
Coursework and assessment
You will use cutting-edge digital software to make sense of digital transformations, interrogate our increasingly datafied cultural records, and offer creative answers to burning social and cultural questions.
Performance will be evaluated through a variety of traditional and creative assessments, including essays, reports, presentations, policy briefs, and digital creative projects alongside undertaking a dissertation project in your final year.
Course content for year 1
In your first year, you'll start by learning the basics of digital media from critical, inclusive, and interdisciplinary perspectives. You'll understand how digital media fits into a global context. As you move into your second and final years, you can dive deeper into specific topics of interest through optional modules.
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Researching in the Digital Age I | DIGI10041 | 20 | Mandatory |
Researching in the Digital Age II | DIGI10042 | 20 | Mandatory |
Thinking Digital Media | DIGI10051 | 20 | Mandatory |
Histories of Data | DIGI10082 | 20 | Mandatory |
Decoding Inequality: Reimagining Digital Culture | DIGI10031 | 20 | Optional |
Digital Dissidents | DIGI10062 | 20 | Optional |
Fake Media | DIGI10072 | 20 | Optional |
Arts and Socio-economic Development | SALC10402 | 20 | Optional |
Visualising Information: Uses and Abuses of Data | UCIL20421 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 2
Students will be able to identify and debate key arguments on how digital media affects culture and society while showing an in-depth understanding of particular subjects of interest. With the knowledge gained, you will apply advanced digital tools, methods and approaches to a broad range of topics.
You will also prepare for a placement year, should you wish to take that option, where you can put your skills and knowledge into practice in industry.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Big Questions in the Digital World | DIGI20041 | 20 | Mandatory |
Researching with Digital Methods | DIGI20082 | 20 | Mandatory |
Managing Festivals and Events | AHCP20042 | 20 | Optional |
Feminist and Queer Perspectives on Digital Media | DIGI20051 | 20 | Optional |
Digital Manchester | DIGI20062 | 20 | Optional |
Race and Digital Technology | DIGI20072 | 20 | Optional |
Digital Ways of Seeing: Theory and Practice | DIGI24232 | 20 | Optional |
Archiving Culture | SALC20031 | 20 | Optional |
Visualising Information: Uses and Abuses of Data | UCIL20421 | 20 | Optional |
Science, Technology and Democracy | UCIL24151 | 20 | Optional |
Course content for year 3
Your optional placement year will be in a digital media or technology-related organisation, where you will apply program knowledge and skills in real-world situations and gain insights into program topics. Organisations could include those within the entertainment industry, social media, journalism, or within the public sector.
This offers valuable work experience and a chance to showcase communication, collaboration, and leadership skills in a professional setting.
You will be able to apply key theories to real-world situations, including an independent research project, whilst you'll utilise your skills in diverse contexts through creative, independent, and collaborative projects.
If you choose to undertake a placement year this would take place in Year 3 with the below units studied, upon your return, in a fourth year and, if not, you'd undertake these units during Year 3 without a placement
Course units for year 3
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Dissertation | DIGI30000 | 40 | Mandatory |
Digital Futures | DIGI30051 | 20 | Mandatory |
Commercialising play: video and online gaming in theory and practice | AHCP30122 | 20 | Optional |
Spatial History: Mapping the Past | DIGI30022 | 20 | Optional |
Living in the Mobile World | DIGI30061 | 20 | Optional |
Media Matters: Material and Environmental Consequences | DIGI30071 | 20 | Optional |
Climate Change and Society | UCIL33501 | 20 | Optional |