Official course description:

Full info last published 15/11-19
Course info
Language:
English
ECTS points:
7.5
Course code:
BADIKUM1KU
Participants max:
60
Offered to guest students:
no
Offered to exchange students:
Offered as a single subject:
no
Programme
Level:
Bachelor
Programme:
BSc in Digital Design and Interactive Technologies
Staff
Course manager
Postdoc
Teacher
Head of Studies, Associate Professor
Teacher
Associate Professor
Course semester
Semester
Forår 2020
Start
27 January 2020
End
31 August 2020
Exam
Exam type
ordinær
Internal/External
ekstern censur
Grade Scale
7-trinsskala
Exam Language
GB
Abstract
The main outcome of the course is that students are equipped with a basic understanding of digital culture and cultural practices. A perspective is introduced where digital culture and its expressions through digital media platforms is viewed as a field of tension that both limits and enriches people’s possibilities for expression.
Description

Designing digital and interactive technologies builds on understanding users and their needs, visions and values. This understanding must be grounded in a broader knowledge of digital culture and current cultural practices, in particular when the design involves digital media. In this context culture can be understood and analysed in different ways. Instead of viewing culture as something fixed, the course acknowledges that culture and cultural forms are continuously developed in interplay with new media forms.

The course provides students with a basic understanding of digital culture and cultural practices, and enables them to carry out studies of user practices through a cultural lens.  They will be able to analyse how digital culture and its expressions through digital media platforms develops in an interplay between sociality and technology.

The course introduces different perspectives on the concept of culture and its analysis and discussions of what it means to live in a society where cultural expressions are increasingly mediated. Further, students are introduced to fundamental theories about the relation between communication and culture, social interaction and culture, identity and self-expression, and other relevant new understandings of culture and culture analysis including e.g. connectivity and virality. The course will also introduce different concrete internet-based cultures.

Throughout the course, fundamental problems and challenges in studying digital culture in practice will be discussed, building on the introduction provided in the course ‘Digital Design and Interactive Technologies – foundations’.

Formal prerequisites
Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

  • Explain what culture is and how culture develops in interaction with (digital) media forms
  • Describe different approaches to the study of culture in a digital context
  • Identify and apply methods for the study of digital culture and digital communication practices
  • Describe and apply theories of relevance to the understanding of digital cultures
  • Analyze cultural practices in connection with a concrete study of a self-selected case or digital phenomenon related to digital culture and media use
  • Present and discuss the results of the study based on the chosen theory, method and own empirical observations
Learning activities

The lectures will include learning activities in the form of small exercises that actively engage the students in the teaching.
In the exercises, practical work will be done on data collection methods with emphasis on both quantitative and qualitative content analysis and interviews. In addition, peer-grading and training with academic writing will be part of the exercise work.

Alongside the lectures, the students on a group basis must choose a contemporary digital cultural phenomenon or practice as a basis for their empirical study (= a "case"). The selection must be based on a prior definition of a problem area and a relevant focus in relation to the course topics. In connection with the exercises, a simple research design is prepared for the case study. Subsequently, the findings of the case are presented at a mini-seminar where the students give each other active feedback. The case and study design must be described in the mandatory assignments placed during the course.

Course literature

There are no coursebooks for the course. Study material relevant for the course will be made available through LearnIT.

Student Activity Budget
Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student
  • Preparation for lectures and exercises: 20%
  • Lectures: 20%
  • Exercises: 20%
  • Assignments: 10%
  • Project work, supervision included: 15%
  • Exam with preparation: 10%
  • Other: 5%
Ordinary exam
Exam type:
C: Submission of written work, external (7-trinsskala)
Exam variation:
C: Submission of written work
Exam submission description:
The exam concerns the submission of an individual written assignment of 8-10 pages (max. 4500 words)

Time and date