Module: CME5100-20 - Participatory Media

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Richard White

Module Tutor Contact Details: R.White2@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module explores the theory and practices of participatory arts and media, focussing on the latter. Henry Jenkins (2016) a key writer on participatory cultures notes that at a time of eroded public trust in core institutions and main stream media increasingly concentrated into the hands of a few conglomerates, ‘grass roots media’ is ‘being deployed as the tool by which to challenge the failed mechanisms of institutional politics’.

The module reviews this premise and explore its antecedents through:

• a wide ranging contextual account of participatory arts and media practices from intangible cultural heritage to access TV, community radio, web2.0 and citizen journalism

• a study of participatory creative practices in the context of community based media-making in the region

• critical conversations with a range of individuals, organisations and experiences in different social and cultural contexts

• real-world engagement with participatory media production

2. Outline syllabus:

Participatory cultures, arts forms, projects and approaches are examined using global, national, and local case studies; workshop sessions with practitioners, leading to a brief attachment with a local participatory media project.

The module opens with broad questions around ideas and practices of communication, participation, community and identity. Considering issues of representation, access and control in mainstream media, the module examines popular creative responses outside the mainstream to those factors. The module opens up a study of the range of participatory media forms, approaches and debates. Through hands on practice students observe and explore issues of access, facilitation, process and product

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Students learn from, and engage with, real-world projects and direct opportunities to experience and contribute to participatory media in action.

This module has a strong focus on experiential learning through outreach and application. A blend of lectures, seminars, case study workshops, visits and sessions with participatory media-makers, respond to a variety of learning styles and enable students to develop an in-depth understanding of key issues and established and emerging debates.

Students are supported to engage with a community-based participatory media project through an attachment with a producer organisation. Workshops and peer review sessions support students in situating the project. As a whole group students review this range of practices experienced. This will require research (for example, to set out the rationale and aims) and planning (for example, skills assessment and evaluation of tools and platforms available) in working towards a negotiated project outcome. Projects will be documented and evaluated.

Lectures component:

• History, context and development of relevant approaches;

• Examples from case studies, historical and current events;

Seminars component:

• Small group-based student activities (discussing examples, problems, etc.);

• Review, evaluation, and exploration of course reading materials;

• Class and group analysis of video clips, images, articles, practices, etc.;

• Class and group debate of media related issues and examples

Field Visits:

• Opportunities to visit relevant regional organisations and projects are encouraged and where possible included as a class activity.

Guest Speakers:

• Practitioner perspectives and experience provide an authentic voice and account

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Podcast/Transcript (2500 words approx)

• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Participatory Media Project portfolio (2500 words equivalent)

• % Weighting: 50%