Module: CME5001-20 - Digital Cultures

Level: 5

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Charlie Tweed

Module Tutor Contact Details: c.tweed@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module will lead students through a critical and practical examination of digital cultures and identify how ideas of digital convergence and multiplatform storytelling are impacting on the way that we engage with digital content. The module will also develop upon the study of key debates and practices that students undertook at Level 4 on the Digital Practice module.

Digital Cultures will provide students with historical and cultural accounts of digital cultures, digital technologies and creative digital projects from a wide variety of contexts. The module aims to join theory to practice in the production of innovative and well researched practical works that harness new technologies and explore and critique their surrounding cultures.

The module will examine key areas of contemporary digital culture including digital histories and archaeologies, digital audiences and communities, non-linear storytelling, social networks, Web 2.0 and participation, vlogging cultures, pervasive media, VR and transmedia storytelling.

The module also covers a range of best practice methodologies for creating a digital artefact including: researching audiences, analysing and researching existing media, creating and designing multi-channel user experiences, interface design and prototyping, VR video and digital production tools.

Students will produce a well researched practice based response that employs new modes of digital creativity such as an I-Doc (interactive documentary), a vlogging channel, a VR 360 video, a transmedia multi-channel experience or an interactive fiction.

As a result students will explore their relationship with the digital and experiment with new ways of creating practice based works that reflect on their relationship with the digital world.

2. Outline syllabus:

• Digital Archaeologies and histories

• New modes of digital storytelling (I-Docs and fiction)

• Practice based research strategies (audiences, critique, inspirations and analysis)

• Transmedia storytelling (multi-platform)

• Social Media and Digital Communities

• Vlogging cultures

• Experience design and interfaces

• Virtual Realities and Simulation

• Digital production processes

3. Teaching and learning activities:

(i) Lectures - provide an overview of key histories and theories related to digital cultures as well as examples of a diverse range of practice based projects (from media art to I-DOCs, experimental experiences and new forms of filmmaking) and their critical examination.

(ii) Workshops and Seminars - develop upon the lectures and include a range of individual and group tasks where students will get the chance to develop their analytical, critical and practical skills. As they develop, individual and group projects these sessions turn into feedback sessions where students share their work with peers and engage in group crits and presentations.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Digital Proposal pitch presentation

• % Weighting: 50%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Digital Product and contextual report (2500 words)

• % Weighting: 50%