Social Media and Network Culture
Description
This course will examine "social media" from a cultural perspective, with a focus on networked communication in practices of everyday life and in the construction of social relationships and identities. We will work from an expansive definition of what constitutes "social media", considering social network sites, smartphone apps, and online games, among other technologies. The course will explore tools we can use to study the place of social media in culture, and specific themes of community, constructions of youth, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality, news and political activism, commercial uses and economic benefits. The course itself will involve communication in social media channels in addition to self-directed tasks and online discussion, thus we will be actively participating in the phenomena under study as we go.
Availability
On-Line from Callaghan
- Semester 2 - 2016
- Semester 2 - 2017
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
1. Critically analyze popular discourse on social media technologies.
2. Employ appropriate methodologies in the study of network cultures.
3. Critically evaluate the potential for social media technologies to facilitate the formation of identities, communities, activist movements, and consumer markets.
4. Describe and explain real-life experiences and observations of social media and network cultures.
Content
Course topics will be drawn from:
- Studying Social Media
- Forming Relationships and Community through Social Media
- Youth and Social Media
- User Generated Content
- Social Construction of Technology
- Marketing through Social Networks
- Online News and Social Media
- Transgression and Deception Online
And other relevant contemporary topics.
Assessment Items
Online Learning Activity: SOCIAL MEDIA EXERCISES
Online Learning Activity: PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE DISCUSSION
Written Assignment: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT
Contact Hours
On-Line from Callaghan
Online Activity
Online 1 hour(s) per Week for Full Term
Self-Directed Learning
Self-Directed 2 hour(s) per Week for Full Term