Course syllabus autumn 2021
Course syllabus autumn 2021
Title
Media and Communication Studies: Data and Society
Swedish title
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap: Data och Samhälle
Course code
KK645A
Credits
15 credits
Grading scale
UA / Excellent (A), Very Good (B), Good (C), Satisfactory (D), Pass (E) or Fail (U)
Language of instruction
English
Decision-making body
Faculty of Culture and Society
Syllabus approval date
2019-04-03
Syllabus valid from
2019-09-02
Entry requirements
30 credits on advanced level in Media- and Communication Studies, Communication for Development or other Social Science discipline + English B.
Level
Advanced level
Main field
Media and Communications Science
Progression level
A1F
Progression level in relation to degree requirements
The course is included in the main field of Media and Communication Studies and can be included in a degree of Master in Media and Communication Studies.
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to provide advanced level analytical and theoretical insights into the complex relationship between data, processes of datafication and reconfigurations of society.
Course contents
The course primarily focuses on the role of data and processes of datafication in contemporary societies from the perspective of media and communication studies. The course allows students to choose between and develop deeper insights in specific thematic areas such as algorithmic cultures and everyday life and data mis-use and manipulation. Further, the course offers a hands-on introduction to practical tools for working with data visualisation and analytics.
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course the student shall:
- critically discuss and compare key theoretical perspectives and concepts of data, datafication and algorithms in relation to the field of media and communication studies
- demonstrate a deep understanding of role of data and processes datafication in reconfiguring contemporary societies in general and the media industries in particular.
- analyse the role and impact of data and datafication within a given empirical area.
- demonstrate the ability to communicate with clarity and concision in writing
- 5. demonstrate a basic understanding of tools for data analytics and data visualization techniques.
Learning activities
The learning activities consist of lectures, seminars and the students’ independent work with data-visualisation and analytics assignments using free data analytics software and web-based applications for visualising data. The results of these assignments are presented in an oral and visual presentation at the end of the course. Further, students produce a written paper in which they discuss and apply critical perspectives on data and datafication in the context of a selected thematic area.
Assessment
- Written paper on a selected thematic area 10 credits (LO 1-4)
- Data analytics and visualisation presentation (oral and visual) 5 credits (LO 3, 5)
The written paper (10 credits) is graded on the scale A-U and the data analytics and visualisation presentation (5 credits) is graded on the scale pass/U. In order to pass the course, students need to pass both assignments.
Course literature and other study material
Andrejevic M (2014) The big data divide. International Journal of Communication 8(1): 1673–1689. (p 16)
Arsenault, A. (2017) The datafication of media: Big data and the media industries. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, Vol. 13 Issue 1/2, p7-24. (17 p)
boyd danah and Crawford K (2012) Critical Questions for Big Data. Information, Communication & Society 15(5): 662–679. (p. 15)
Hintz, A., Dencik, L. and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2018). Digital citizenship in a datafied society. Cambridge: Polity Press. (p. 180) (available as e-book)
Kirk, Andy (2016) Data Visualisation. A Handbook for Data driven Design. London et al: Sage. (p. 337)
van Dijck J (2014) Datafication, dataism and dataveillance: Big data between scientific paradigm and ideology. Surveillance and Society 12(2): 197–208. (p. 11)
Schäfer and Es (2017) The Datafied Society: Studying Culture through Data. Amsterdam University Press
(272 p) (available as e-book)
Course evaluation
The University provides all students who are participating in, or have completed, a course to express their experiences and views on the course through a course evaluation which is organized at the end of the course. The university will collate the course evaluations and provide information about their results and any actions prompted by them. The results shall be made available to the students. (HF 1:14).
Interim rules
When a course is no longer given, or the contents have been radically changed, the student has the right to re-take the examination, which will be given twice during a one-year period, according to the syllabus which was valid at the time of registration.
Additional information
This is the English version of a Swedish syllabus