New Media Cultures

Module code: MS7303

Module Outline

This module adopts an applied approach to the new media. It will examine more closely the specific cultures that have developed around the new media. Culture is here understood in the terms suggested by Raymond Williams: “We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of life--the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning--the special processes of discovery and creative effort.” (1958: 6). The module is therefore looking at the various new forms of commonalities that have evolved out of the new media, while also examining some of the transformations brought about in the ways of being and expressing oneself. It discusses changes and continuities across a variety of topics or themes: journalism, citizenship, identities, generations, health, gaming and so on. It further looks at the way in which creative output has changed in an ‘age of digital reproduction’. At the same time, the module will examine the ways in which new media have brought on new divisions and separations and along with them new antagonisms.