Description
Module Content
Topics will be tightly focused on the theories, issues, cases, and methodological questions of specific relevance to the study of digital culture. The core course provides a grounding in the major debates informing the field of digital anthropology and the key topical areas that digital anthropologists study. These range from the study of social media, data and algorithms through to the implications of digital technologies for fields ranging from family through commerce and the state. The practicals provide applied training in doing social research on digital practices and the place of digital technologies in people鈥檚 everyday lives and other anthropological research settings. In Term One, Students will be required to find a small 鈥渇ield鈥, where they will undertake repeated observations of digital activities. During the practical sessions we will plan the observations, analyse different aspects of the data collected, and design an online platform for presenting the results. The practicals are also intended to foster reflexivity and creative experimentation with anthropological modes of inquiry, analysis, and representation.
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Learning Outcomes
- To understand and be able to explain the key debates informing digital anthropology.
- To understand the main ethnographic topics of study in digital anthropology (e.g. social media, virtual worlds, digital protest, digital archives etc.) and to be able to explain the anthropological implications of these phenomena.
- To gain skills in a wide range of ethnographic and qualitative research skills oriented to the study of digital culture, including e.g. social media analysis, sensory ethnography, mapping.
- To develop the skills to creatively communicate ethnographic research findings to a non-specialist audience.
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Delivery Method
One 2 hour seminar per week and one 2 hour practical every other week.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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