The Language of New Media 3301-KB2421
This advanced MA-level course equips students with provoked, research-led tools to explore how digital and mobile media profoundly reshape communication, culture and society. Drawing on cultural and media studies, narratology and ludology, social semiotics, media archaeology and platform/interface criticism, it offers an interdisciplinary vantage on the infrastructures, users, texts and industries of new media.
Students will engage in sustained critical inquiry into key phenomena such as platformisation, algorithmic governance and datafication; influencers and celebrity culture; participatory and fan cultures; transmedial and intermedial flows; remediation and media hybrids; immersive and game‐based interfaces; and global digital cultures beyond the Western centre. With an emphasis on research methods such as digital ethnography, multimodal discourse and software/interface critique, the course expects students to design and execute a short independent investigative project.
The pedagogy is active and collaborative: students co-shape case-studies and readings, engage in group work and peer-led mini-modules, and assume the role of analytical co-authors of the course itself. The overriding objective is to deepen how one understands, critically analyses and reflects upon digital media phenomena, and to sharpen awareness of how communication content, form, participants and power relations are reconfigured in the post-digital, platform-mediated era.
The range of subjects discussed (examples):
social media and platforms (platform capitalism, governance, content moderation),
algorithmic culture and datafication (curation, recommendation systems, algorithmic literacy),
AI and generative media (chatbots, image synthesis, computational creativity),
celebrities and influencers (platform labor, attention economy),
participatory culture and digital activism,
interactivity and immersion,
fandom cultures,
memes and virals,
transmediality,
remediation and media hybrids,
video games and ludology,
popular internet culture (cyberreality etc.),
surveillance capitalism and data ethics,
global and decolonial digital cultures.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge: the graduate has in-depth familiarity with:
advanced terminology, theory and research methods corresponding to the state of the art in the disciplines of literary studies and culture and region studies, in accordance with their chosen specialization (and educational path) (K_W01)
advanced principles of research design applied in literary studies and culture and religion studies, in particular the principles of method and tool selection in formulating research problems (K_W02)
concepts and principles concerning the protection of intellectual property and copyright (K_W04)
Abilities: the graduate is able to:
apply the advanced terminology, theories and research methods of literary studies and culture and religion studies to solve complex and original research problems in accordance with his/her chosen specialization (and educational path) (K_U01)
apply advanced principles of research design appropriate for literary studies and culture and religion studies, and in particular is able to:
- select appropriate sources, methods and tools
- critically analyze and synthesize the current state of research in the discipline
- interpret and present the results obtained
using advanced information and communication techniques (K_U02)
apply the concepts and principles of intellectual property protection and copyright law (K_U04)
use modern technology to acquire knowledge and communicate through a variety of communication channels and techniques (K_U07)
plan and organize individual and team work in order to achieve desired objectives effectively (K_U08)
Social competences: the graduate is ready to
critically appraise their knowledge and content obtained from various sources (K_K01)
recognize the importance of knowledge in solving cognitive and practical problems; consult experts when required (K_K02)
perform professional roles responsibly, including:
- set high standards of work ethics for themselves and for others
- cultivate the traditions and appreciate the achievements of one’s profession
- observe and develop professional ethics in accordance with their chosen specialization (and educational pathway) within English Studies (K_K05)
Assessment criteria
Assessment Methods:
Independent investigative research project (50%): students design and execute a small-scale digital ethnography, platform analysis, or multimodal discourse study of a chosen new media phenomenon.
Research proposal & literature review (20%): establishes theoretical positioning, methodology, engagement with contemporary scholarship.
Continuous assessment (20%): active participation in seminars, peer-led mini-modules, collaborative case-study development, group analytical exercises, process documentation (field notes, analytical memos).
Final presentation & peer discussion (10%): collaborative knowledge exchange and findings dissemination.
Assessment Criteria:
Theoretical sophistication (25%): engagement with platform studies, algorithmic culture theory, critical data studies; appropriate framework deployment.
Methodological rigour (25%): ethical research design, appropriate method selection (digital ethnography, interface critique), researcher reflexivity, acknowledgment of limitations.
Critical analysis (25%): interrogation of power relations, platform affordances, algorithmic logics; connects micro-observations to macro-structures.
Scholarly communication & collaboration (15%): clear argumentation, proper citation, effective multimodal integration; quality of seminar contributions and peer engagement.
Originality & critical awareness (10%): fresh insights, theoretical/practical implications, demonstrated intellectual growth throughout semester.
2 absences are allowed.
A re-take in an oral format during office hours.
Bibliography
Selected bibliography:
José van Dijck, Thomas Poell, Martijn de Waal – The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World (Oxford University Press, 2018)
Tarleton Gillespie – Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media (Yale University Press, 2018)
Taina Bucher – If… Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics (Oxford University Press, 2018)
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun – Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition (MIT Press, 2021)
Nick Couldry, Ulises A. Mejias – The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism (Stanford University Press, 2019)
Henry Jenkins, Mizuko Ito, danah boyd – Participatory Culture in a Networked Era (Polity Press, 2016)
Limor Shifman – Memes in Digital Culture (MIT Press, 2014)
Gunther Kress – Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication (Routledge, 2010)
Alexander R. Galloway & Eugene Thacker – The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (University of Minnesota Press, 2007)
Nanna Bonde Thylstrup – The Politics of Mass Digitization (MIT Press, 2019)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: