IM904 Digital Methods
IM904
Digital Methods
20/30 (CORE) CATS - (10/15 ECTS)
30CAT - CORE FOR MA IN DIGITAL MEDIA AND CULTURE
TERM 2
In an era of platforms, apps, machine-learning and widespread datafication, texts, events, relations, images, and other cultural objects become 'knowable' through new digital methods. At the same time, today's digital infrastructures consist of their own distinct cultural forms or 'objects' (such as a hashtag, API, or emoji), which significantly transform or remediate pre-existing cultural formations. This module offers insight into these emerging societal and cultural entities, and their associated methodologies. We will examine a number of approaches and techniques to these new configurations for research that are relevant to the humanities and social sciences, including querying, network analysis, computational text and image analysis, among others. Sociology, science and technology studies (STS), political philosophy and media studies sit alongside cultural theory, computer science, vernacular subcultures and creative arts as the fields that such digital methods take inspiration from.
The module is open to students from all disciplines; no specific prior knowledge is required.
Module Convenor - Dr Tim Highfield
Assessment
For 20 CATS:
40% 1000-word methods diary; 60% 2000-word individual report on a digital methods project, based on a group project with formative group presentation.
For 30 CATS:
40% 1500-word methods diary; 3000-word individual report on a digital methods project, based on a group project with formative group presentation.
Students on the MA Digital Media and Culture must take the 30 CATS version of this course.
Indicative Syllabus
Week 1: Introducing Digital Methods
Week 2: Crawling, Scraping, Retrieving: The Web as Research Environment
Week 3: Operationalisation: From Query Design to Data Analysis
Week 4: Exploratory Data Visualisation
Week 5: Image Analysis and Media Visualisation
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Developing Digital Methods Research Projects
Week 8: Challenging Context: Digital Sociology and Situational Analytics
Week 9: Thinking Methodologically
Week 10. Digital Methods and Beyond
Learning Outcomes
- identify and analyse key methodological innovations that respond to the changing nature of research objects;
- reflect on the advanced debates across disciplines tackling new generations of methods dealing with digital change and to be able to creatively and independently evaluate and interpret existing scholarship and new methods;
- critically interpret and analyse new objects of research using advanced conceptual vocabulary and interdisciplinary innovative methods, both individually and in collaboration;
- produce independent research that practically applies some of the methods offered in the course of study, focusing on the new objects produced by digitization;
- demonstrate an ability for critical analysis and evaluation of current research and methodological innovation;
- demonstrate an ability to analyse new objects of research using interdisciplinary methodologies and new methods, individually and in groups;
- demonstrate an ability to formulate, plan, evaluate and conduct own independent research, making use of new and advances methods, some based on software applications or platforms.