AMU3449 - Reading social media: Sociotechnological literacies - 2017

This unit looks at the influence of social media in the 21st century, and focuses on how key technologies require new literacies. It will explore the continuities with, and divergences from, previous media forms in terms of everyday practices, entertainment, politics, and market-related contexts.

The unit covers topics such as interactions of technology and society, the commercialisation of the internet, internet and politics, everyday uses of the internet, and the future of the internet. It draws upon material and case studies from the USA, Southeast Asia, and other relevant areas.

Upon successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:

1. Explain and demonstrate how social media influence human interactions;
2. Use different software for explaining and expressing ideas, concepts and arguments;
3. Work in a team to plan and execute a social media oriented research project;
4. Use relevant theories and concepts to critically assess the place of social media in society;
5. Contextualise and explain how mobile media relate to diverse global cultural, social, political, and economic contexts.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Dr Julian Hopkins

Communication

Communication, media and screen studies

Global studies in communication and media

Twelve credit points of second-year Arts units. It is highly recommended that students only take this unit after they have completed at least one cornerstone unit in the Communication major.