Module description
Digital data from the web, online devices and social media platforms promise to provide unprecedented insights into social and cultural life. Yet many researchers and practitioners argue that the value of such data is limited if we cannot account for the role of digital devices and technologies in shaping and social and cultural life in particular ways. How can we make sense of links, likes and shares? How do platforms and algorithms play a role in mediating social and cultural phenomena? How can 'born digital' data be used to understand more about the interplay between digital technologies and digital cultures?
This module will provide a conceptual and practical introduction to digital methods for internet studies. Through a series of hands-on workshops students will work together to develop projects experimenting with digital methods to do research both with and about online devices and platforms. This is not just a practical, technical or computational task: online devices and platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Github and Wikipedia play a role in both shaping social and cultural life, as well as enabling particular ways of knowing it.
Drawing on leading research in internet studies and associated fields, the module will explore how to study this 'double aspect' of online devices through creatively repurposing data associated with objects such as likes, shares, retweets, hashtags, links, search engines and web archives. Digital data has become important in organising and knowing many areas of life, including through social media analytics, marketing and big data sources which are said to complement more established forms of knowledge about society, such as statistics, polls, surveys, interviews and ethnography.
On the one hand, this module will show students how to critically reflect on the specific affordances of natively digital methods, devices and data, including through mixed-methods research. On the other hand, while platforms and devices come with certain 'built in' methods for knowing about society and culture, students will learn how to creatively repurpose data for analytical scenarios other than those intended, including through 'critical analytics' and 'inventive methods'.
As well as understanding how to extract, repurpose and analyse data from a variety of online devices and platforms, the module will cover the use of data visualisation as a research technique. It will support students to collaboratively conceptualise, prototype, design and implement digital methods research projects which will be developed through the full-day 'data sprint' workshops with invited guests. As the proliferation of online devices and platforms continues to spark controversies and hybrid practices, this module will provide students with a solid grounding for making sense of these fast-changing developments in the contexts of both research and practice.
The module may take a "learning by doing" approach through group projects guided by module convenors (with possible input from external experts and guests from the field, as per the engaged research-led teaching approach to basing projects around a "real-life" problem or question). The assessment for this module is based on these group projects. This module may also use a flipped classroom model enabling active student learning by working on projects with instructor support and an accompanying package of materials. Materials to support flipped learning would typically include bespoke worksheets, video tutorials, "how-to" articles, datasets, tools, shared working spaces and forums for learning outside the classroom.
With the flipped learning model, classroom time is typically dedicated to deep, collaborative work on project development with instructor support in a "data sprint" format. Prior to class students would normally be expected to watch video lectures, do readings, learn how to use software tools and implement research protocols with the help of software tool tutorials and worksheets, as well as to progress with their research projects. Time in class would typically be dedicated to hands-on work on group projects with support from module convenors and possibly other guest experts. The individual learning activities normally expected prior to each class are essential for students to be able to make progress on their projects during class and for student success on this module. In the final seminar students typically present the preliminary outcomes of their projects, with opportunities for formative feedback ahead of finalising and submitting the projects for summative assessment at the end of the module.
Depending on the topic or projects chosen there may be opportunities for students to publish their work in collaboration with external collaborators such as media organisations or civil society initiatives, which could contribute to their professional portfolios and profiles.
Educational aims & objectives
This module will provide a conceptual and practical introduction to digital methods for internet studies. Drawing on leading research from digital sociology, digital culture, internet studies, platform studies and associated fields, it will show students how to collaboratively design and implement studies with natively digital devices, methods and data. Using a combination of tools, scripts and scrapers, the module will show students how to critically and creatively repurpose digital objects - including hyperlinks, hashtags, web archives, search results, web trackers - for the purposes of social and cultural research.
Through a combination of hands-on experimentation and engagements with leading theoretical texts from internet studies, students will develop capacities for ethically and reflexively working with data from a wide variety of online platforms and devices, such as Amazon, App Stores, Facebook, Github, Google Search, Instagram, Spotify, Tumblr, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and other platforms.
The module will provide a solid grounding for pursuing further graduate studies, as well as equipping students with the resources to become reflective practitioners in emerging areas of digital work.