Media and Culture (P00175)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : ACE-P-MC

This is an introduction to the issues that surround the emergence of digital design today. Seminar and lecture sessions cover topics that enable students to discuss the impact of digital technology from its immediate practical application to the long term redefinition of the design professions. The development of a broad social and psychological understanding of the nature and role of information, metaphor and interface will also form an important component of the course. Research methods will be covered in this course. Key texts by thinkers who have contributed new ideas and generated fresh debate about living and working in the digital age will be studied, which will provide the basis for focused discussions about how digital design is developing or could develop. Sessions will therefore be devoted to the major concepts and theoretical approaches which have a bearing on the practice of digital design, canvassing issues such as technological determinism, utopianism, technoromanticism, concepts of language, typology, space and the body informed by digital technology. The course will also incorporate lectures on the practical social, legal and cultural ramifications of digital media: usability, intellectual property and the popular media.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Architecture, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	13:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : 1 hour tutorial

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

A forward-thinking, global approach to design and the impact of technology. A more developed overview of the key philosophical ideas that have informed understanding of digital media. The ability to discuss project work in terms of recent theoretical ideas. The ability to be critical of digital technology and aware of its strengths and limitations. A re-conceptualisation of the student's own working method/aspirations. An appreciation of the issues of people-centred design and usability.

Assessment Information

3500 word essay on a theme drawn from the course. Topic to be discussed with teachers and decided by week 3. Abstract (1-2 pages) submitted week 5 (20% of marks). Final essay submitted week 14 (70% of marks). A weekly online quiz designed to test comprehension of the lecture content that will carry 1 mark per week if passed (10%)