Course summary
The MA in Digital Media is unique in its combination of practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary media and technology. This established and exciting degree is designed to help you understand digital transformations in media, culture and society and apply this understanding in practice, in the media and creative industries and in further research. You will be equipped with skills that can be applied to current and future developments in digital media, social media, computing and other aspects of technology. The MA in Digital Media educates aspiring media practitioners and academics as well as early and mid-career professionals who seek to reflect on their roles in a structured and stimulating learning environment designed to give all students up-to-the-minute knowledge of digital media and the skills to apply that knowledge to future developments. This programme offers three pathways:
- Pathway 1 is a theory programme where you learn about developments in digital media and technology. This pathway draws on media theory, critical theory, continental philosophy, science and technology studies, gender studies, critical race studies, the posthumanities, software studies and cultural studies to diagnose our present digital condition.
- Pathway 2 (Image Making) is a theory and practice programme. Alongside engaging with digital media theory you will work with one or more of the following – animation, photography, video and other forms of moving image – to create installations, apps and single/multi-screen work that is responsive to a continually changing, and conceptually understood, digital landscape.
- Pathway 3 (Critical Computing) is a theory and practice programme where you will interrogate technical objects through critically learning a technical subject and by collectively criticising the results and processes involved – for example, by studying the racialisation of algorithms or exploring non-proprietary databases, operating systems, software licensing, programming, networking and open hardware in the shape of physical computing.
- the history, sociology and philosophy of digital media
- the application of critical conceptual skills to specialist areas and future forms of media
- creative skills in image making (photography, video, animation, graphic art), and critical computing
Modules
Compulsory modules: Digital Media: Critical Perspectives 30 credits Additional compulsory modules are pathway-specific. A wide range of option modules is available each year. Programme structure The first compulsory core module, shared by all pathways, is Digital Media: Critical Perspectives and this is taught in a small workshop format in the Autumn term. This module functions as a foundation for the second core module and offers students a map of the key debates in digital media. The module is taught in ten two-hour workshop sessions, and is supported by the provision of one-to-one tutorials. Then there is a cluster of three modules, all dealing with different aspects of digital media. It includes: Digital Culture: Critical Perspectives; Software Studies; and Photography and After. Pathway 1 (Theory) students must choose at least one of these three modules. Pathway 2 students must take Photography and After as a compulsory module. Pathway 3 students must take Software Studies as a compulsory module. Digital Culture: Critical Perspectives takes examples from science fiction, digital architecture, software and art to explore the possibility of the critique of technology today, at a time when intelligent machines cannot be seen as simply passive instruments but are rather performative of ideas, perceptions and actions. Software Studies combines approaches from the arts, humanities and social sciences with those drawn from computing in order to develop a creative and critical approach to the theories and practices of computation. Photography and After studies the ubiquity of the photographic medium today, while also exploring photography's kinship with other media as well as its transformation towards various post-photographic practices in which the maker and/or the audience also include nonhuman agents (CGI, photogrammetry, machine vision). Students are required to take options from the lists provided by the Department of Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies. Each student's options will be discussed with the programme convenor in order to ensure that the balance of subject-specific topics is appropriate for the individual concerned. Option modules are taught primarily through lectures, seminars and tutorials, and take place in the Autumn or Spring terms. All students are required to produce either a 12,000 word dissertation on a topic agreed by the student and supervisor, or a practice/theory project. The length of the practical element is dependent on the media and form used, and will be agreed on in advance with the supervisor. Students undertaking the practice/theory project will also be expected to submit a 3-4,000 word analysis of their practice which locates it within the theoretical debates explored in the MA as a whole. This essay may be presented as a separate document or as an integral part of the project depending on the nature of the project, and subject to agreement with both theory and practice supervisors. Programme outcomes The programme's subject specific learning outcomes require students to analyse and contextualise developments in digital media and technology with reference to key debates in the history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy of the media. Students who opt for one of the practice/theory pathways will also be required to produce material of publishable standard and to evaluate the ways in which theoretical and practical insights intersect. All students will develop a wide range of transferable qualities and skills necessary for employment in related or unrelated areas. These are described by the Quality Assurance Agency as: 'the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility, decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations, and the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development'. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Assessment method
Seen take-home paper; essays; dissertation or practice/theory project and other production work for Image Making and Critical Computing.
Entry requirements
You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. If you're applying to the practice pathway you'll also need to submit a portfolio of work. Further details are in the 'How to apply' section of our website. You might also be considered if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level. If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
No fee information has been provided for this course
Additional fee information
Unless otherwise stated the annual fee for part-time programmes is half the full-time fee quoted.
Sponsorship information
£6,000 bursary available for UK students studying this course. Find out more about the Stationers' Postgraduate Bursary Scheme on our departmental awards page.
Provider information
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
Lewisham
SE14 6NW