Module: Social Media:Structure, Practices&Application

Module Specifications..

Current Academic Year 2023 - 2024

Please note that this information is subject to change.

Module Title	Social Media:Structure, Practices&Application
Module Code	CM5003
School	School of Communications
Module Co-ordinator	Semester 1: Tetyana Lokot Semester 2: Tetyana Lokot Autumn: Tetyana Lokot
Module Teachers	Tetyana Lokot
NFQ level	9	Credit Rating	10
Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

None

Description

This module seeks to provide students with a set of tools to gauge social media practices. In part, the module will develop a theoretical awareness of the different affordances of specific social media within a polymedia or a hybrid media environment; in part, it will critically discuss various user practices and how they feed into beta versions of social media. And in a final part, students will contribute their own experience-based accounts of the different social media. These three parts will provide students with a template for critically assessing different practices.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the specificity of the different social media, and their role in a polymedia environment
2. Develop a set of appropriate criteria for assessing the various user practices
3. Critically evaluate the ways in which social media articulate technical characteristics (affordances) with user practices
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the involvement of different sets of actors in constructing social media
5. Evaluate the role played by dominant players, such as corporations, governments and policy makers in circumscribing social media uses.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	22	No Description
Online activity	25	No Description
Assignment Completion	185	Individual and group assignment completion
Independent Study	18	No Description
Total Workload: 250

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Social media in a complex media ecosystem
Hybrid media system; polymedia environment; media ecology; media practices;

Theories of Mediation
Understanding the role of the media, mediation (Silverstone), mediatization (Krotz) and media logic (Altheide and Snow). Sonia Livingstone and the mediation of everything.

Communicative Affordances of Technology
The concept of affordances; techno-social affordances; emerging affordance theories; understanding technology use in context

Algorithms
The nature of algorithms; algorithmic sociality; algorithmic accountability; algorithms, agency and power; algorithms and identity (Bucher)

Users and Engagement
Understanding social media uses and users; uses and gratification theory; gaming, gamification and play; user engagement

Policy and governance of social media
Governing social media platforms and use; key policy stakeholders and governance institutions; moderation, community standards and other policy tools; challenges of social media governance and regulation.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Course Work Breakdown
Assignment	Case Study Analysis: Deconstruct a specific social media campaign/event/presence	30%	Week 10
Assignment	Individual Assignment: Developing a social media use policy for an new video-based social media platform	30%	Week 12
Group assignment	Preparation of a group seminar and presentation on a particular social media platform	40%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Andrew Chadwick: 2017, The Hybrid Media System, Oxford University Press,
Altheide, D. L., & Snow, R. P.: 1979, Media Logic, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA,
Bolter J. D. and Grusin R. A.: 2000, Remediation, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA,
Hepp. A.: 2012, Cultures of Mediatization, Polity, Cambridge, MA,
Safiya Noble: 2018, Algorithms of Oppression, New York University Press,

Other Resources

38498, Book chapter, Bucher T and Helmond A, 2018, The Affordances of Social Media Platforms, Burgess J, Poell T, and Marwick A (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media, SAGE, http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2016/07/BucherHelmond_SocialMediaAffordances-preprint.pdf,

Programme or List of Programmes

GDSMC	Grad Dip in Social Media Communications
MSMC	MA in Social Media Communications

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