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Our Digital Worlds (ARTS10003)
Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5Not available in 2023
To learn more, visit 2023 Course and subject delivery.
Overview
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This subject provides an introduction to the study of digital culture and society. It asks about the social and cultural effects of the digital revolution – how has it changed the ways we interact, our sense of place and the ways knowledge and understanding are created and shared? How has access to the digital world reshaped social inequalities? How have the ways we work, love, organise our relationships changed? How do we assess the balance of new freedoms and opportunities for participation as against new risks and disadvantages? At a more personal level – how do people negotiate digital identities and relationships, and new relations of public and private, global and local? How does the abundance of data change the ways people understand society and themselves? How do we assess the ethics, sustainability and social/cultural effects of different infrastructures and platforms? In the subject we will read recent scholarship on these questions and introduce and analyse concepts and issues such as: data literacy, digital activism, the attention economy, human-computer interaction, digital ethics, digital ecologies and economies, digital divides, the digital city, algorithms and algorithmic bias, digital story-telling, digitising Indigenous cultural materials and principles of data sovereignty. Teaching of these issues will involve thinking about and working on specific instances – such as a website or platform design, a database or simple visualisation tool.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- practice enhanced digital data literacy; and
- explain the social, cultural, economic and political effects of the digital revolution, including of how those effects are differently experienced by different groups; and
- describe how social inequalities are changing through digitisation and how social power relations are transforming, in part because people have different skills and resources to participate in the digital world; and
- critically discuss what data means in the humanities, social sciences and creative arts and the contemporary role and possibilities of data analysis; and
- critically discuss the ethical, political, legal and cultural issues about making cultural materials (including Indigenous cultural materials) public through digitisation; and
- evaluate the effects of the digital revolution on our place(s), including thinking locally, about Australia and the Asia Pacific.
Generic skills
- enhanced digital data literacy skills; and
- capacity to analyse and explain the social, cultural, economic and political effects of the digital revolution; and
- ability to evaluate what data means in the humanities and, social sciences; and
- Enhanced oral and written communication skills
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Individually graded contribution to critical groupwork analysis of a HASS digital project website/database/archive.
| Week 4 or 5 | 25% |
Essay or exhibit on an aspect of the social, cultural, economic and political effects of the digital revolution presented in digital or web form.
| Week 9 | 50% |
Final synoptic essay – response to topics/provocations provided in week 12
| During the examination period | 25% |
Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials and workshops in order to pass this subject. | Throughout the semester | N/A |
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Dates & times
Not available in 2023
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Specialisation (formal) Digital Studies Specialisation (formal) Digital Studies Minor Digital Studies - Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Design
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Animation)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Film and Television)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Music Theatre)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Screenwriting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art)
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024