The course, ‘The Digital Present: Global Practices’  [SM1] proposes to introduce students to digital media practices across the world, with the goal of understanding these media as embedded in social and cultural practice. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter may have users across the world, and comparable platforms may offer similar facilities (or affordances) in other countries (think of VKontakte in Russia or WeChat in China) , but how these media technologies are used, who uses them, what they are used for and what the place of the digital is in people’s lives is informed by local realities and can greatly vary between places. Questions we address across the sessions include the following:

• How do people locally make sense of and engage with an increasingly datafied society? How do they talk about digital technology and data and/or its role in their lives?
• How do people locally use digital platforms for artistic, political, and other creative purposes?
• How do these communication technologies connect different groups of people? What is their role in practices of sociality, political mobilisation or civic participation?
• What theories, concepts and methods are best suited to interpret global and local media/data practices, and their interplay?

Timetable

All lectures will take place on-campus and we assume you can be physically present during the scheduled hours. You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Registration

Registration is possible for second or higher year students participating in an Honours programme. The registration for the Honours courses will start on December 1, 10 am -  December 5, 11 pm, You can register through the online registration form that will appear on Honoursmodules IIS. (registration is NOT through SIS or GLASS).

Please note: There is no guarantee for placement if you register after 5 December, so make sure you register on time. You will hear which course(s) you are registered for before 20 december. For questions about registration, please contact us at Honours-iis@uva.nl.

More information