Digital Media and Communication BA Honours

This is an introductory module that teaches you a range of basic multimedia production skills. The module is designed to prepare you for a media industry that increasingly expects young professionals to work across a range of platforms and formats. You'll learn and apply in practice the following main principles of creating digital content: Written text, working with information and online publishing platforms; designing digital and web layouts; visual communication; photography, graphics, illustration; audio and digital production; video production for various platforms. You'll learn how to create digital content in a variety of formats. 

The module is structured in four blocks of six weeks. You'll learn and apply in practice the following main principles (order may be changed): 

• Weeks 1-6 – Written text, working with information and online publishing platforms, designing digital and web layouts
• Weeks 7-12 – Visual communication, photography, graphics, illustration; Weeks 13-18 – Audio and digital production
• Weeks 19-24 – Video production for various platforms

There is an assessment at the end of each block that tests how well you learned and applied each group of skills. Three of the assessments are individual, and the video package is group work.

This module introduces you to the creative industries in which digital media skills are in demand. It provides an introduction to the role of digital media professionals in a range of creative industries, including journalism, radio, public relations, advertising, as well as in policy, consultancy, and postgraduate research. The module equips you with key entry-level skills specific to those professions, and with the knowledge and understanding to differentiate between those professions, enabling you to choose your course pathway in level 5. It culminates in a panel Q&A with course teams, alumni and external guests. Where possible, the module features guest speakers from industry, as well as simulated work environments such as a simulated newsroom.

This module introduces key debates concerning the social, political, economic and technological significance of the changing digital media industries. It aims to provide an understanding of the relationship between society and digital media. By exploring key concepts such as structure, agency, power, representation, and communication, this module will question how digital media shape our interactions and experiences, how they change institutions (both social and industrial), and what the effects of this are on the changing digital media landscape. You'll be equipped with knowledge and critical understanding of the key features of contemporary digital media environments.

This module examines the production of knowledge in digital media research. It introduces the relevance and use of research in the media and cultural industries and in academia, and looks at the pertinence, strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to research when applied to the study of media institutions, digital media users/audiences and texts. You'll be introduced to the main research traditions in media and communication studies, key theoretical and ethical issues underpinning research within both practical and academic realms, and conventions and styles in critical reading and academic writing. The module will enhance your practical skills in critical reading, critical thinking, academic writing, and research design.

This module provides an introduction to theories of narrative and a critical application of narrative theory to examples of storytelling in different media and professional contexts, evaluating and interrogating them from both academic and professional viewpoints. The module equips you with the tools, vocabulary and historical perspective required to engage critically with content creation across the spectrum of digital, still and moving image and audio texts. You'll analyse media content created in different formats, for various media outlets – from news stories and video documentaries to podcasts, social media feeds, PR campaigns, advertising, and television. You'll be encouraged to explore ways of applying the theoretical knowledge gained to your own storytelling work and media creation. The work you complete in this module will be directly linked to the production skills acquired in the core Year 1 module, Creating Digital Content.

The module provides a comprehensive introduction to the theories that have informed our thinking on media and communication. It covers a range of theoretical approaches in a loosely historical sequence, showing the development of theoretical reflection around the media and the interconnections between different ideas. Drawing on contemporary examples, the module encourages you to use these theoretical tools to reflect on current developments in media and communication. These may include, for instance, social media surveillance, the discourses and ideologies promoted by the news, radio and television, or the role of digital media in contemporary propaganda techniques.

This module is designed to prepare you for life after graduation and for working and building sustainable careers in the media business and creative industries. It helps you develop some basic career skills (eg, effective self-presentation, interview skills), with a view to helping you apply for a work placement at a media company. It also aims to build your understanding of the media as business, via a focus on media (television, radio, films, news and journalism, books, music and video games) as economic institutions, and above all on how these industries are being changed by technological innovation.

Conceiving of technology as a central, although by no means determinant, factor for explaining media industry change, the module draws on various traditions of scholarly enquiry to help you gain a critical understanding of how media industries are being affected by digital technologies, highlighting the continuities in economic and business logics as well as the transformations. You use the knowledge gained to develop a critical case of a media business where you would like to work, outlining the key challenges that the business faces, but also the key opportunities within it for media professionals, particularly new graduates.

This module provides a conceptual and practical understanding of the development, significance and contemporary uses of social media, and grounds these within histories of the internet and internet cultures. It encourages you to engage in both critical analysis and reflective practice in the networked digital media environment. You will critically engage with key ideas surrounding internet technologies and industries, and with the social and cultural dimensions of internet use in the social media environment.

This module builds on the core research module in year 1. It further explores the main research traditions in media and communication studies and applies a range of methods of data collection and analysis employed in social research, considering their respective strengths and weaknesses when applied to researching media institutions, users/audiences and texts. This module is designed to further develop your practical research skills, and will prepare you for the Dissertation module at Level 6.

This module introduces students to concepts of 3D user interfaces for interactive media. It covers essential topics including 3D modelling principles, methods and techniques, complex object creation, deformation and transformations, texture mapping, colour and lighting. It uses an industry-standard games engine to demonstrate 3D animation concepts, properties, controllers and scripting to create interactive media content. This is part of the Usability and Interaction and Games and Computer Graphics Development themes for Computer Science, but is open to all courses with no pre-requisite. Supported coursework path is the production of an interactive rich media product.

This module offers a critical exploration of the evolving role celebrities play in the media, public relations, advertising and wider contemporary culture.

In this module, you will learn various aspects of music radio broadcasting, based on the commercial radio sector. You'll develop skills in studio organisation and production, carrying out roles that mirror industry practice. You will build on your knowledge of music scheduling, and learn about key components of the radio show, including branding, imaging, monetisation of content, social media interaction and visualisation. You will be able to understand the ecology of music radio markets in the broader radio/audio landscape.

This module allows you to develop and test your multimedia skills in more demanding production tasks, and in particular to develop specialist skills in audio/video and online/future media technologies. The focus of the module is on creating multimedia for a mobile-first world. Whilst you can begin the module by learning more about traditional broadcast news, online audio and video and more general online content creation, you ultimately come together to work on multimedia stories and content optimised to work on mobile platforms. You investigate different ways to create multimedia news and features online and with new media technologies. You will learn to use social media more effectively, as a reporting tool, as a way to tell stories, break news and network with a community. You'll learn how to work in broadcast and online newsrooms, updating stories throughout the day and live-blogging breaking events. You will then finish by developing mobile-first content and exploring mobile storytelling approaches via news day assessments

This module helps you develop a critical understanding of the consumer as a key figure in capitalist society, by drawing on different analytical approaches including political economy, cultural studies and feminist theory. The module analyses themes such as choice, surveillance, resistance, consumption management, and self-policing. It aims to make sense of the function that promotional industries (advertising, marketing communications, PR) play within late capitalist democracy, and in the context of global and national crises (environmental, financial, social, political). It introduces you to key theoretical ideas from social and critical theory, political economy and political philosophy, and encourages you both to reflect on your personal and professional experience, and to apply ideas discussed in the module to real-world problems and examples. It aims to develop your ability to critique the function, practices and dominant narratives of promotional communication.

This module introduces you to the challenges of an increasingly complex world where design thinking and processes can contribute to more positive, inclusive and sustainable outcomes. This course encourages you to think critically about your circumstances and your responsibilities as communicators to serve the best interests of the future of our planet. As communicators and citizens, you must assume a greater role in rethinking, pursuing, creating and achieving smarter, more practical, and less wasteful approaches to our practical needs.

This module enables you to create a modern piece of interactive media in the form of a website, while also expanding your knowledge of the theories and practices common to the production of interactive media. Through definition and research, you will develop an exciting and unique website project concept, using creative technologies to produce a final professional product. The final prototype website will be developed using current industry digital tools.

This module gives you the opportunity to test and extend the skills and knowledge gained in previous years on the course by developing and working together on a live collaborative group project. The nature of the project will depend on students’ past experience and pathway on the course – it could be a pop-up radio station or a live news website, a YouTube channel or a promotional website with linked social media or a print magazine/social media presence, a public relations campaign strategy or a research communication project working with our Professors and Readers.

You'll also have the chance to work together across pathways and disciplines, and to develop your own briefs or to respond to live briefs from industry partners. As you work together, you'll learn how to develop ideas, identify gaps in the market and target audiences, research and develop editorial and business strategies, create content across a range of media platforms to tight deadlines, and research, engage with and develop their users. You'll also learn how to evaluate the success of their work against equivalent real-world professional campaigns/publications/sites/channels via the creation of a critical research report on the success of their project.

This module provides an opportunity for students to carry out a substantial piece of self-directed, original research, informed by a critical understanding of current theories and debates in the field, assisted by one-to-one supervision with a member of staff. The module is taught through a series of lectures as well as through workshops and seminars. In the second semester students are offered individual guidance by an allocated supervisor while they conduct research and write up their individual projects.

The aim of this module is to lay the theoretical and conceptual foundations for understanding and investigating the intersection of digital data and society. In the module, you will engage with key critical debates surrounding the rise of datafication – the tendency to turn many aspects of everyday life into data and how information is increasingly recognised as a new form of value. It introduces critical data studies and analyses a broad range of digital data practices, exploring how you shape and are shaped by socio-cultural, economic, and political factors. You'll be introduced to key concepts and theoretical frameworks from an interdisciplinary perspective, apply them to different contexts and case studies, and engage with those through a combination of lectures, interactive seminars and independent study. The assessment consists of a data project and a written assignment.

This module will support you in researching and planning your postgraduate employment journey, whether as a freelancer or by starting a small business in the media, creative, and related digital industries. Through the module, you will develop an awareness of commercial opportunities and learn how to focus your entrepreneurial skills on a chosen field – learning how to develop business ideas and how to present and pitch them effectively. You'll develop a plan to create a start-up business or become a freelancer, learning about personal branding, marketing, project management, budgeting, sustainability, and building an online presence along the way.

In this module, you'll begin to understand issues of communication in the context of contemporary advertising. Through case studies and assignments, you learn the importance of assessing and responding to consumer needs in the development of creative and effective advertising. Strong emphasis is placed on concept development, and you are introduced to the importance of marketing communication through answering a strategic brief in the form of a creative strategy. Typical assignments will include analogue print, digital content creation, moving image, and other media projects that utilise layout, typographic, and photographic skills. Course delivery includes lectures, one-on-one consultations and in-class critiques. All assignments require verbal and written presentations that include research and visual components.

This module introduces you to the knowledge, skills and techniques needed to be a specialist public relations professional and looks more generally at the role of specialist public relations. It builds on the general skills you have developed over the course, allowing you the chance to do more specialist work covering a particular sector. The module offers four specialist areas: Entertainment PR, Healthcare PR, Non-Profit PR, and Public Affairs. You choose one of the areas – with each allowing for further specialisation – for example, Healthcare, where you could focus on areas such as the NHS, pharmaceuticals, or policy; Entertainment, where you could work on projects related to sectors such as broadcasting, music, or film. You will learn about the dynamics and challenges of working in various sectors and be introduced to the different stakeholders and media with which specialist professionals interact. Additionally, you are expected to demonstrate a critical understanding of public relations practice and to develop a sophisticated grasp of trends and issues in your chosen sector.

This module enables you to gain a critical understanding of the main theories and debates on race, multiculturalism, representation, citizenship, and the political and social contexts of reporting on or discussing diversity. It builds on key concepts from social, political and media theory. Taking both a theoretical and historical approach, the module examines why certain groups in society were included in, or excluded from, the mainstream, demonised or praised, and what the role of institutions, opinion leaders, and media of all sorts was in these societal developments.

The module offers an innovative mix of theory and practice and not only looks at traditional and digital media but also other cultural forms (the syllabus may at times include campaigning, advertisements, film and museums), to discuss how various cultural products impact the understanding of diversity. Recent political developments and case studies will be discussed. The seminars primarily feature interactive and creative tasks that stimulate multi-perspective, problem-based learning. You will be assessed via practical media work as well as a more traditional academic essay.

This module is designed for those who wish to research and plan their post-graduate employment journey as a freelancer or by starting a small business in the media, creative, and related digital industries. Building on skills and knowledge developed throughout the course, this module gives you the chance to learn about the diverse ecologies of media business, in particular working on the innovative and creative digital sector, with specific reference to your own pathway in the degree. You will develop an awareness of commercial opportunities and how to focus your entrepreneurial skills in your chosen field – you will learn how to develop business ideas and how to present and pitch them effectively.

You will also learn about and incorporate key facets, including intellectual property rights, marketing, project management, budgeting, sustainability, and financial management. This will help to deepen your critical understanding of how the development of media industries is influenced by digital technologies and how these transformations create new opportunities for emerging businesses. You will apply the knowledge you have developed and the ideas you have generated to a cutting-edge business plan, which you will have the opportunity to present.

This module introduces theories of media audiences and the practical analysis of measuring audiences, using both qualitative (eg focus groups, observation and diaries) and quantitative methods. The module assesses key and critical concepts used in audience research, providing examples from the UK as well as Africa and the Middle East. The module encourages students to extend and test their knowledge individually and as part of groups, to a strict deadline, on practical audience projects for radio, public relations, news, television and social media. The transforming element is looked at in relation to new technologies, globalisation and identity politics. Overall, the module teaches the theoretical and practical issues and also how to write critical essays about transforming audiences, from different perspectives. Marks will be awarded for group work and for individual contributions.

This module develops advanced content creation skills by leveraging a range of production techniques, including the use of AI. Subject to the availability of specific technologies, you will learn skills in AI image, audio and/or video generation, and produce a piece of work that combines these new technologies with traditional audio storytelling techniques, such as feature, podcast or documentary making. To support the work, you'll be introduced to key critical debates surrounding the use of AI in creative media, examining the subject from both academic and professional perspectives. The aim is to produce compelling pieces of visualised audio content, enhanced by pioneering AI technologies, that showcase technical competency alongside a sustained creative and analytical engagement with the developing technologies.