Life is being transformed by digital technologies - are you equipped to understand, to contribute to and indeed to make the changes happening around you? The MA in Digital Cultures will prepare you to understand the transformation in our society, identity, and culture; to develop digital literacies in using and in creating digital artefacts in a range of media and to provide innovative and creative leadership in the digital age.
The accelerating velocity of digital transformation: the explosion of social media since Facebook (2004); the widespread adoption of smartphones (2007) and tablets since 2010 - devices now outselling traditional PCs, demonstrate the digital revolution that is reshaping our society. These tool and platforms are enabling profound social and political changes from the Arab Spring to how we interact in our families and communities. These societal transformations raise new questions for the Arts and Social Sciences, and demand graduates who can not only effectively employ these tools, but more profoundly leverage them through critical appreciation of the profound ways they are transforming our everyday lives.
The UCC MA in Digital Cultures operates within and about the digital moment, developing knowledge, skills and critical awareness through praxis. The MA in Digital Cultures not only develops practical skills to flourish in the digital age, but also to explore the impact of the digital on culture, power and identity in society. The programme fosters new literacies for the contemporary world - of digital consumption, literacy of digital production, of digital creation. Most importantly, the MA in Digital Cultures considers the moral and ethical implications and social, cultural, political and economic impacts of technology on human organisation.
This MA encourages a truly transdisciplinary engagement that is creatively enriching for students within a scholarly atmosphere. We offer an unique interdisciplinary opportunity for participants in a distinctive synergy within Digital Cultures. The programme offers an introduction into how digital tools and methods can be used in research and it combines innovative elements of theory and practice in Digital Cultures.
The programme will provide a grounding in how digital tools can be used to capture social and cultural data sources in digital form, using standards-based tools (TEI, XML, SQL amongst others) to frame research questions, collaborate on research using social networking tools, and present results both in print and on the web using current standards-based presentation technologies. Students will be encouraged to and facilitated in the creation of digital artefacts individually and in teams. International engagement and participation is expected and encouraged – led by the teaching team.
The DC MA is geared towards introducing graduates to the use of appropriate digital tools to address research questions in their 'traditional' disciplines. It lays the foundations for work on capturing, reading and writing sources in digital form, and using them for analytic and creative work.
Why Choose This Course
If your career and interests drive you to engage with cutting edge concepts and tools to forge new knowledge and practices in the digital age, then this course will provide a fresh challenge. It will appeal to those interested in the performing arts, telecommunications, information technology, philosophy, law, language, literature, and education, and provide a structured perspective on contemporary digital culture. You will engage with a group of like-minded students in a framework designed to foster the skills of self-directed, life-long transformation and development for the 21st Century.
This course is provided by a diverse team experienced in teaching, development and research in the digital arts and humanities at every level from undergraduate to Phd.
This experience has been demonstrated and delivered using blended and online learning tools to foster student-centred, research-based learning.
It is the only online masters programme that engages with digital cultures in a critical manner.
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Course Practicalities
Students who successfully complete Part 1 (60 credits) may opt to exit the programme and be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Cultures.
Modules in the programme require students to work hands-on with current and emerging tools and interact with standards based ICT. This will include assessments requiring engagement with both theory and practice of inquiry in the digital age. It is expected that students will create digital research artefacts in the course of their research. Assessment may include practice and/or performance based elements where appropriate.