New MA/MSc in Creating Social Media at Goldsmiths, London
Event Info
Description
MA/MSc IN CREATING SOCIAL MEDIA
What does social media look like after recent events in North Africa and the UK? What will you create? This unique theory/practice programme combines computing and cultural studies to provide people with the practical and critical skills to shape the future of social media. The MA/MSc is a collaborative theory/practice programme across the Department of Computing and the Centre for Cultural Studies, and is part of the newly launched Centre for Creative and Social Technologies.
Based on global examples, we will explore the technological and intellectual questions that have risen to prominence with the social web. We'll critique existing approaches and tools, and plan, develop, hack and implement ground-breaking applications and campaigns. We will not only analyse: we will create.
New social media platforms, at their best, develop new online forms of connecting, relating, sharing and competing. Effective and innovative social media creation, therefore, involves deep theoretical and practical knowledge of both software development and social processes. The MA/MSc will teach people how to develop and hack social media software, how social worlds operate, how software tools enable different forms of social practice, and how new social media projects can be launched successfully. Graduates will accelerate the impact of social media in their chosen field.
Participants will become proficient in
Computing skills in software development for new social media platforms, mashups, apps, and tools. This includes both coding and data skills, and a hacker approach
Theories of social processes and in methods to research them.
Adapting social media to a variety of technological contexts and to the needs of specific communities
Surfacing the assumptions and limitations embedded in software
Critically assessing contemporary discourses about social media and social change
Project managing social media ventures, and keeping users included at all stages
Creating social media interventions that address social processes in new ways.
Official web page: http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-creating-social-media/ - here you can also read about the modules (Digital Sandbox, Mediating the Social, Software Studies, Digital Research Methods, Internships, and so on).
Developer’s blog: http://macreatingsocialmedia.wordpress.com/ - comments and ideas WELCOME!
If you would like to find out more about the course or to apply please contact d.mcquillan [AT] gold.ac.uk and g.bachmann [AT] gold.ac.uk.
NB: The closing date for applications is 31st July 2011
