Digital Media and Creative Industries

The aims of this module are to introduce students to key critical debates relating to the economics of media and creative industries and their social, cultural and political implications.

The aim of this module is to equip you with knowledge of and competence with creative methods and practical skills for design as a future-making practice. We will develop your design skills to support critically conceptualisation and creative communication future scenarios relevant to contemporary sustainability discourses. The module will introduce you to different theories for thinking about the future including utopian and dystopian thought.

By familiarising you with practical design methods for creating immersive environments based on future narratives, and scenarios we will explore how design can be a strategic means of considering future sustainability issues.

By the end of this module you will have the skills and competences to engage in a range of professional contexts by using your design future-making skills. 

The aims of this module are to:

• Introduce students to the foundational concepts of data processing and their use in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
• Enable students to gain background knowledge necessary to understand and develop different algorithms in AI and Data analytics.

The aim of this module is to introduce and discuss promotional and public engagement strategies and tactics developed by private and public organizations across the world. The module will provide conceptual, contextual and practice-based education on promotional industries, cultures and practices under a perspective of integrated communication, meaning the strategic combination of resources from public relations, advertising and journalism.

Conceptual discussions will include issues such as persuasion, visibility, social mobilization, context blindness, perception and representation, public interest, among others. Students will engage in theoretical debates and practice-based learning in promotional and persuasion campaigns addressing diverse social groups and communities.

The combination of conceptual, contextual debates and practical exercises aims to prepare students to develop understanding of and skills in producing promotional strategies in different fields.

The aims of this module are to:

• Study the information management principles, practices and technologies in different organisations to manage rapidly expanding data assets for business intelligence while complying with data regulations.
• Provide the students with the fundamentals of Internet and communication systems to understand data management systems architecture.
• Introduce them to the important topics related to information management such as ethics, governance, storage, architecture, interoperability, quality, security and big data.

The aim of this module is to examine media representations of social identities with particular focus on gender, race, class and sexuality and its intersections. Combining key theories from critical theory, cultural studies, film, gender studies and communication studies, the module will explore processes and practices of production and re-production of social identities making emphasis on said productions on media, paying special attention to questions of racism, colonialism and capitalism.

The module focuses on developing understanding of foundational concepts from cultural studies, contemporary debates on design and culture, identity, gender and feminist studies relevant to strategic design. Key theoretical concepts of 'identity', 'socialisation' and 'representation' will be introduced through lectures and seminars in order to explore the complex interrelationships between identity, sociocultural contexts and strategic design.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the major issues related to users' engagement with digital media. The module examines the evolution of the interactions of audiences with digital media; characteristics of digital media markets; implications of new digital media platforms on the experience of audiences and the associated organisations. Case studies will also be presented.

The aims of this module are to:

• Introduce students to key concepts in sport sponsorship
• Develop an understanding of the nature of sport sponsorship.

The aims of this module are to:

• Develop an understanding of corporate responsibility as behavior by firms that focuses on recognition and minimization of negative externalities caused by firm activity
• Equip students with an understanding of the nature of the pressures and processes that lead companies to 1) formally express their responsibilities to stakeholders other than just shareholders, and 2) commit irresponsible actions
• Generate an awareness of the ways in which companies take on social and environmental responsibilities, and the nature and limitations of such responsibilities

The aims of this module are to:

• Provide students with an opportunity to be exposed to project-based teamwork in diverse settings (understood in this context as involving a range of multidisciplinary, multicultural and demographic elements in differing configurations), aiming to strengthen their cooperative and collaborative working skills and competence, while raising awareness and appreciation of diversity itself.
• Provide students with hands on experience of identifying, framing and resolving practice oriented and real-world based challenges and problems, using creativity, critical enquiry and appropriate tools to achieve valuable and relevant solutions.
• Support the development of students' ability to engage in critical enquiry and individual reflection, as well as to apply individual strengths and skills, building on their own educational backgrounds.
• Provide students with opportunities for networking with stakeholders, organisations and corporations, aiming to enhance the competence and skills needed to connect to relevant parties and build up future professional opportunities.

This module introduces the structures, features and professional practices of the UK and global Creative Industries. The module aims to explore a range of different media and creative industries from both professional and academic perspectives. Students will hear from and engage with practitioners and policy makers and consider different disciplinary and theoretical approaches to better understanding current developments in the Creative Industries.

The aims of this module are to:

• enable students to become familiar with a range of methodologies for the analysis of the structure, operation, outputs and uses of media, creative and cultural industries;
• enhance the acquisition of applied skills for research design, data collection and analysis applied to the media industries;
• enhance the acquisition of critical and analytical skills for assessing quality in media research, using appropriate quality assessment criteria and standards.

The aims of this module are to give the student the opportunity to study a subject, or research question in depth and to research the issues surrounding the subject or background to the problem.
The module will equip the student with the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding to embark on their individual research project and they will be guided through the three options available to them to complete their dissertation:

• A desk based research project that could be set by an organisation or could be a subject of the student's choice
• A project that involves collection of primary data from within an organisation or based on field research
• A full professional placement within an organisation during which time they will complete a project as part of their role in agreement with the organisation (subject to a suitable placement position being obtained)

Students will achieve a high level of understanding in the subject area and produce a written thesis or project report which will discuss this research in depth and with rigour.

The aims of this module are to equip students with a knowledge of the various types of intellectual property, searching intellectual property databases, the legal basis of intellectual property rights, the application process for obtaining intellectual property and its importance to the innovation process and the entrepreneur.

This module will consolidate knowledge on the global cultural and heritage industries and contemporary developments, with a focus on the integration and impacts of digital media. The module has the following key aims:

• Introduce students to the cultural and heritage industries in the UK and across the world and explore their structure and operation alongside their sociocultural, economic and political impact;
• Provide a critical, theoretically-informed analysis of how these industries are shaped and constrained in contemporary times by social, cultural and economic policy and by technological change;
• Introduce and consolidate knowledge on key concepts and theories in heritage and digital heritage studies, with application on three areas: (1) museums and GLAM institutions (Gallery, Libraries, Archives and Museums); 2) community and indigenous heritage; and (3) heritage tourism.
• Offer theoretical and methodological tools for examining the integration and effects of digital media in the production of cultural experiences, cultural participation and cultural learning;
• Develop understanding of and ability to use analytical and methodological tools for engaging with key issues and debates in contemporary heritage and digital heritage studies, from an interdisciplinary perspective.

The module introduces issues around media and social movements, by tracing the theoretical evolution of media and social movements, understanding media within broader social movements in historical processes rather than merely focusing on media technologies or impact media. The model seeks to cover topics on control of media systems on different parts of the world, alternative media practices, media ecologies, networks, and social media. Whilst focused on grassroots or community activism, it considers the relationship between media, protest and democracy. The module uses a series of case studies to understand how diverse groups harness media to articulate their political voice.

The aims of this module are to give the student the opportunity to study a subject, or research question in depth and to research the issues surrounding the subject or background to the problem.
The module will equip the student with the relevant skills, knowledge and understanding to embark on their individual research project and they will be guided through the three options available to them to complete their dissertation:

• A desk based research project that could be set by an organisation or could be a subject of the student's choice
• A project that involves collection of primary data from within an organisation or based on field research
• A full professional placement within an organisation during which time they will complete a project as part of their role in agreement with the organisation (subject to a suitable placement position being obtained)

Students will achieve a high level of understanding in the subject area and produce a written thesis or project report which will discuss this research in depth and with rigour.