New Media Theories: Thinkers, Debates, and Questions

FaculteitFaculty of Humanities

NiveauMaster

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

Upon completion of this course, students will have gained a thorough understanding of key new media theories and will be able to describe the explicit and implicit theoretical assumptions underlying various concepts. They will also learn to recognize how theoretical knowledge informs research practice by grounding it in the researcher’s core assumptions about how the world operates and guiding the choice of tools for studying new media phenomena. This knowledge will enable students to collaborate effectively in developing relevant and coherent conceptual frameworks for understanding complex phenomena. These skills are not only essential for success in this course but will also serve as a critical foundation for designing and executing thesis projects within this Master’s programme.

Content

In this course, students will explore cutting-edge issues, controversies and insights surrounding contemporary digital media forms, structures, practices, politics, and economies, with the aim of building a foundational understanding of core theories and concepts in the field of New Media and Digital Culture. Throughout the course, students will examine how different conceptual and positional lenses both highlight and obscure particular aspects of global phenomena. Working individually and in teams, students will experiment with “trying on” these lenses to analyze and contextualize a variety of digital phenomena and issues, including platforms and apps, key controversies, personal experiences, digital disruptions, and social life in datafied societies.

Additional information

This course is open only to students enrolled in the MA programme New Media & Digital Culture.

Career orientation:

As a predominantly theoretical module, this course will incorporate mostly case studies and debates from the academic working field in its curriculum; present-day cultural and social media phenomena and issues will act as 'objects to think with'.

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