BA (Hons) Media and Communication

This module will encourage you to develop critical understanding of current debates about new media and their centrality in contemporary societies. You will be introduced to the key theories, issues and debates regarding the production, use and distribution of digital media. You will become familiar with key issues and ideas in new media theory and in the interrelationships between digital media, technologies, and societies. You will develop critical skills in analysing digital media and understanding their roles in the information society. The module will look at how these developments are related to social tensions by asking crucial questions about the rise and persistence of the digital divide. In this context, especial attention will be given to the issues of inequalities in accessing, using and getting advantages from new media. The module will also analyse how social media are changing and reshaping our social world. Such analytical thrust will rely on the use of case studies and examples as means to understand how new media are permeating our society and everyday life, transforming the way in which we think and act in a digital society, affecting the decision-making processes of the cultural and creative industries, the way key societal actors communicate, and our perception of crucial social issues such as surveillance/privacy, online identities and activism.

In this module you will consider where your strengths lie in the field of media (or your chosen post-graduation career path) and thus what profession, activity or further study would suit you. Research and investigation of current practice is at the core of the module. Your work will reflect current contemporary practice in the media (or your chosen profession) while taking an approach of curiosity, creativity and experimentation, showing understanding of both the requirements of roles and responsibilities in your chosen field and your own skills set.
This module guides you in the identification and successful completion of a work experience placement. The work placement or portfolio of visits totals a minimum of four weeks (20 days). The intention is that every student will gain experience of work placement in the media industry using skills taught on the course, learn to become part of the placement organisation team, thereby making a meaningful contribution wherever possible to the output. Via a series of workshops, you will also gain insight into a variety of employability skills, for example but not limited to, the writing of CVs and cover letters, the development of LinkedIn profiles and job interview techniques.
Your in-depth research skills will translate into polished final outputs, equipping you with knowledge of your chosen industry and a professional and employable skill set. You will realise a comprehensive and dynamic exit portfolio of work that demonstrates to a potential employer your employability and flexibility.

This module will provide a space to familiarize yourself with the case study as a tool for the investigation of social, economic, cultural, and technological phenomena connected with phenomena that reflect on the role of media in contemporary societies.

Whether your interests lie in how people from ethnic minorities or standards of beauty are represented in advertising, videogames or film, on how companies tap on influencers to market their products, or how Twitter is used by journalists to cover breaking news or by television viewers to discuss their favourite shows on TV, this module will offer you a mix of knowledge, reference materials and guidance to choose, plan, conduct, and write a case study for your assessment.

A key component of the module will involve the study of iconic case studies, such as The Disney Company’s evolution from a national animation workshop to a global media conglomerate, to Russia’s use of information agencies such as Sputnik International to deliver propaganda to audiences all over the world, and the BBC’s problematic use of the journalistic principle of balance. Lecturers delivering this module may vary their selection of case studies to reflect on the latest developments, ensuring they will be of interest to students enrolled.

The module will be a valuable experience to learn aspects of the research process you could apply for writing essays, under- and postgraduate dissertations, whilst providing you with skills you could apply in a variety of professions such as journalism, marketing, public relations, and policymaking. Part of the core knowledge and skills that you will be expected to develop for this module will involve you in familiarising yourself with the extensive array of Northumbria University’s digital resources. You will then be expected to use electronic repositories of data, reference, archive, and multimedia materials, such as LexisNexis, WaybackMachine, Box of Broadcasts, and EBSCO, among others, to research the original content required to develop your own case study.

The Media and Communication Project will develop and hone practical skills developed at Levels 4 and 5. Through practice and support from your allocated supervisor you will build upon the skills that you have learnt so far, as well as develop transferable skills that are industry facing and transferable to other career paths. The project involves engaging in project design, considering ethical issues, researching, organising one’s time, planning, synthesising ideas, analysing current media trends, expressing your ideas and findings in a professional fashion, and producing a final practical output in a medium of your choice that adheres to both academic and industry standards.

Following a case study approach, you will investigate the idea of event cultures in historical, conceptual and organisational terms. The module will explore how particular events (e.g. media festivals and award ceremonies) are developed, structured and organised. The aim is to consider how we, as scholars of film, media and culture, might conceptualise events and in so doing gain a clearer understanding of their dynamics, practices and their impact upon industry and society. In this way, the module will illustrate the key ways in which specific events have been framed in scholarship and how these ideas might begin to be applied in the real world. As such, the module encourages you to develop a critical response to filmic events and, in so doing, reflect upon their broader historical, cultural and socio-political significance. The lectures will introduce key concepts that will be explored in the seminars. The main part of each seminar will focus upon group tasks and discussion of the theme, specific event or set texts. Seminar discussions are also intended to develop your communication skills and your ability to develop and respond to ideas in a collaborative environment. You are expected to prepare for the sessions by studying the set text(s) for each week, and also by carrying out additional recommended reading/viewing (which will be indicated in the module guide and on the e–Learning Portal).

This module involves researching and writing an 8,000-10,000 word dissertation on a topic of your own choosing. The module offers you the opportunity to engage with a contemporary topic and a set of case studies that you are personally invested in. The learning materials for this module will guide you through the fundamental requirements of preparing and researching a dissertation. Our supervisory team will also share their research experiences and tips on overcoming research problems. You will also be assigned to a supervisor who will offer guidance on how to shape your particular idea into a sustained argument. As the culmination of your degree programme, the dissertation allows you demonstrate your individual engagement with your subject area, and to display the critical skills that you have developed while studying within the Media & Film subject group.

Through critical and theoretical study of gender, sex and sexualities across a wide range of media this module untangles the relationships of community, entertainment, identity, pleasure and media technologies. It explores key theoretical approaches to gender and sexuality and engages with the heated social, cultural and political debates over how gender, sex and sexuality ‘should be’ represented. We examine framings of masculinity and femininity, and explore gender beyond the binary, building on both developments in queer and transgender studies, as well as on the long history of different understandings of gender in cultures around the world. This module thus takes a broad and transnational approach to questions of gender, sexuality, media and human rights, and works to decolonise understandings of these concepts. Similarly, questions of sex and sexuality – recognised as more than effects or questions of biology – will be interrogated. Exploring ideas about, and attitudes to, gender and sexuality and the role(s) that media of various kinds have played in making meanings about intimate life students will examine contemporary media texts and the conceptual framings of ‘the sexualisation of culture’, alongside social media practices and experiences in order to investigate identity politics, sexual subcultures and theories of mediated representations and practices. Our analyses will trace the ways dominant discourses of sexuality from the past jostle for position in contemporary media particularly about gendered and 'normal' vs 'transgressive' sexualities. Gendered relations within media industries themselves are also explored. As we engage with the ways people have moved beyond ‘simple’ consumption of media, to become producers of their own representations via social media platforms, digital technologies and other media artefacts we also explore the possibilities for subverting traditional understandings of what it means to gendered and/or sexed in the 21st Century.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.