Course content

This course is about internet culture and how our lives are mediated through platforms, algorithms and artificial intelligens (AI). Through selected case studier, the course investigates online practises, communities and cultures. Examples of such cases are TikTok-memes, role play with chatbotts, influencers use of AI and multimodal fan cultures (the cases will vary from semester to semester, the mentioned topics are only illustrations). The goal is to strenghten your critical perspective on the present by increasing the understanding and knowledge for how digital infrastructure shape trends, self-understandings, politics and community.

At another level, the course sheds light on different internett visions; from internett as a democratizing force to internett as a waste of time, in order to show how technologies are shaped both technologically and culturally. By doing this, the course highlights technology (platforms, algorithms and AI) but also users and the medias narratives and interpretations of them.

The goal is to develop tools for understanding our mediated present, and critically evaluate which role digital technology has in the development of new expressions, identities and relations. The course has a special interest in internet phenomena that are rejected as trivial or meaningless. In addition, we study such phenomena from a users perspective and how users develop new and unexpected forms of interaction and creativity.

The approach to digital cultures is sociotechnical and combine perspectives from Science and technology studies (STS) with internet studies in order to show how technology and society shape each other.

Learning outcome

Students who complete this course have knowledge of:

• different narratives and visions related to the internet
• selected controversies and criticisms directed at Internet phenomena such as memes, influencers, fan culture & fan fiction, hashtag activism and anonymity.

Students who complete this course have skills in:

• analyzing historical and contemporary digitization processes
• contemporary digital cultures in a sociotechnical perspective
• critically evaluating the role of technological and societal changes related to digital technology in new Internet practices
• doing an independent analysis of digital cultures and articulate findings in the academic genre

Learning methods and activities

The course is organized as a net-based study based on video-lectures, literature and short assignments. In addition there will be a few digital seminars during the semester.

Obligatory activities: short tasks in DIGIT/teaching platform + one written assignment

Compulsory assignments

• Written assignment
• Tasks i DIGIT

Recommended previous knowledge

None

Required previous knowledge

None

Course materials

Will be given at the start of the course.