Department of New Media and Communication

NMC 204 | Course Introduction and Application Information

Course Name

Digital Media Cultures

Code	Semester	Theory (hour/week)	Application/Lab (hour/week)	Local Credits	ECTS
NMC 204	Spring	2	2	3	6

Prerequisites	None
Course Language	English
Course Type	Required
Course Level	First Cycle
Mode of Delivery	face to face
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course	-
National Occupation Classification	-
Course Coordinator	Öğr. Gör. Dr. Sarphan Uzunoğlu
Course Lecturer(s)	-
Assistant(s)	-

Course Objectives	This course provides the students with the concepts and theories related to digital media technologies, along with the necessary skills to conduct basic research based on the uses of these technologies in everyday life.
Learning Outcomes	The students who succeeded in this course; Understand digital media and their indications within the society in a critical way, Discuss how communication technologies diffuse through a society, Elaborate on the effects of digital media use in political, economic, and cultural contexts, Demonstrate literacy skills relevant to the forms of digital media, Conduct basic research in the field of digital media.
Course Description	This course focuses on the issues related to digital media and its connections to social, political and cultural contexts. The course touches upon what is “new” and not new in media, the role of media technologies in daily life, the effects of content creation, the flow and distribution of information through platforms, as well as issues concerning big data. It elaborates on how the digital media ecosystem works, with a particular focus on the components of this ecosystem (users, content creators, media\ncompanies, etc). It discusses contemporary trends such as polarization, echo chambers and fake news.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

Course Category	Core Courses
	Major Area Courses	X
	Supportive Courses
	Media and Management Skills Courses
	Transferable Skill Courses

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week	Subjects	Related Preparation
1	Introduction: Defining new media and basic concepts	Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York University Press. This book introduces the concept of convergence culture, where media content flows across multiple platforms and audiences engage in participatory ways. Lister, M., et al. (2009). New Media: A Critical Introduction – Chapter on technological evolution. Manovich, How Media Became New, Language of New Media, 21-26.
2	New media and social life	Meshi, D., & Ellithorpe, M. E. (2021). Problematic social media use and social support received in real-life versus on social media: Associations with depression, anxiety and social isolation. Addictive Behaviors, 119, 106949. Rao, B. N., & Kalyani, V. (2022). A study on positive and negative effects of social media on society. Journal of Science & Technology (JST), 7(10), 46-54.
3	Political Economy of Digital Media	Varoufakis, Y. (2023). Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism? Random House. ISBN: 9781529194500 McChesney, R. W. (2013). Digital Disconnect – Chapter on ownership and economic implications.
4	Digital Identity and Self-Identification	Turkle, S. (2011). Life on the Screen. Simon and Schuster.
5	Digital habits and mental health	Gupta, M., & Sharma, A. (2021). Fear of missing out: A brief overview of origin, theoretical underpinnings and relationship with mental health. World journal of clinical cases, 9(19), 4881. Boer, M., Stevens, G. W., Finkenauer, C., de Looze, M. E., & van den Eijnden, R. J. (2021). Social media use intensity, social media use problems, and mental health among adolescents: Investigating directionality and mediating processes. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106645.
6	Digital media: A political battlefield	Sevin, E., & Uzunoğlu, S. (2017). Do foreigners count? Internationalization of presidential campaigns. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(3), 315-333. García-Orosa, B. (2021). Disinformation, social media, bots, and astroturfing: the fourth wave of digital democracy. Profesional de la información, 30(6).
7	Gaming Cultures and Virtual Worlds	De-Santis, A., & Morante, L. F. M. (2022). E-sports in the Entertainment Industry: Overview. Esports and the Media, 3-15. Torres-Toukoumidis, A. (2022). Esports and the Media: Challenges and Expectations in a Multi-screen Society (p. 135). Taylor & Francis. Kuss, D. J., Kristensen, A. M., Williams, A. J., & Lopez-Fernandez, O. (2022). To be or not to be a female gamer: A qualitative exploration of female gamer identity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1169.
8	Big data and society	boyd, & Crawford, Critical Questions for Big Data.
9	Midterm week
10	Meme Culture, Trolling and Digital Humor	Petrova, Y. (2021). Meme language, its impact on digital culture and collective thinking. In E3S Web of Conferences (Vol. 273, p. 11026). EDP Sciences. Owens, J. (2019). Post-authenticity and the ironic truths of meme culture. Post memes: Seizing the memes of production, 77-113. Demsar, V., Brace-Govan, J., Jack, G., & Sands, S. (2021). The social phenomenon of trolling: understanding the discourse and social practices of online provocation. Journal of Marketing Management, 37(11-12), 1058-1090. Sienkiewicz, M., & Marx, N. (2024). That's not funny: How the right makes comedy work for them. Univ of California Press.
11	Digital media activism and social movements	Gerbaudo, P. (2012). Tweets and the streets: Social media and contemporary activism. Pluto Press. Gerbaudo, P. (2019). The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy. Pluto Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv86dg2g
12	Surveillance Cultures and Privacy in the Digital Age	Snowden, E. (2019). Permanent Record: A Memoir of a Reluctant Whistleblower. Pan Macmillan. Bauman, Zygmunt, Bigo, Didier, Esteves, Paulo, Guild, Elspeth, Jabri, Vivienne, Lyon, David, and Walker, R. B. J. ”After Snowden: Rethinking the impact of surveillance”, International Political Sociology, 2014: 8:121–4
13	Digital Music, Remix and Copyright	Kraus, S., Kanbach, D. K., Krysta, P. M., Steinhoff, M. M., & Tomini, N. (2022). Facebook and the creation of the metaverse: radical business model innovation or incremental transformation?. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 28(9), 52-77.
14	Metaverse and virtual environments	Habib, G., Sharma, S., Ibrahim, S., Ahmad, I., Qureshi, S., & Ishfaq, M. (2022). Blockchain technology: benefits, challenges, applications, and integration of blockchain technology with cloud computing. Future Internet, 14(11), 341. Bai, Y., Shao, G., & Zhang, Z. (2022, July). An empirical analysis of the impact of NFT on the cultural industry. In 2022 2nd International Conference on Enterprise Management and Economic Development (ICEMED 2022) (pp. 1287-1297). Atlantis Press.
15	Review of the semester
16	Final week

Course Notes/Textbooks

Suggested Readings/Materials

Television: Technology and Cultural Form, Raymond Williams, Routledge, 9780415314565, 2003
The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media, Jose van Dijck, Oxford, 9780199970773, 2013
The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society, Manuel Castells, Oxford, 9780199255771, 2002
Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Nancy K. Baym, Polity, 9780745643311, 2010

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities	Number	Weigthing
Participation	1	10
Laboratory / Application	-	-
Field Work	-	-
Quizzes / Studio Critiques	-	-
Portfolio	-	-
Homework / Assignments	1	40
Presentation / Jury	-	-
Project	-	-
Seminar / Workshop	-	-
Oral Exams	-	-
Midterm	1	20
Final Exam	1	30
Total	4	100

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade	12	70
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade	1	30
Total	13	100

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities	Number	Duration (Hours)	Workload
Theoretical Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours)	16	2	32
Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: '.16.' x total hours)	16	2	32
Study Hours Out of Class	14	4	56
Field Work	-	-	-
Quizzes / Studio Critiques	-	-	-
Portfolio	-	-	-
Homework / Assignments	10	1	10
Presentation / Jury	-	-	-
Project	-	-	-
Seminar / Workshop	-	-	-
Oral Exam	-	-	-
Midterms	1	20	20
Final Exam	1	30	30
		Total	180

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	* Contribution Level
#	Program Competencies/Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
2	To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	X
3	To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.	-	-	-	-	-
4	To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.	-	-	-	-	-
5	To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.	-	-	X	-	-
6	To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
7	To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.	-	X	-	-	-
8	To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.	-	-	-	X	-
9	To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.	-	-	-	-	-
10	To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication.	-	-	-	-	-
11	To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).	-	-	-	-	-
12	To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.	-	-	-	-	-
13	To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.	-	-	-	-	-