52680 Digital Media Industries

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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Description

Focusing on social, political and economic transformations, this subject explores how contemporary media industries have been shaped and reshaped by the introduction of new technologies and the transnational media flows that result from the introduction of new business models. The subject offers a critical overview of media use, distribution and production through internet platforms and introduces students to contemporary scholarly analyses of technological innovations, media geographies and audiences. Students are directly engaged with a range of industry problems that have emerged due to the rapid pace of transformation across digital media industries. They explore the impact of digital media in transforming legacy industries and in catalysing the emergence of radically new industries and ways of doing business. Students gain a critical understanding of cutting-edge transformations across multiple sectors, from entertainment to social media and from government to commerce. They develop capacities for intercultural professional practice and career-readiness through engagement with a range of local and international case-studies.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

• Apply theoretically informed understandings of communication industries to independent and collaborative projects across a range of media (1.2)
• Employ appropriate research and inquiry skills to independently gather, organise and analyse information across diverse platforms (2.1)
• Act as reflexive critical thinkers and innovative creative practitioners who evaluate their own and others' work (2.2)
• Exemplify effective and appropriate communication in different communication industry contexts (6.1)

Teaching and learning strategies

Teaching strategies promote interactive, collaborative learning with a critical, independent but guided approach to foster exploration of the subject material in the context of contemporary industry developments. The weekly program includes student engagement with online pre-class learning materials, lectures, group discussions, seminars, workshops and drop-in sessions. These diverse learning activities give students the opportunity to expand upon selected themes and readings, to convey the theories and concepts relevant to the critical study of digital media industries and to make progress towards their assessment tasks. Self-paced activities and assessment-focused weeks enable students to develop the skills necessary for completion of practical aspects of assignments. Students are provided with formative feedback in class in the leadup to the linked A1, A2 and A3 tasks which are designed to flow into one another sequentially.

Content (topics)

Looking at the transformations which see media industry segments and formats converge, the subject examines the nature and extent to which legacy media industries are transformed by platformisation and automation. It engages with examples ranging from government, the private sector and civic/domestic/personal applications of emerging media and technology use.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Contribution to collaborative knowledge base

Assessment task 2: Essay Abstract

Assessment task 3: Critical Essay