Social media connects us across space and time, allowing us to find like-minded communities and participate creatively in public life as never before. We may often use social media without thinking much about the possible consequences. But there is a shadow side associated with social media use, which takes the form of hate speech, increased surveillance, lack of anonymity and questionable use of our data. What do we need to know to use social media spaces effectively, in a way that is safe and productive for all?
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There are 5 modules in this course
In the introductory module, we will examine the concepts of being social, of self-representation, online identity and publishing. We will also look at how the social media technologies intersect with public and private spheres as networked communication develops.
What's included
10 videos2 readings1 assignment4 discussion prompts
We examine who the users of social media are, how they use it and their motivations. We will also look at the difference between networks and communities. Through the lens of 'produsage' we will explore participatory culture and understand the motivations behind users contributing to cultural production.
What's included
8 videos2 readings1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
Organisations are often accused of exploiting their users and online community members when they participate in collaborative cultural production activities. Similarly, participants are also accused of ignoring reciprocal efforts in collective online arrangements for personal gain, or what has recently been described as 'hope labour' (Kuehn & Corrigan, 2013). In this module, we will explore the tensions that surround precarious labour models for the productuon and consumption of social media content. In particular we will look at the concepts of cultural production, institutions, cultural intermediation, creativity and art.
What's included
9 videos2 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt
Communication across social media platforms produces an enormous amount of data that can describe content, location, users, purchases, events and emotions, along with larger scale areas such as reactions to news and politics, integration with sporting events or information and knowledge exchange, Each of these instances provides an opportunity to understand both general patterns of large-scale communication alog with nuanced individual and niche communication spaces. This module provides the opportunity to identify this sort of data, how to access and collect it and interpret and display it to strategically target larger users and networks.
What's included
6 videos2 readings1 assignment1 peer review
Just because we can access social media doesn't mean that we should. In this module, you are asked to critically examine the use of social media and think about how you can manipulate the data in meaningful and beneficial ways compared with typical neo-liberal approaches. You are also encouraged to think about some of the not so obvious areas of social media data analytics, for example reconstructing potentially sensitive material, uncovering a dangerous conversation in social media, or exposjng users that may wish to remain incognito. Using social media data is tremendously rewarding, yet presents ethical challenges that many scholars are still grappling with.
What's included
6 videos1 reading1 assignment1 discussion prompt
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Recommended if you're interested in Governance and Society
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Coursera Project Network
Erasmus University Rotterdam
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