Module SOC3130 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC3130: Digital Society
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module aims to:
- Explore the ways in which social contexts have shaped the development of information technology and networks, and vice versa
- Discuss key contemporary social issues related to the informatisation and datafication of society
- Enhance knowledge of the local and global processes, practices and interactions through which information technology, databases and networks are mobilised, operationalised, shaped by social contexts and shape them in turn
- Encourage critical and questioning attitudes about often hyped or overlooked socio-technical innovations
- Develop new skills in identifying opportunities for social change and elaborating strategies for seizing them
- Develop skills of team collaboration and organisation
- Improve employability with a combination of analytical and organisational skills in addition to the thematic knowledge acquired
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Understand key terms and concepts in social study of digital technology and information and digital sociology scholarship, and use them in an articulate and comprehensive way, orally and in writing 2. Critically reflect, evaluate and comprehensively contrast and compare the social issues and questions raised by the introduction of new digital technology and networks in everyday life, the workplace, and communities 3. Identify opportunities for social change and the key milestones and strategies to achieve change, developing possible paths of action |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Critically understand, apply and criticise theoretical arguments, frameworks and concepts from digital sociology and social studies of digital technology and information in the analysis of real-world issues and cases 5. Critically articulate how different groups, communities, organisations and individuals adopt and appropriate digital technology and networks, demonstrating a robust awareness of the contributions of different social actors to the development and diffusion of technology, and the direct and indirect social impacts |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. Analyse and draw conclusions from unstructured social scenarios and real-world cases 7. Demonstrate skills of critical and reflective thinking, and effective independent study and research 8. Plan, execute and write-up effective independent study and research 9. Collaborate with peers in a team and manage a team-based project |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Group project report plan | Plan 500 words | Written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Group project report | 30 | 2000 words | 1-9 | Written comments and marks |
Essay | 70 | 2000 words | 1-9 | Written comments and marks |
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 | ||||
0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Group project report | Group project report 2000 words (30%) | 1-9 | August/September Reassessment Period |
Essay | Essay 2000 words (70%) | 1-9 | August/September Reassessment Period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
- Beniger, J.R., 1986. The control revolution: Technological and economic origins of the information society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Floridi, L., 2014. Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford University Press, USA, Oxford.
- Lupton, D., 2014. Digital Sociology, 1st edition. ed. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon.
- Zuboff, S., 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.