MA Digital Media and Society
Cardiff, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 22,700 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas | for home: £11,700
Introduction
This course explores the role of new digital media in shaping and transforming society. It investigates how media audiences become producers, how citizen journalism and digital culture change established norms and practices, how social media and peer production affect politics and business and how technology is related to power and social change.
The emergence of new digital communication platforms has had significant impacts. Audiences are transforming into media producers; new business models are emerging; social media campaigns create new forms of politics; digital culture highlights practices of sharing and participation; and data collection and analytics affect an increasing part of our lives.
This offers new possibilities for digital citizens, but it also raises new questions regarding classic notions of privacy and freedom of expression, and it renders information and digital infrastructure a key resource.
MA Digital Media and Society addresses the current challenges of online communication and internet studies. It enables you to develop specialist knowledge in areas such as social media, big data, citizen journalism, digital culture, the creative industries, internet governance, and digital rights. It also provides a theoretical and methodological grounding in media and communication studies.
This course provides you with a thorough understanding of the current transformations and the analytical skills to investigate digital media in the context of social, political and economic change. We ask how online communication is shaped by users, states and businesses, and how our society is, in turn, affected by digital media.
This course draws on the strength and diversity of Cardiff University’s staff, giving you a unique opportunity to work with academics whose research explores issues such as citizen journalism, online activism, big data, internet surveillance, internet governance and digital rights.
You can get involved in our Research Group Digital Media and Society and thus become part of a dynamic research environment.
Why Study this Course
Explore the Digital Society
You will investigate online politics and internet regulation, digital culture and the digital economy, datafication and digital rights.
Active Research
You will develop your research project with renowned researchers from our Digital Media and Society Group and our Data Justice Lab.
Cardiff Central
You’ll be based in the heart of Cardiff’s vibrant media quarter in a purpose-built facility adjacent to the new BBC Cymru/Wales building.
Research Excellence
You will study in one of the UK’s leading schools for media studies research, classed by the Government as the 2nd best in the UK.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
We are committed to investing up to a total of £500,000 in this high-value competitive scholarship scheme to support UK students who are planning to start an eligible Master’s programme in 2024/25.
The Scholarships are each worth £3,000 and will be awarded in the form of a tuition fee discount.
Eligibility
UK students are eligible to apply for the Scholarship. You normally need to have achieved at least a 2.1 or equivalent in your first degree to be eligible. You need to apply to study at Cardiff University and be made an offer to study before your fee status can be confirmed.
Curriculum
This is a one-year full-time course, combining core and optional modules. Over the course duration you will study modules totalling 180 credits.
Core Modules for Year One
- Putting Research into Practice 1
- Putting Research into Practice 2
- Understanding Digital Media
- Debates and Concepts in Media and Communications
- Datafied Society
- Project Based Dissertation
Optional Modules for Year One
- Media Law
- Global Crisis Reporting
- Electoral Behaviour, Public Opinion and the Media
- Social Media and Politics
- Media and Political Understanding
- Public Relations, Offline and Online
- Digital Economy, Digital Labour
- In the Editor's Chair
- Reporting Business, Finance and Economics
- Communicating Causes
- Emerging Journalism
- Cultural Theory and Analysis
- Global Music Industries
- Media, Science and Health
- Short Form Video Production
- Gender, Sexuality and Digital Culture
How will I be Assessed?
You will be assessed through a range of formative and summative assessments throughout the course. The main method of assessment in this programme is coursework.
Program Outcome
What Skills Will I Practise and Develop?
In addition to a thorough understanding of media and communication studies, and specifically the current trends of online and digital media, you will acquire research skills that apply to academic study and other professions.
These include:
- Skills in content and discourse analysis
- Social network analysis
- Interviews and focus groups
- Relevant digital analytical tools
You will develop competence in undertaking rigorous analytical work, producing well-researched essays to deadlines, and engaging with key contemporary debates.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Graduates of MA Digital Media and Society are employed in a range of occupations, including the non-profit sector, digital business, online journalism, and regulatory institutions. They take on leading roles in social media campaigns, internet policy, human rights organisations, journalism, and creative industries.
As an academic course focusing on critical analysis, this program also provides a perfect starting point for PhD research and prepares you for careers in research institutions, both at university and other public or private institutions.
Program delivery
How will I be Taught?
You will be taught through a mixture of lectures and seminars, which complement the academic nature of the course.