Course summary

Taught by the Department of Sociology and the Department of Computer Science, this programme provides an understanding of social media and interactive technologies based upon the key role of social media in society, an understanding of the interaction between people and IT and the needs of the user and the ability to develop new interactive communications technologies in response to these needs. During the course you will: be introduced to the concept of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which covers all aspects of people's interactions with digital systems, focusing on user centred design (UCD); be introduced to relevant social and cultural theories and concepts, which underpin social understandings of contemporary social media; develop an understanding of how people use digital systems and the needs of the user; be taught the theories behind human psychology to understand the ways in which people interact with the technology around them; learn about the theoretical frameworks and methods associated with research into HCI and learn how to apply this knowledge to the practical problems associated with designing and improving interactive systems; develop the skills necessary to design and develop your own high quality, highly usable and accessible websites; learn to identify and analyse the key characteristics of contemporary new media such as Facebook and Twitter, gaining an in-depth understanding of the features of social media and how social media has impacted on society; investigate new methods of digital data analysis – from learning how the data is created to analysing the information and exploring the opportunities and challenges presented by the availability of these new data forms; you will develop the skills to design and develop research projects from conception to realisation.