Course summary

The MSc Media and Communications (Data and Society) is a social science programme which offers a critical, year-long exploration of the significance of data and information within contemporary societies and communications. At a time when intensive data-gathering about online activity is central to both business models and to governments’ strategies for understanding their citizens, the programme’s theoretical perspective on datafication is highly relevant, allowing students to understand, evaluate and respond to the social and political contexts of data production and analytics. You will also consider the cultural aspects of the role of data within everyday life. The programme provides students with the resources to understand the wider implications of a social shift towards data. In comparison to data science programmes, this programme will also teach students skills in understanding how data processes can be constructed, managed and renewed to fulfil social and civic ends, identifying the ethical questions raised by data’s growing role in communication and social processes and what approaches might resolve them, and understanding the significance of data-collection processes and data governance.