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  6. PI3579: Digital Politics: Political Communication in the Internet Age(s)

PI3579: DIGITAL POLITICS: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE INTERNET AGE(S) (2020-2021)

Last modified: 05 Aug 2021 13:04


Course Overview

This course is about political communication - how media, politicians and citizens interact, and how parties run their election campaigns - in the digital age(s). Students will learn topics like how journalism is changing, who social media empower, whether echo chambers divide, how populists treat the media, who runs campaigns, how parties target citizens, and whether digital media jeopardise democracy. These themes are explored through cases from the UK and US, but also from across the globe.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 3
Term Second Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Daniel Paget

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

What other courses must be taken with this course?

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

  • PI3079 Digital Politics: Political Communication in the Internet Age(S) (Passed)

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

This course is about political communication; it concerns how people communicate about politics. Specifically it is about contemporary political communication. This in turn means that it is about political communication in digital times. Digital technologies have wrought numerous changes in political communication. Students will explore those changes and evaluate whether they have precipitated (another) crisis in democratic political communication.

 

This course is designed to enable students to explore digital politics first-hand, using primary materials. Activities are incorporated throughout the course that guide students to explore variety in newspapers, new online news platforms, social media platforms, and election campaign content, among other things.

 

You may especially like to take this course if you want to:

  • Learn how people get news in the US and UK (and elsewhere too!).
  • Understand how the social media you use, and the way you use them, are part of recent global changes.
  • Explore the media landscape in the UK and the US (and elsewhere too!).
  • Analyse how the news is produced.
  • Explore how the news has changed in your lifetime.
  • Analyse how political parties communicate.
  • Explore how election campaigns have changed in your lifetime.
  • Evaluate whether or not digital media transform political communication.
  • Evaluate debates about a crisis in democracy stemming from digital media.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Reflective Report

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks 30 Feedback Weeks 33

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Feedback

Reflection on netnographic observation of social media.

Short paragraph of written feedback.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Report: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks 33 Feedback Weeks 36

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Feedback

Short pararaph of written feedback.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Report: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 20
Assessment Weeks 28 Feedback Weeks 31

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Feedback

Short paragraph of written feedback.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 30
Assessment Weeks 34 Feedback Weeks 38

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Feedback

Essay on disruption and political communication.

Short paragraph of written feedback.

 Word Count 1500
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Resubmission of failed element.

Assessment Type Summative Weighting
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandUnderstand populism and disinformation communication methods and strategies.
ConceptualAnalyseAnalyse how production of ‘the news’ is shaped by norms; market-pressures; and interactions between journalists, political actors, citizens and platforms.
ConceptualEvaluateEvaluate whether and to what extent media segmentation, populism and disinformation constitute a crisis in democratic communication systems.
ConceptualAnalyseAnalyse how political parties communicate, and how this varies with the development of ICTs.
ConceptualEvaluateAnalyse to what extent and in what ways digital information communication technologies (ICTs) have empowered non-elite actors to communicate about politics.
 

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