Digital spaces have become firmly integrated into contemporary culture and people’s lives. Video-mediated communication is now a routine form of professional interaction in business settings, education, healthcare, and other institutional domains. Social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram enable users to connect with each other, generate and share various kinds of content, and become members of virtual communities. The ever-increasing presence of diverse digital media in everyday life raises the question of how participants interact with each other, and how they establish social identities and relations, in different kinds of digitally-mediated environments, such as video-conferencing platforms, blogs, and social media. This course will examine these questions, with a focus on understanding how the technological design features of a platform shape participants’ interaction. Coursework will include discussing the required articles and a small study of digitally mediated interaction on a platform of the student’s choice.
The required texts will be available on Laulima or through Electronic Resources.