This interdisciplinary course is one of four compulsory core units in the Bachelor of Arts (New Media Arts) degree, and is also a compulsory core unit in the Digital Media Major in the Bachelor of Visual Arts.

It introduces students to key concepts in new media theory and specifically focuses on the many exciting relationships that are possible between analytic theory and artistic practice. The course develops a framework for analysing a broad range of contemporary digital arts practice including digital sound and music, installation art, digital video and animation. It also explores ways in which contemporary everyday practices, such as SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging services) via mobile phone technology and the internet, offer new opportunities for artistic practice and new understandings of what it means to belong to a community in contemporary media cultures.

On satisfying requirements for this course, students will have the necessary skills to critically analyse a wide range of media texts.  While these skills will be based on knowledge derived from critical and cultural theory, this theory will be embedded within the social and artistic practices involved in using digital media.  Students will be able to write essays and orally present on a number of issues which are significant in the area of New Media Studies.

1x 500 words Tutorial Paper (20% ), 1x 15 minute Tutorial Presentation based on Tutorial Paper (10%), 1 x 1000 word Research Assignment (30%), 1 x 1500 word Essay (40%)

Available for students enrolled in the Faculty of Arts, or by permission with course convenor.

• Flew, Terry, New Media. An Introduction, 3rd Edn. Sth. Melbourne: OUP, 2008  
• Lister, Martin; Dovey, Jon; Giddings, Seth;  Grant, Iain; Kelly, Kieran; New Media: A Critical Introduction, London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
• Extra readings and reading lists will be posted on the course’s on-line teaching site during the course.

Online Journals: New Media and Society, Media Culture and Society