Digital Media Culture
Entry requirements
A second-class honours degree (2:2 or above) in any related subject.
Applications are reviewed on their individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.
Months of entry
January, October
Course content
This MA Digital Media Culture provides you with the crucial knowledge you need to analyse and comprehend today’s fast-evolving digital environments. It offers you critical thinking about digital culture enhanced by direct exposure to digital media software, technologies and design practices.
Why choose this course?
- It is one of the only MA degrees in the UK to combine academic rigour and scholarly consideration with the opportunity for hands-on training in digital media design and management.
- It is designed to prepare you for a career in digital media by offering you the opportunity to learn how new technologies are changing social, cultural and economic life.
What you will learn
On this MA Digital Media Culture you will acquire the research skills, approaches and methods that will allow you to understand current forms of digital culture, while also anticipating future developments in digital media. Together, we will explore the influence of digital media technologies on contemporary culture and consider how the growing spread of digital images and information have changed how we create and communicate. You will engage with the critical technology issues facing contemporary society and culture including:
- the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI)
- social media and the attention economy
- digital animation and gaming cultures
- the politics of big data and digital algorithms.
How you will learn
Learning on this course is via formal lectures, seminars and practical workshops to provide you with hands-on experience. We offer you targeted smaller class sizes and highly interactive teaching which make for an engaging learning experience.
This course focuses on digital media culture, but we also offer two interlinked MA Digital Media courses, one which focuses on management and one which focuses on design aspects. This means that you can tailor your degree to your career goals broadening your skills further with option modules relating to either management or design.
Highlights
- The unique combination of technical, management and conceptual skills will increase your chances of working in one of the most rapidly expanding sectors in the UK. The majority of jobs in the sector are located in London and the south-east, with Birkbeck uniquely positioned to take advantage of technology hubs such as East London's 'Silicon Roundabout'.
- We focus on teaching and research in film and media, journalism, arts policy and management, with the Birkbeck Interdisciplinary Research in Media and Culture, the Vasari Research Centre for Art and Technology and the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image (BIMI) as focal points of our research culture. BIMI has a rich programme of free screenings and film-related events, and also hosts the annual Essay Film Festival.
- We have state-of-the art cinema and exhibition spaces, all housed in a historic building that was a former home to key members of the Bloomsbury Group, including the author Virginia Woolf and the artist Vanessa Bell.
- Birkbeck was ranked as one of the top four universities in the UK for its Art and Design research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
- We offer a number of bursaries for postgraduate students.
On successfully graduating from this MA Digital Media Culture, you will have developed an array of important transferable skills, including:
- strong research skills
- an advanced critical ability in the use of theoretical perspectives
- facility and precision in the use of analytical tools
- digital design capabilities
- effective digital project development and management skills.
Graduates can pursue career paths in digital design, education and training. Possible professions include:
- digital project manager
- digital designer
- multimedia specialist
- digital consultant
- digital educator
- technology policy analyst.
MA Digital Media Culture graduates will be well positioned to pursue further academic study at PhD level, or work within digital media and design industries.
Some of our graduates from this course have gone on to be employed at the following organisations:
- The Ada Lovelace Institute for Research on AI and Society
- Clusta Social Media Platform
- Nissan
- King’s College London
- The NHS
- US/UK Fulbright Commission
- LeanLab Education Technology
We offer a comprehensive careers service - Careers and Enterprise - your career partner during your time at Birkbeck and beyond. At every stage of your career journey, we empower you to take ownership of your future, helping you to make the connection between your experience, education and future ambitions.
Information for international students
If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.
If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement, we offer pre-sessional English courses and foundation programmes to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.
Qualification, course duration and attendance options
- MA
- full time12 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
- part time24 months
- Campus-based learningis available for this qualification
Course contact details
- Name
- Student Advice Service
- studentadvice@bbk.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)20 3907 0700