King's College London - Faculty of Arts & Humanities

MA in Digital Culture and Society

During this Digital Culture and Society MA, you’ll explore how digital developments around the world shape various socio-political and economic fields such as work, governance, identity, cultural communication, finance, industry, and many more.

You will learn to think critically from diverse perspectives and theories about changing industries, technologies, and cultures, making it the ideal training for future practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. And by researching markets and developing your own digital project, you’ll get to apply your learning and start building your portfolio.

Key benefits

• Gain an understanding of digital technologies’ role and impact on contemporary culture and society.
• Develop your practical skills through a range of group projects.
• Specialise your study with optional modules.
• Learn how to review, synthesise and integrate information and data for research and reporting purposes.
• Access additional support via the Writing Lab and Coding Lab.
• Join a Digital Humanities Department that’s the largest in the UK and a global leader in researching digital and culture.

Course essentials

You’ll begin this master’s in Digital Culture and Society with an introduction to how developments in digital technologies influence contemporary culture and society. You will discover how different digital technologies are being used to acquire and share both information and power, conduct your own research projects to consider the implications of this and review current critical and theoretical debates on this topic.

Your second core module will build upon your foundational understanding of digital culture and society by reviewing a new case study each week. We use digital services and apps from across the globe to explore real-world examples of digital culture in relation to areas such as mobility, consumption, finance, health, sexuality, humanitarianism, cities, games, and art. You’ll gain an insight into a range of applications, from social media, dating, and health apps to shopping ecosystems like Amazon, and platforms that help users understand travel and locations, like Google Maps.

Through the group practical research project, you’ll get to apply the theories you’ve learned and tackle real-world design challenges to develop and market your own digital product.

You’ll then get to choose from a broad range of optional modules to further tailor your digital culture and society studies. For example, you could choose to learn about AI and society, open culture, and how to curate and preserve digital culture. You could explore modules like digital entrepreneurship; maps, apps, and the GeoWeb; user-centered research and design; or digital media and marketing.

This Digital Culture and Society MA will culminate in a dissertation, where you’ll conduct your own research project to explore some aspects of digital technology. It’s a great opportunity to link your studies to your future career interests and examine something that truly fascinates you.

Throughout this master’s, you’ll get additional support from the Writing Lab. You’ll be invited to weekly group writing support sessions and additional lectures to improve your skills and access extra resources. You can also sign up for optional lessons from the Coding Lab, where you’ll learn basic programming skills from expert instructors.

Duration: One year full-time, two years part-time, September to September