Handbook

In this unit we explore how social, games and mobile media shape the way we interact with each other. Massive tech platforms like Meta and Steam have become the new public space – where we express ourselves, communicate and play in ways that are both as old as time and also profoundly new and disruptive. In this unit we examine how social, games and mobile media have re-configured the way we relate to each other.

The unit begins by highlighting how interactive digital media serves a basic human function - the need to engage, display and compete. It then goes on to critically examine how various digital media affordances - including interactivity, transmedia storytelling, gamification, social media and participatory culture - engage those human needs.

The unit is structured around developing your own interactive media project, as a tool to reflect upon both the potentially harmful and positive aspects of digital technology. The unit attempts to engage you in the most positive aspect of social, games and mobile media – the potential to participate in building a better world.