Module SGIA3721: Digital Democracy

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3721: Digital Democracy

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The module provides an introduction to research on how digital technologies influence politics;
• The module gives students the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills learned in their second- and third-year modules;
• The course further trains students in quantitative methods by including training sessions on quantitative text analysis;
• The course encourages students to critically assess existing research.

Content

• The module will examine the influence of digital technologies, such as social media, on politics. It will also discuss the risks and opportunities of the digitalisation;
• Indicative topics include:
• Campaigns and political communication.
• Mobilisation and political participation.
• Political protest.
• Polarisation.
• Online hate speech.
• Fake news and disinformation.
• E-government and smart government.
• The course will cover seminal contributions as well as cutting-edge-research. It will examine theories and their empirical tests.
• The course also provides training in quantitative text analysis using R.

Learning Outcomes

• Through the module students will gain an understanding of:
• Knowledge of an emerging research field in political science;
• Understanding of how digital technologies influence politics;
• Knowledge of datasets and sources on digital democracy;
• Understanding of the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation.

• Students will also develop some subject specific skills, such as:
• Advanced analytical skills;
• Identify and analyse advanced literature in the field;
• Critical engagement with theories and empirical studies;
• Ability to extract hypotheses from theoretical debates and to implement an empirical test;
• Develop the ability to independently manage a research project.

• Students will also develop some important key skills, suitable for underpinning study at this and subsequent levels, such as:
• Critically assess evidence and arguments;
• Effective oral and written communication of research;
• Giving feedback to peers;
• Ability to collect data from a social media platform;
• Ability to implement an analysis of social media data;
• Programming skills in R.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching and learning are through a series of 2-hour seminars.
• Formative assessment in the form of an overview and presentation allows students practice in developing their skills in formulating a coherent and logically consistent proposal ahead of the summative assessments.
• The seminars will be instructor-directed and will include a discussion of the readings focusing on the research design and methods.
• The module also includes four computer classroom sessions, which will focus on quantitative text analysis using the statistical software R. These sessions will teach students how to collect, pre-process and analyse social media data.
• Summative assessment by a 5,000-word research project. In the project, students will analyse the social media activity of parliamentarians.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Outline of the research project, and 10-minute presentation.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University