This course will focus on the cultural aspects of digital media in terms of perception, participation, organization, and production of communicative artefacts. The aim is to provide transdisciplinary critical skills and analytical tools to understand the different languages, codes, and registers that have marked the multiple paradigms of the aesthetic of digital culture. Students will be familiarised with central theories, concepts, and methodologies in the vast area of digital culture. The course will shift from the broader sense of digital culture and its historical developments to specific key themes and concepts.

Course Objectives
The aim of the course is to deepen the student's understanding of the conceptual basis of the aesthetics of digital culture, as well as developing their analytical and methodological skills. Different case studies will be analysed and discussed in class with particular attention to emerging models and design patterns. Students who successfully complete this course will:

- relate new media culture to a broader historical context;
- discuss different methodological approaches in the area of digital aesthetics and digital culture;
- have developed a critical perspective on the contents of different media and their aesthetics;
- apply the key concepts discussed and studied in class in relation to different empirical issues and cases.

Mode of Instruction
This course is organized as a combination of lectures and an "advanced seminar". The course will be split in three parts.

In the first part the course will establish a general introduction and understanding of digital culture and students will familiarize with different concepts and approaches (Lectures 1-4).
In part 2, distinctive aspects and specific media will be examined. Concrete examples will be analysed and studied.
In part 3, students will present in group the project analysis of specific assignments.
The second and third part run parallel.

Assessment for the Digital Culture part is based on:

Frequenters:

1. preparation of the reading assignments 
2. group presentations of an analysis of a specific assignment 
3. the final oral exam (2 books + topics discussed in class)

Non Frequenters:

Oral exam (4 books)

This book is mandatory ONLY for non frequenters

This book is mandatory ONLY for non frequenters