Credit Points 10

Coordinator Erika Smith Opens in new window

Description This subject examines identity in a digitalising society. It asks questions such as: who are we becoming with digital technologies? How are digital experiences shaped by long standing social inequalities? Students learn about identities as the flows of data across formalised systems of governance and commerce, and as the ways we make ourselves in interactions with others in social media spaces. Pressing issues are explored such as online harm, privacy, surveillance, and human rights. Students reflect upon personal and professional digital identities, and reimagine digital technologies and social media for new possibilities of identity, equity and justice.

School Social Sciences

Discipline Sociology

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 4 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 1 subject

Equivalent Subjects BEHV 1009 Living Learning and Working on the Web

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the key issues and implications of digitalising lives 
2. Discuss the relationship between identities and social inequalities in digital spaces 
3. Connect personal identities to responsible social media practices
4. Develop social research skills for researching digital society. 
5. Apply social theories of digital identities, social media, and digital systems

Subject Content

1. Digital identities – what does it mean to be human in a digitalising society? Who are you in digital times?
2. Social theories of identity, inequality and technology 
3. Researching digital society 
4. Relational selves, communities and social action – what are people doing online and why? 
5. Respectful, ethical and productive interactions in digital spaces
6. Equitable technologies and design justice
7. Digital rights – safety, privacy, surveillance, control, ownership, and consent
8. Networked identities of employability in a digital economy
9. Reconciling professional and personal identity dilemmas across digital platforms
10. Towards sustainable, fair and just digital futures 

Special Requirements

Essential equipment

Teaching spaces with computer access.