The emergence of new digital communication platforms has had significant impacts. Audiences are transforming into media producers; new business models are emerging; social media campaigns create new forms of politics; digital culture highlights practices of sharing and participation; and data collection and analytics affect an increasing part of our lives.

This offers new possibilities for digital citizens, but it also raises new questions regarding classic notions of privacy and freedom of expression, and it renders information and digital infrastructure a key resource.

The MA Digital Media and Society addresses current challenges of online communication and internet studies. It enables you to develop specialist knowledge in areas such as social media, big data, citizen journalism, digital culture, the creative industries, internet governance, and digital rights. It also provides a theoretical and methodological grounding in media and communication studies.

This course provides you with a thorough understanding of the current transformations and with the analytical skills to investigate digital media in the context of social, political and economic change. We ask how online communication is shaped by users, states and businesses, and how our society is, in turn, affected by digital media.

This course draws on the strength and diversity of Cardiff University’s staff, giving you a unique opportunity to work with academics whose research explores issues such as citizen journalism, online activism, big data, internet surveillance, internet governance and digital rights.

You can get involved in our Research Group Digital Media and Society and thus become part of a dynamic research environment.

Please note this course focuses on academic research and does not provide extensive practical training.

Distinctive features

• Enables you to develop an in-depth understanding of digital media and their implications for the social, political, economic and cultural environment.
• Conveys specialist knowledge that addresses current areas of concern, such as social media use, big data, the sharing economy, privacy and surveillance, internet governance, digital rights, and citizen journalism.
• Empowers you to assess how technological change is linked to forces of globalisation, political institutions, and historical developments, and how it affects democracy and social change.
• Equips you with a thorough theoretical and methodological grounding in media and communication studies.
• Allows you to apply up-to-date research skills to carry out your own original research for the dissertation and beyond.
• Produces reflective and well-trained graduates who understand the multiplicity of social, cultural, political and technological complexities of digital media and who will be able to solve complex problems and make informed decisions in their future careers.

Key facts

Admissions criteria

You will need to complete an online application form which will then be considered by an admissions tutor.

Applicants will normally be expected to hold a UK higher education degree of lower second class Honours or above, or a qualification recognised by the University as equivalent. This requirement may be waived for students with appropriate alternative qualifications.

Applications must include a personal statement that outlines the applicant’s reasons for applying, and at least one reference letter from a previous tutor or person in charge of a past professional experience.

In addition, applicants whose first language is not English must obtain an IELTS score of at least 7.0 (with a minimum subscore of 6.0 in each component), or an equivalent English language qualification. However, applicants with an IELTS score of 6.5 (with a minimum subscore of 6.0 in each component) will be considered provided they undertake and successfully complete the University’s ten-week pre-sessional English course. This requirement may be waived if the applicant can furnish sufficient evidence that they are suitably proficient in the use of English.

You will be asked to provide references in support of your application, one of which will need to be from previous academic study.

Applications are considered throughout the year.

Find out more about English language requirements.

Applicants who require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK must present an acceptable English language qualification in order to meet UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) requirements