Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

Online Course

UCL (University College London)

Future Learn

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Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

What is the course about?
Prerequisites & Facts
Cost, Certificate & Degree
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What is the course about?

Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

The course Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media is an online class provided by UCL (University College London) through Future Learn. It may be possible to receive a verified certification or use the course to prepare for a degree.

Discover the varying uses of social media around the world and its consequences for politics, relationships and everyday life.

Course description

5 weeks

This free online course is based on the work of nine anthropologists who each spent 15 months in fieldsites in Brazil, Chile, industrial and rural China, England, India, Italy, Trinidad and Turkey. What are the consequences of social media? The course offers a new definition of social media which concentrates on the content posted, not just the capabilities of platforms. It examines the increasing importance of images in communication and the reasons why people post memes, selfies and photographs. Over five weeks you will explore the impact of social media on a wide range of topics including politics, education, gender, commerce, privacy and equality. You will come to understand how the consequences of social media vary from region to region. Take a comparative and anthropological approach to social media The course will be taught by the same nine anthropologists who carried out the original fieldwork and who are publishing eleven books based on this research. You will meet many of our informants through our films, engage with our team through video discussions and lectures, and encounter our ideas through animations, infographics and text. Adopting an anthropological and comparative approach, we strive to understand not only how social media has changed the world, but how the world has changed social media.

What is social media and how should we define it?
Academic approaches to social media and an introduction to anthropology.
The rise of images in communication.
The impact of social media on gender and politics.
The impact of social media on education, commerce and privacy.
The impact of social media on inequality.

Apply critical thinking to a range of cross-cultural qualitative and quantitative evidence.
Assess social media from an anthropological perspective and conduct mini research projects.
Compare one’s own perspective on social media to those from other cultural backgrounds.

The only requirement is an interest in social media and people.

UCL (University College London)
UCL was founded in 1826. It was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, and the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it.

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Prerequisites & Facts

Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

Course Topic

Business & Management, Digital Marketing, Politics & Society, Social Media

University, College, Institution

UCL (University College London)

Course Skill Level

see course summary

Course Language

English

Place of class

Online, self-paced (see curriculum for more information)

Degree

Certificate

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Degree & Cost

Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

To obtain a verified certificate from Future Learn / UCL (University College London) you have to finish this course or the latest version of it, if there is a new edition. The class may be free of charge, but there could be some cost to receive a verified certificate or to access the learning materials. The specifics of the course may have been changed, please consult the provider to get the latest quotes and news.

UCL (University College London)

Why We Post: the Anthropology of Social Media

provided by Future Learn

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