Module handbook, 2024/25: COMM751/COMM752

Big Data and Society: Foundations, Politics, and Policy

Introduction

This module aims to introduce you to the study of online media and platforms, with a particular focus on ‘big’ social trace data. As well as developing your understanding of how Internet-based media systems work, you will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of using big data for social science research and engage with key online political communication policy questions.

COMM751 (“Big Data and Society: Foundations, Politics, and Policy A”) is a core module for students on the MA Media, Data and Society and is 30 credits. COMM752 (“… B”) is a 15-credit option for students on other MA and MSc programmes. The content and expectations for students on both courses are identical, except that COMM751 students have an additional assessment.

No handbook can answer all questions, and this one has a bias for being brief. We are very happy to answer your questions, either in class or in our office hours.

Learning Outcomes and Skills

The aims of this module are that you:

· Will analyse interactions between the media, platforms, and citizens.

· Will develop your understanding of how digital data is generated, collected and used in the modern world.

· Will engage with key current debates around media, data and society.

· Will develop your skills in building and presenting an argument, while selecting appropriate sources.

· Will further develop your academic writing skills.

· Will be able to link key public policy questions to social science research approaches that could help practically address them.

· Will develop skills in critically engaging with evidence.

Course Outline

Teaching structure

The content for this module is broadly divided into two blocs. Alex leads on topics 1-4 and 6. They cover foundations, with content such as the development of the Internet and social media, the characteristics of big data, issues with access to data and platform. gatekeeping, social science methods for using data, the nature of social networks, and understandings of social media and user content. The second bloc + topic 5 are taught by Dr Hannah Little and goes into more depth into some of the opportunities and threats that arise in online political communication, covering topics such as misinformation, disinformation and trolling; hate speech and radicalisation; participation, protest, polarisation, and echo chambers; and the effects of digital and social media on well-being.

The module is taught with a 1-hour lecture and a 1-hour seminar each week. The lectures and seminars are face-to-face. There is one lecture for everyone and two different seminar groups.

Weekly topics

This is the provisional outline of each week’s focus. Canvas will have more details.

1. Welcome and introduction. The role of data in modern society and the processes that generate it; overview of the course as a whole.

2. Power, the Internet, and data. A history and the structure of the Internet; Data and the design of Internet services; nexuses of network control and visibility; how political and social power and data are linked.

3. Data collection and social media platforms. User-generated content and platforms that rely on it; collection of online trace and content data; relationships and the networks they form. as key data.

4. Data analysis in private and public sectors. What we can learn from large-scale datasets; commercial uses of data science; academic and government research.

5. Privacy, data protection, and identity. Identity, anonymity, and pseudonymity online; problems in privacy and accountability; legal and social controls over personal information; the right to be forgotten.

6. A big truth or a big mistake? Algorithmic biases; transparency; data availability problems; biases towards answerable questions; computational complexity.

7. Reading and formative assignment week.

8. Surveillance. Utopian and pessimistic accounts of Internet freedom; legal frameworks for interception; data brokers and government-private partnerships.

9. Regulation and control. Who controls the Internet?; How should it be regulated?; filtering; censorship.

10. Online news, misinformation and disinformation. Online and offline sources of misinformation; the dynamics of information spread; citizen and professional journalism; fact checking and online debate; ‘fake news’.

11. Participation, protest, and polarisation. Online political activity; partisan polarisation; hate speech; moderation and censorship of discussion; “echo chambers.”

12. Revision and assessment guidance.

Readings are on the Reading Lists @ Liverpool system, linked from Canvas.

Assessment Summary

Assessment in this module will be in coursework, in two or three parts: one formative and two (COMM752) or three (COMM751) summative. These will be:

1. A 7-minute presentation (COMM751, COMM752) – 10% of the final mark

2. A formative essay (COMM751, COMM752) – not marked

3. A summative essay (COMM751, COMM752) – 60% of the final mark for COMM751 and 90% of the final mark for COMM752.

4. A weekly reading blog (COMM751 only) – 30% of the final mark

All coursework, except the presentation, must be word processed and submitted electronically through Canvas. Guidelines for submission are available on the School of the Arts website. Please consult Alex if you are in any doubt about this.

1. Presentation

You will be assigned a reading, which you must present to the rest of your seminar group in one seminar. The final assigned reading for each student will be posted to Canvas, including the week you have been assigned to present in. Your presentation can either be a “classic” one-way presentation or a more interactive presentation. You should not just read your notes/script. – this will only count for a pass.

The presentation does not need to be elaborate: a well-polished slide deck is not a requirement (though you may use slides), but you will need to have studied the key reading, have read additional reading on the week’s topic to give it context, and be prepared to talk for 7 minutes maximum and then contribute to the subsequent discussion.

In preparing the presentations, please use the following guiding principles:

· Reflect on the reading and convey a story which includes definitions of the main concepts, the main theoretical approaches, a review of the argument.

· Use practical or real-world examples to provide clearer understanding.

· You can use interactive elements to engage the other students in a debate or conversation or make them reflect on the main concepts.

· Avoid describing the literature in great detail – you only have 7 minutes!

· Prepare a question to spark a discussion at the end of the presentation.

2. Formative essay

The purpose of the formative essay is to provide you with an opportunity to get to grips with academic writing at the master level, particularly for those of you whose first degree was outside the social sciences, or from countries with a different approach to assessment. We also aim to reduce the uncertainty that you might feel as new MA/MSc students about how you’re doing, and to provide constructive feedback in advance of the summative essay submission.

You must use the essay to engage with academic literature (the reading list is a good starting point). You must thorough reference your sources using Harvard referencing.

The formative essay is due on Monday 11 November 2024 (the first day of week 8) and has a limit of 1,500 words.

3. Summative essay

Both COMM751 and COMM752 students will produce a summative essay, designed to test the students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills, and engagement with the material presented in the course. The formative and summative essays will be on different topics of your choice. You can answer one of the possible questions below, or agree your own question with the module leader. You MUST not answer the same question for the formative and summative. If you are found to have done so, you will receive 0.

You must use the essay to engage with academic literature (the reading list is a good starting point). You must thorough reference your sources using Harvard referencing.

The summative essay is due on Wednesday 8 January 2025 and has a limit of 3,000 words. This is twice as long as the formative. Both are submitted online, through Canvas.

4. Weekly reading blog (only COMM751 students)

You must submit a weekly blog post covering your thoughts on a reading seminar paper each week, in advance of the seminar. In this way, work towards assessment will take place each week. Highlight what you found most interesting about the reading and try to critically engage with the arguments made. If you cite literature beyond the reading, please provide citations in the Harvard style.

Each week’s post should be 200 words long with 10% leeway. You should submit a post for each of the following weeks: 1-6 and 8-11. You must submit the final blog containing all blog posts by 16 December for assessment through Canvas.

Essay questions

For each essay (formative; summative; and, if necessary, resit) you can choose from any one of the following essay questions. If you would prefer to answer a different question we are often happy to let you write your own, but you must get our approval before end of term 13 December 2024. Contact Alex during the classes, in office hours, or email.

Your formative and summative essays must be on different questions, and your resit must be on a third if you need one. You may never use the same essay question twice.

1. Will and should big data approaches replace traditional social science approaches to building knowledge? Critically discuss.

2. Why does the collection and use of data by social media companies matter? Critically discuss.

3. Is the culture of the Internet inevitable given its technical design? Critically discuss.

4. In what ways do data biases limit the usefulness of big data for complex social issues such as crime? Critically discuss.

5. Should online anonymity be banned on social media? Critically discuss.

6. Should end-to-end encrypted platforms be banned? Critically discuss.

7. Whose responsibility should it be to regulate the internet and digital platforms? Critically discuss.

8. Can people be “inoculated” against online misinformation? Critically discuss.

9. How the reliance on big data changes authoritarian societies?  Critically discuss.

10. Is big data a threat to democracy?  Critically discuss.

11. How can an industry (of your choice) can further benefit (or suffer) from implementing big data approaches? Critically discuss.

What we expect from you

You need to attend lectures and seminars, and work between sessions to read and understand the material set and to research and to write your assignments (in principle, an average of 10 or so hours a week for COMM752 students). Attendance at sessions is monitored: please check Canvas and the guidelines in the School of the Arts handbook.

This is a small group course; contributing to seminars is not optional. You have four responsibilities for participation in the seminar. You are expected to:

1. Attend each week.

2. Read the key readings each week, in advance of the seminar.