The rapid growth of digital media has transformed not only our society, but also the ways we approach art and entertainment. What does the digital turn mean for creating, using and interpreting cultural artefacts? How can we analyse meaning-making and forms of communication in digital media, and how do they differ from the ones in more traditional media, such as literature or film?

The course is designed to provide students with a grasp of tools and methods to study storytelling and narratives in digital media and to enable students to apply them to analyse both the processes of creating and using digital media. We will be working on theoretical texts and a number of digital works (e.g., digital games, social media, transmedia platforms), focusing both on how these various works can be approached as cultural artefacts, and on what makes digital media different from the so-called print or legacy media.

Upon completing this course you will
• have a good grasp of the characteristics and affordances of digital media, especially in comparison with the so-called print or legacy media
• be able to apply relevant theories to the analysis of storytelling in various forms of digital media (e.g., games, social media, transmedia)
• be able to write reflectively on your own interpretations of the works and applications of the methodology.

The course will meet once a week during periods 1 and 2. All classes will take place on Tuesdays 14–16 in Metsätalo, A113 (Unioninkatu 40).

The first part of the course focuses on the properties of digital media, while the second part covers more practical examples of the storytelling in digital media. We will discuss and analyse both theoretical texts and case studies in reading groups throughout the course, and the course concludes with a two-hour game jam session.