Digital Methods

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

85 hours

Admission into 101AA Ph.D.- Arts or DR-PHILART Doctor of Philosophy in Arts.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This skills-led course is taught in computer labs. Students will learn how to collect website and social media data using both screen-scraping techniques and through APIs. The course is designed for non-programmers; no coding skills will be required. Once collected, students will learn how to clean and then analyse the data using two methods: content analysis and social network analysis. Finally, the course will introduce students to data visualisation techniques.

On successful completion of this subject, students should have:

• the ability to collect, clean and analyse original digital media data using a variety of tools;
• an understanding of the benefits and restrictions of these methods across different media;
• gained a critical understanding of research design, research methods and ethics when working with digital data;
• an ability to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module; and
• enhanced engagement with leading-edge research in particular areas of the Humanities and Social Sciences today.

1. One 2,500-word essay (100%), due 2 weeks after the end of the teaching period.

Hurdle Requirements: Students are required to attend a minimum of 100% of classes in order to pass this subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

This subject will contribute, through teaching and discussion with academic staff and peers, to developing skills and capacities including those identified in the University-defined Graduate Attributes for the PhD, in particular:

• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge;
• an advanced ability to engage in critical reflection, synthesis and evaluation of research-based and scholarly literature; and
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field.