Communication media have been blamed for a breakdown of social relationships and have simultaneously been hailed as powerful social tools that can connect people from all walks of life. This course addresses the ways in which interpersonal relationships and communication are influenced by mediation. The aim of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of mediated communication between individuals.

At the end of this course students will:

• be able to evaluate the weaknesses and strengths of the theories that explain apparently contradictory observations about the practise of interpersonal mediated communication.
• understand how theoretical principles can be applied to professional areas such as User Experience Design, intra-organisational communication, moderation and regulation of social media and discussion forums.
• acquire skills useful for the development digital media content on social platforms such as wikis, twitter, weibo, youtube, facebook, and others.