Information Package / Course Catalogue
Digital Culture
Course Code: İLT224
Course Type: Required
Couse Group: First Cycle (Bachelor's Degree)
Education Language: Turkish
Work Placement: N/A
Theory: 3
Prt.: 0
Credit: 3
Lab: 0
ECTS: 4
Objectives of the Course

To critically examine the cultural, social, and aesthetic transformations brought about by digitalization; to enable students to analyze digital communication tools and new media environments in accordance with ethical values. Furthermore, it aims to question the impact of digital culture on creativity and design within a conceptual framework in the context of UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Course Content

Cultural, sociological, and design reflections of digitalization, network society, new media, digital identity, post-truth, algorithmic culture, surveillance capitalism, generative AI ethics, digital art, digital divide, and digital detox practices.

Name of Lecturer(s)
Learning Outcomes
1.Defines the concepts of digitalization, new media, and network society in a historical, sociological, and cultural context.
2.Analyzes information production processes, interaction dynamics, and algorithmic culture on digital platforms with a critical approach.
3.Evaluates current developments in artificial intelligence, digital art, and new media aesthetics with their dimensions of copyright, surveillance capitalism, and ethics.
4.Questions the inequalities (digital divide) and technological waste problems caused by digital technologies on a global and local scale within the framework of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
5.Produces innovative, original, and visual literacy-based research or portfolio contents by relating digital culture theories with the discipline of communication.
6.Evaluates the continuities of technological transformations within the history of civilization through the processes of the Agricultural Revolution, writing and record culture, the Industrial Revolution, mass communication, and digitalization.
7.Analyzes the effects of platform capitalism and the attention economy on visibility, interaction, data production, user behavior, and content circulation in digital culture.
Recommended or Required Reading
1.Lev Manovich - The Language of New Media
2.Christian Fuchs - Social Media: A Critical Introduction
3.Manuel Castells - The Rise of the Network Society
4.Shoshana Zuboff - The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
5.Yuval Noah Harari - Homo Deus: Yarının Kısa Bir Tarihi
Weekly Detailed Course Contents
Week 1 - Theoretical
The Relationship between Civilization, Culture, and Technology: From technical tools to digital culture; tool-making, symbolic thought, and the formation of culture.
Week 2 - Theoretical
The Agricultural Revolution, Sedentary Life, and Record Culture: Writing, memory, archives, property, bureaucracy, and the emergence of social organization.
Week 3 - Theoretical
The Industrial Revolution, Mechanization, and Mass Communication: Printing, mechanization, urbanization, speed, standardization, and the rise of modern communication technologies.
Week 4 - Theoretical
Introduction to Digital Culture: What is digitalization? Computerization, a brief history of the internet, and the cultural reflections of the transition from analog to digital in everyday life.
Week 5 - Theoretical
Network Society and New Media: The transition from traditional media to new media; user-generated content, the prosumer, and platformization.
Week 6 - Theoretical
Digital Identity and Representation: Self-presentation on social media, digital avatars, filter culture, and the myth of perfection.
Week 7 - Theoretical
Digital Literacy, Post-Truth, and Digital Inequality: Information disorder, echo chambers, verification culture, digital citizenship, and the digital divide.
Week 8 - Theoretical
Platform Capitalism and the Attention Economy: The economic, cultural, and communicative logic of digital platforms; visibility, interaction, data production, content circulation, and the attention economy.
Week 9 - Theoretical
Algorithmic Culture: A cultural analysis of algorithms that shape everyday life, tastes, and music and film preferences.
Week 10 - Theoretical
Surveillance Capitalism, Privacy, and Data Culture: Big data, digital footprints, and the transformation of users into products on free platforms.
Week 11 - Theoretical
Social Media Dynamics and Interaction: Meme culture, hashtag activism, online shaming, and cancel culture.
Week 12 - Theoretical
Generative Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, and Digital Labor: Human-machine collaboration, prompt culture, copyright debates, and the invisibility of labor in the digital age.
Week 13 - Theoretical
Digital Game Culture and Communities: E-sports, in-game communities, and the examination of games as cultural narrative media.
Week 14 - Theoretical
Culture of the Future and Digital Detox: The obligation to stay constantly connected (FOMO), speed culture, technological fatigue, and digital detox practices
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Type of AssessmentCountPercent
Attending Lectures5%5
Quiz1%10
Midterm Examination1%25
Final Examination1%60
Workload Calculation
ActivitiesCountPreparationTimeTotal Work Load (hours)
Lecture - Theory142370
Quiz1000
Midterm Examination113215
Final Examination113215
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours)100
Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
PÇ-1
PÇ-2
PÇ-3
PÇ-4
PÇ-5
PÇ-6
PÇ-7
PÇ-8
PÇ-9
PÇ-10
PÇ-11
PÇ-12
PÇ-13
PÇ-14
PÇ-15
PÇ-16
OÇ-1
4
5
5
OÇ-2
5
5
OÇ-3
5
3
4
4
4
4
OÇ-4
5
OÇ-5
2
2
5
3
5
2
2
4
OÇ-6
5
4
OÇ-7
4
5
5
3
Adnan Menderes University - Information Package / Course Catalogue
2026