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Welcome to our MA Programmes in Digital Culture and Cultural Data

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the University of Sheffield’s Digital Humanities Institute and Faculty of Arts in September 2021. On this page you will find information about our MA courses, careers, and life at the University.

Meet your tutors

Michael Pidd, Director of the DHI. Read more
Mike introduces the MA programmes. Watch the video
Mike talks about the MA in Cultural Data. Watch the video

Dr Seth Mehl, Lecturer in Digital Humanities, DHI. Read more
Seth talks about the MA in Digital Culture. Watch the video
Seth talks about the Digital e-Portfolio. Watch the video

Professor Nicola Dibben, Professor of Music, Department of Music. Read more
Nikki talks about the module Introduction to Digital Culture. Watch the video

Jamie McLaughlin, Research Software Engineer, DHI. Read more
Jamie talks about the module Designing Cultural Data Products. Watch the video

Your career

Digital culture is everywhere, and it is driven by cultural data. Our MA programmes are designed to train the next generation of leaders and innovators for careers in the world’s growing digital media, arts, cultural heritage and information technology sectors.

Our programmes will include presentations from experienced leaders such as Mervyn Levin, who currently provides advisory services on innovation to governments, industry and the research community across the UK, Europe and Asia. Advances in digitisation and data science across multiple sectors, including the creative industries, permeate his career. He has held international management positions at Reuters and was the UK Government’s first Head of Digital Content Policy.

You will also have access to the University’s Careers Service and its postgraduate careers support.

Here are some of the sectors that need experts in digital culture and cultural data:

Journalism and media
Online gaming, entertainment, and serious games
Search, social media and e-commerce
Museums, galleries, libraries and archives
Arts and cultural heritage sites and organisations
Music, performing and visual arts
Education technology and software
Publishing
Advertising
Product design, web design and digital content creation
Technology research and innovation
Doctoral research (PhD)

Modules and seminar topics

Here is a summary of the topics which will be included in each module. Some of these are core modules, and other modules are optional depending on the course you are taking. We also have other optional modules from within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities for you to choose from. Please refer to the MA Digital Culture or MA Cultural Data prospectus to find out which modules are relevant to you.

Introduction to Digital Culture

This module examines the theory and history of how culture is shaped by digital technologies and practices. Read more

Seminar topics:

Theories of digital culture
Inequalities
Histories of digital culture
Identities
Surveillance
Social movements
Gaming and learning

Introduction to Cultural Data

This module examines cultural data, including methods for creating, analysing and communicating data. Read more

Seminar topics:

What is cultural data?
Extracting meaning from texts
Modelling culture: data models and databases
Data analysis: making data visualisations
3D, virtual worlds and augmented reality
Using digital media
AI and culture
Created by users: social media data mining
Analysing social media

Managing Digital Projects

This module examines project management in the context of developing data products and digital performances. Read more

Seminar topics:

What is project management?
Conception methodologies
User design, requirements and specifications
Designing for your users
Planning and resourcing
Development methodologies and tools I (cultural data products)
Development methodologies and tools II (digital performances)
Planning your project
Data management, preservation and sustainability

Designing Cultural Data Products

This module examines how cultural data products are designed. Read more

Seminar topics:

What are cultural data products?
Interface design: history and best practice
Initial product ideas
User-led design methodologies
Understanding websites, systems, apps and tools
Designing your product
User testing methodologies
Licensing, IP, data ethics and re-using data
Dissemination planning

Language Analysis, AI and Culturomics

This module examines the nature and analysis of cultural data in the form of language. Read more

Seminar topics:

Asking the right questions: From culture to text analytics
Thinking quantitatively about culture
Scoping and critiquing project ideas
Cultural data preparation: Compiling and cleaning texts
Corpus linguistics: Annotation and analysis
Automatically retrieving meaning from texts: Collocations and keywords
Teaching computers to understand culture with Natural Language Processing
Teaching computers to understand culture with Machine Learning

Dissertation: Digital Culture and Data e-Portfolio

This module uses a ‘dissertation by portfolio’ approach. You will compile a portfolio which explores all aspects of the design and use of a digital product, service, performance, installation or artefact. The portfolio can include written pieces, drawings, designs, plans, example data etc. Read more

Learning and teaching resources

Located within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Digital Humanities Institute benefits from access to world-leading expertise within the Faculty’s Departments and Schools.

You will have access to state-of-the-art study spaces, scholarship and online resources via the University Library, as well as major research databases and datasets published by ProQuest, Gale Cengage and others (for example, every edition of the magazine Vogue from 1891).

The DHI will provide you with access to tools and data for digitisation, digital editing, data mining and data visualisation (you can use your own data as well), and if you want to be creative you will have access to digital media production suites and equipment.