Social media & life online. Citizens, consumers & the designed online world

The course delves into the design and impact of social media, apps, gamification, and games. It is tailored for students passionate about applying psychological theories and empirical research for technology design. It examines how these digital platforms shape users’ well-being and social relationships, providing an understanding of the design and social aspects of our lives online.

We will address key questions, such as: How do digital platforms affect our social relationships and networks, and how can technology design influence this relationship? What steps can we take to design digital technologies that promote inclusion and mitigate digital inequality? How can we leverage findings from research on gaming and gamification to enhance the positive impact of digital technologies on user well-being? How can technology designers gain insights about users from their digital trace data and apply them to improve the technology?

Through short, hands-on interactive sessions, students will learn how to translate psychological theories into design recommendations for creating engaging and user-friendly social media platforms, apps, and games that enhance well-being and foster positive social connections. The curriculum covers insights from gamification, social media research, gaming, Learning Analytics, and the social and psychological effects of digital interactions.

The Human-Technology Interaction Master’s course “Social Media & Life Online” familiarizes students with research on the design and impact of social media, apps, gamification, and games, focusing on applied psychological theories and empirical research to technology design in different areas.

At the end of the course, you will be able to …

• identify key psychological and sociological theories relevant to the design of social media, apps, and games.
• distinguish important factors that influence user well-being and social relationships in digital platforms
• explain how different design elements and approaches affect user behavior, engagement, and social relationships
• apply different psychological and sociological theories to derive design recommendations for digital technologies
• judge and criticize important theories and consider their boundary conditions
• evaluate different design approaches for their effectiveness in enhancing user well-being, engagement, and fostering positive social connection
• utilize these theories in formulating user requirements for online systems that support social interaction in specific application areas

In addition, the course will support you in writing a preliminary research proposal for your Master’s Thesis Project using state-of-the-art research on the design and impact of digital technologies affecting well-being and social relationships.

You must meet one of the following collections of requirements

• Collection 1
• Completed Final examination Bsc program
• Collection 2
• Completed Pre-Master

• Reader with articles and book chapters. Students are expected to read and to prepare themselves before the meetings. They have to read a limited number of articles before the first meeting.