Play, Lust, Fight: Introduction to Participatory Cultures and Digital Technologies
Course code
YID7027.YM
old course code
Course title in Estonian
Himusta, mängi, võitle: sissejuhatuse digitaalsetesse osaluskultuuridesse
Course title in English
Play, Lust, Fight: Introduction to Participatory Cultures and Digital Technologies
ECTS credits
6.0
Assessment form
assessment
lecturer of 2026/2027 Autumn semester
Katrin Tiidenberg (language of instruction:Estonian)
lecturer of 2026/2027 Spring semester
Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.
Course aims
Course participantion will develop students’ critical understanding of the key concepts and processes of participatory cultures in the digital age. Participants will learn the necessary theoretical concepts and are able to explain the empirical phenomena for understanding how people lust, play, create, and fight – and what it means to do these things in and through digital platforms. We will discuss diverse forms of participatory culture — audience practices and viewing cultures, fan communities, vernacular creativity, and the affective economies of fandom, sexuality and desire in digital spaces, and political participation, propaganda and resistance.
Brief description of the course
What does it mean to be an audience member, a fan, a lover, or a fighter in digital culture? This course approaches participatory culture as a frame that connects seemingly disparate phenomena — finding a TV series via TikTok, creating fan art, intimate self-expression on sexual platforms, and waging war through memes. Beyond offering data from empirical research, each thematic block explains one facet of participatory culture and the relevant concepts: audience motivations and media consumption in the platform age; vernacular creativity, fan community identity, and the affective economies of fandom; sexuality, desire, AI intimacy, and platform politics; political participation, propaganda, and resistance in the information space. The course combines theoretical lectures with student-led seminar discussions.
Learning outcomes in the course
Upon completing the course the student:
- understands the key concepts and theories of digital participatory culture and applies them to analyse diverse phenomena across audience practices, fan cultures, digital intimacy, and information warfare (digital competencies);
- critically evaluates the role of digital platforms in enabling, constraining, and monetising participation — and reflects on how this shapes their own digital practices and experiences (critical thinking, digital competencies);
- assesses the credibility, expertise, and argumentative basis of non-academic sources (podcasts, documentaries, media texts) (digital competencies);
- articulates connections between participatory culture theory and lived civic, intimate, and creative experience in digitally mediated spaces (critical thinking);
- facilitates peer learning and leadership skills by asking participants to prepare, lead, and reflect on a group discussion (with mentorship from an expert instructor).
- understands the key concepts and theories of digital participatory culture and applies them to analyse diverse phenomena across audience practices, fan cultures, digital intimacy, and information warfare (digital competencies);
- critically evaluates the role of digital platforms in enabling, constraining, and monetising participation — and reflects on how this shapes their own digital practices and experiences (critical thinking, digital competencies);
- assesses the credibility, expertise, and argumentative basis of non-academic sources (podcasts, documentaries, media texts) (digital competencies);
- articulates connections between participatory culture theory and lived civic, intimate, and creative experience in digitally mediated spaces (critical thinking);
- facilitates peer learning and leadership skills by asking participants to prepare, lead, and reflect on a group discussion (with mentorship from an expert instructor).
Teacher
Katrin Tiidenberg
Additional information
This course cannot be transferred with RPL.