Module manager: Sophie Bishop
Email: S.H.Bishop@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
COMM3750 New Media and the Communications Industries
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module studies the governance of the internet by stakeholders such as regulators, policymakers and non-government organisations. In this module, students will examine how social life is governed by the internet within an increasingly digital world and the impact of digital governance on social and cultural life.
This module examines the changing legal, ethical, and regulatory frameworks surrounding new media production, distribution, and consumption. Its objective is to support students in identifying regulation and analysing how industries and public authorities are responding to it. The module aims to guide students through interpreting the governance issues and regulatory challenges new media presents and how this affects the future direction and shape of social and cultural life.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Identify and analyse key aspects of the legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks relevant to new media, and synthesise these complex contexts and ideas.
2. Appraise the ways software, platforms, apps and other online arcitectures govern and regulate their users.
3. Apply key concepts and principles related to the governance of the internet, and governance within digital environments.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
4. Search for, and critique, online governance texts, regulations and government communications.
5. Undertake independent thinking related to technological opportunities, harms and ethics.
6. Reflect on your own learning, relating to internet governance and its opportunities and harms, in addition to how this relates to wider topics discussed within the degree programme and beyond.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Independent online learning hours | 180 | ||
| Private study hours | 0 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Student progress is monitored by participation in seminars. The first assignment provides a key opportunity to be delivered feedback – it is summative but only 30% weighted. This specific feedback will allow student support to be provided in good time for the final essay submission.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Reflective log | Reflective log | 30 |
| Essay | Final essay | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team