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IS30540

Academic Year 2026/2027

Content Creators, Platforms, and Publics (IS30540)

Subject:
Information Studies
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Information & Comms Studies
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Anthony Kelly
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module critically examines the relationships between content creators, platforms, and publics. Taking a cross-cultural approach, students will consider how content is produced using platform-native formats and aesthetics, encountered by audiences through platform architectures, and leveraged to extract value in the context of platform capitalism. Topics covered include platform power and algorithmic visibility; authenticity and self-branding; digital intimacies and parasociality; harassment, toxicity, and audience antagonism; revenue streams and monetisation; labour, precarity, and structural inequalities; and copyright and synthetic media. This module provides an overview of creators as cultural workers, data producers, and advertising intermediaries, while acknowledging their unequal positioning as economic and cultural actors within global digital ecosystems. Through a blend of critical theory and digital research methods, students will evaluate the economic, infrastructural, and sociotechnical conditions shaping creator culture(s), as well as present and emerging disruptions in how creators interact with platforms and publics.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate how platform architectures, monetisation models, and algorithmic governance shape contemporary conditions of creator labour and precarity.

2. Synthesise theoretical frameworks of branding, authenticity, and visibility to analyse how creators relate to platforms and publics.

3. Interrogate structural inequalities, power asymmetries, and sociotechnical disruptions within creator ecosystems from a cross-cultural perspective.

4. Assess evidence-based arguments regarding the embeddedness of creator practices in community formation, platform engagement, and public discourse.

5. Apply digital media research techniques to collect, analyse, and interpret empirical data from a real-world content creator case study.

Indicative Module Content:

- Introduction: content creators, platforms, and publics
- Creators, cultural labour, and the creator economy
- Platforms, infrastructures, and affordances
- Algorithms, visibility, and discoverability
- Content formats, genres, and aesthetics
- Authenticity, persona, and self-branding
- Audiences, publics, and creator (anti-)fandoms
- (De-)monetisation, value, and creator precarity
- Copyright, synthetic media, and the future of creator labour

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Autonomous Student Learning

101
Total

125

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Teaching and Learning Approaches:

Key teaching and learning approaches used in this module include active learning, peer and group work, lectures, critical reading and writing, reflective learning, class debates, and case-based learning.

Use of AI:

UCD's Academic Integrity Policy, point 4.3 states: “This academic integrity policy prohibits students from presenting work as their own that they did not write, code, or create. Accordingly, submission of AI-generated content without explicit permission and attribution is not permitted.”

For this module you can only use AI for surface edits but not for writing or structuring any part of your assignment. Acceptable uses are limited to such tasks as fixing typos, grammatical errors, and punctuation issues. If you do use AI for surface edits, you will need to disclose it (without penalty). No other uses of AI are permitted for your written assignments.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Short essay addressing topics discussed in first weeks Week 7 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Content creator case study focusing on a creator of the student's choosing. Week 14 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
 No
Quizzes/Short Exercises: Weekly reading logs (submit 4 of 8). Week 2, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 10, Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will receive written feedback on their midterm paper and creator case study after completion in Brightspace, using assignment rubrics. Class feedback will be provided during lectures and workshops, using assignment rubrics. Students will have opportunities to discuss their work during assigned office hours prior to submission. Group feedback on short exercises will be provided in class. Discussion of short exercises will facilitate peer review and student self-assessment. Students will have opportunities to discuss standards required based on descriptive criteria on assignment rubrics.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 33 Mon 15:00 - 16:50
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