Course Description
Digital Fairytale examines how social movements, folklore, AI, and digital culture intersect to shape modern storytelling and belief. Students conduct a digital ethnography of an online community or fandom, analyzing how myths, identities, and power circulate through platforms, algorithms, and participatory media.
In this class, we look at the invisible forces that control our emotions, purchases, prejudices, ideas, and exposure to the digital story that is our life. We will critically explore how social media and various disruptive technologies and movements have affected our society, our economy, and our personal lives. In order to do this, this course relies heavily on non-traditional sources of course information such as YouTube videos, News articles, podcasts, social media posts, memes, and various websites. It is my goal, that when you successfully complete this course, you won’t just be a background character in this digital fairytale called life, but a disruptive, innovative, and aware engager in your digital happy ever after.
Signature projects blend AI informed critique with creative uses of generative tools, as students design interactive narrative campaigns, transmedia stories, or speculative “what if” worlds. The course strengthens critical digital literacy, ethical awareness, and creative problem solving while inviting students to rethink what counts as a fairytale in the twenty first century.