Madlen Spittel, Student "Interdisziplinärer Master Medien und Gesellschaft"

Media Use | Reflection | Technology Innovation

I have already completed my Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies at the University of Siegen and discovered my interest in technical fields. "Should I rather have studied something with technology development?" - I asked myself this question many times during my studies. But through my bachelor's degree in media studies, I learned to reflect more consciously on the media usage behaviour of our society, and that is a realisation that is elementary for me in terms of technology design.

I was all the happier when I found out about the interdisciplinary Master's programme "Media and Society". In this programme, students choose two disciplines from four different ones, depending on their previous knowledge. You can choose from the following: Media Science, Social Science, Media Management and Socio-Informatics. So it was possible for me to deepen my interest not only in media studies but also in the technical area through socio-informatics. The University of Siegen is one of the few universities in Germany that offered me the chance to study socio-informatics as a "career changer". For me, this field means more than just receiving student content. In our modern networked world, I think it is so important to deal with socio-technical issues. "How do we deal with technological devices and what do technological devices do to us?"

Through cross-faculty course taking and interdisciplinary exchange with other departments and students, the Master's programme helps students to take a broad view of different topics. For me, dealing with different perspectives on an issue is elementary in order to be able to tackle "problems" in society as a whole.

The possibilities after graduation are wide-ranging: from journalistic activities to working in counselling agencies that rely on a combination of competences. In the course of my Master's degree, many questions have already arisen for me that I would like to research further. Maybe I will go into research after my Master's degree.
In any case, my goal is to support as many people as possible with technical innovations or restructuring and to make their satisfaction my top priority.

I really enjoy the contents of the Master's degree programme in Media and Society with the subjects Media Studies and Socio-Informatics and I consider it an important degree programme that is relevant for all individuals with regard to our technical and social change. What role does technology play in your everyday life and in your social relationships? If you have also given a lot of thought to these topics, or are currently doing so, I would definitely recommend the Master's programme with the Media Studies and Socio-Informatics subjects.

In the end, however, it's not only about what you're offered, but also what you make of it. With this degree programme, I have a hard time differentiating between my studies and my free time, because the contents of the degree programme are also relevant for the everyday life of all of us and makes me think in many ways. I am enthusiastic and hope you will be too!