Unit 1—Socializing Digital Technologies

 

Overview

We’ll kick off this course by examining one of the most widely utilized digital technologies: social media sites. Though social networking sites (SNS) may simply seem as platforms for sharing the latest celebrity gossip and sharing pictures of your cat, they play a much larger role in shaping the way we construct our identities in both online and physical spaces.

 

Readings

• “Who Are We Online?” Digitized Lives

• “Does the Internet have a Political Biased?” Digitized Lives

• “A Marketplace of Echoes?” Too Big To Know

• “Dignity, Violence, Geopolitics: The Arab Uprisings” Networks of Outrage and Hope

• “Occupy Wall Street: Harvesting the Salt of the Earth” Networks of Outrage and Hope

   

   

   

   

  Unit 2—Data Gathered on You, Data Gathered by You

 

Overview 

The current digital environment has the power to collect almost unlimited information on you as a user, from the sites you visit, to the posts you like on Facebook, to the terms you search for. Often, this information is gathered by either government entities keeping tabs on citizens or by companies wanting to better understand potential customers. As more information is obtained on users, our culture initiates conversations concerning privacy, agency, and ethics.

 

Readings

• “How Do We Make Sense of Digitizing Culture?” Digitized Lives

• “Bottomless Knowledge” Too Big To Know

• “Digital Reputation in an Era of Runway Data” The Black Box Society

• “The Hidden Logics of Search” The Black Box Society

   

   

   

   

 

Unit 3—Objective/Subjective Technologies

 

Overview 

As you’ve probably noticed, the digital technologies are utilized by individuals from all walks of life, expressing various interests and reasons to access such devices and software. However, the user experience for each person is different. Issues of class, race, gender, and disability are often prevalent in the way such technologies are constructed and purposed by culture.

 

Readings

• “How Do We Make Sense of Digitizing Culture?” Digitized Lives

• “How is the Digital World Made?” Digitized Lives

• “Coding Diversity into Keyboards One Emoji At A Time” by Charles Pulliam-Moore

• “How We Changed the Facebook Friends Icon” by Caitlin Winner