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Description
We are surrounded by digital systems that increasingly intermediate our social, economic, and political lives. We communicate with and stay in touch with our friends, families, and colleagues through social platforms. We not only use digital technologies for our day-to-day activities and economic transactions, but the market and platform economies that have emerged around the use (and abuse) of the data describing those activities have themselves taken on a life of their own. Digital technologies are also used to shape how we get news about the world around us, from information as simple as tomorrow鈥檚 weather forecast or updates about our commute into the office; to local, regional, and global news; to the information and sources we trust to shape our believes and political views.
This module examines the sociotechnical foundations of these complex digital systems. Starting with the topology and politics of the Internet as a global digital infrastructure, we will gradually work our way 鈥渦p the stack鈥� to evaluate the technologies at play, and the institutional complex(es) involved in managing those systems. The first half of the course focuses on longstanding issues that continue to shape the Internet, and digital technologies writ broadly: jurisdiction and attribution problems; network neutrality; and encryption. In the second half of the course, we will delve into the actors and institutions shaping contemporary technologies and policy issues. These include discussions of data governance; disinformation and content moderation; privacy and surveillance; human rights; and cybercrime.
In this module, we will unpack the sociotechnical feedback mechanisms that shape how various complex digital systems function, and how they evolve. We will start with examinations of the objectives of digital technologies as designed, how they function and evolve in response to stakeholder demands in the real world, and, finally, how these technologies are exploited. The two course assessments invite the student to select a technology and issue area of interest to them, and evaluate the technology as designed and 鈥渋n the wild鈥� (ie, how it functions as deployed in the real world). These assessments help drive home the concepts and stakeholder analyses students are learning in this module, provide an opportunity to develop and practice their own analytic skills, and the opportunity to do a deep dive into an digital system they are interested in and that is salient to their career objectives.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 8th April 2024.
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