Ethical Perspectives on Digital Technologies

Catalog description

This course introduces students to ethical thinking about digital systems. It focuses not only on how technology may be used for good or for ill, but how to take ethics, systematically, into consideration in analyzing, designing and developing it. Through lectures and discussion, the course introduces ethical concepts, such as privacy, fairness, and safety, and demonstrates their relevance to past and contemporary systems. In small groups, students will apply what they learn to in-class exercises and will be guided toward a final project in which they demonstrate learned concepts in concrete systems of their choosing. Although the course is designed to accommodate a wide range of educational backgrounds, it expects students to complete a common set of readings and participate actively in classroom discussions.