Digital Society

Catalog description

As artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and computational systems become increasingly woven into everyday life, society is being reshaped in visible and invisible ways. This course examines how social, cultural, political, and economic systems are formed through digital and algorithmic infrastructures rather than merely influenced by them. Drawing on perspectives from sociology, media studies, rhetoric, and the liberal arts, students will explore how AI-driven technologies, data systems, and networked media shape identity, social relationships, power, labor, knowledge production, and cultural meaning. Rather than treating technology as separate from society, the course approaches AI and digital systems as embedded social forces-reflecting human values, reinforcing inequalities, and enabling new forms of participation and resistance. Students will engage with course readings, lectures, media analysis, case studies, and research and writing workshops. Major course projects include a collaborative multimedia digital storytelling project, in which students investigate a specific area of digital society, and a related design challenge, in which students identify a social problem or opportunity connected to their topic and propose an ethically informed, socially grounded intervention or design response. Together, these projects emphasize critical analysis, contextual thinking, and responsible design in an algorithmically mediated world. Applied AI Integration: This course meets or exceeds MSOE’s Applied AI Integration guidelines for substantial coverage of Critical Evaluation and Social Responsibility.