Politics of Code

Catalog description

Deconstructing the design and implementation of software as a political medium and re-building functional alternatives. Code is political. It is a means of political processes and activism. It is political inherently by the ethical choices often hidden in the black box of The Algorithm. In the course we aim to deconstruct the design, implementation, and data of software as a political medium. We will work through political applications such as ownership of digital assets, predictive policing, algorithmic recommendations, suggestions, and filters, social networks, and the blockchain. Along with an introduction to the related political theory and media studies, students will work on several hands-on projects to offer actual or speculative alternatives to the existing systems. To that end, this course will include several workshops in JavaScript, Python, and other tools.