Applications of Digital Culture

Catalog description

The rapid pace of technological changes since the invention of the microchip in the 1970s has by some accounts outstripped society’s mechanisms for evaluating and managing the way we engage with one another and social systems in the larger world. When cell phones first became common in the early 2000s, taking a personal call in a restaurant was rude behavior—today it is rare that this same activity would be questioned or challenged. In short, the social, economic, and cultural parameters that define how we understand ourselves and our place in the world have been challenged and, in many cases, overthrown at all levels in our society. In this class, students take a deep dive into the implications and consequences of digital ethics and digital literacy as engaged citizens in four arenas: ethics and algorithms, ethics of privacy, ethics of identity, and ethics and professional practices. At the conclusion of the course, students work on developing a deeper understanding of ethical practices as they pertain to specialized arenas of digital culture with a framework and tools for engaging with technological change as a living component of their daily lives. Prerequisites: Students are expected to either have taken a minimum of either DIGC 1200 or DIGC 1600 , or bring sufficient prior expertise to analyze the social implications of technological change.