We have opened the following course for all students to enroll.
INFO 498 C: Age of Autonomy - Instructor: Elias Greendorfer - 5 credits; standard grading – TTH (10:30-12:20PM); W (11:30-12:20PM)
This course examines the relationship between technology and autonomy across personal, communal, and political contexts, focusing particularly on the ways technologies mediate our sense of self, agency, and ways of being in the world. From artifacts that mark major life events to digital systems that structure organizational and social processes, technology is not passive but rather an active force in shaping who we are and how we navigate change. A QR code embedded in a wedding ceremony, a smartphone gifted to a young person as a gesture of trust, or an online portal facilitating legal processes each function as more than digital tools. Through the lens of design, students will critically and creatively explore how technologies at times enable and promote systems of power, while at other times they stand in opposition of them. In exploring these ideas, students in this course will engage with related literature in HCI, participate in discussions and debates, and undertake hands-on projects that interrogate and reimagine the tools and technologies that shape contemporary society, while also developing equitable and sustainable designs for its future.
INFO 498 D: Inventing the Internet(s) - Instructor: Richard Lewei Huang - 4 credits; standard grading – MW (1:30-3:20PM)
How did the Internet come to be? Covering the period from the 1960s to today, this course investigates the social, cultural, political, and technological forces that together created and shaped the internet(s) as we know today. Topics covered will include technological determinism, military and countercultural origins of the Internet, rise of personal computing, alternative forms of online sociality, commercialization of the web, Web 2.0 and the platform economy, and geopolitical tensions that may shape the future of the Internet. In addition to readings and lectures, students will be able to get hands-on experience in tinkering with historical computer networking artifacts through remote connections and the use of virtual machines. Students will learn to critically analyze narratives of internet histories in popular discourse, appreciate the diversity of internet cultures and experiences around the globe, and gain practical skills in system administration and digital heritage preservation in hands-on retro networking workshops.