All events held in 117 Sackett from 9:05a to 10:20a
- Tue, Oct 9: Kristene Unsworth, STS and Computer Science, Drexel University, researches information policy, ethics, and civil society
- Tue, Oct 23: Hannah Sassaman, Media Mobilizing Project and 2017 Soros Justice Fellow
- Tue, Nov 6: Jessa Lingel, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Data Privacy, Democracy, and the Humanities
These undergraduate workshops on privacy, surveillance, and social media practices will show the value of humanities perspectives on digital media today. Each workshop will pair hands-on lessons using students’ own devices with concepts from philosophy, history, and media studies. We will address tactics for protecting personal data, blocking unwarranted surveillance, and leaving filter bubbles. As recently reported in the NY Times, issues from smartphone addiction to fake news have computer science programs around the country looking for ways to teach ethics and politics. I would like these workshops to demonstrate what the humanities offers fraught conversations on digital culture today.
I will work with my graduate students to organize three workshops open to the undergrad community that will address 1) data privacy, 2) algorithmic inequality, and 3) democracy. In our PhD seminar, I will introduce humanities frameworks for thinking through the history and ethics of digital media. Then, my PhD students and I will put these concepts into practice as we design the undergrad workshops. Undergrads will be given new perspectives on and tactics for issues that are vital to the health of the networked public sphere today. And in turn, I will provide my grad students with training and experience in teaching technology through the lens of the humanities.
Each event will involve 1) a brief presentation on the issue, 2) a visiting technology expert from the Philadelphia area, and 3) a hands-on lesson. Presentations will be developed in concert with my graduate students and visiting technologists. Together, we will determine together the way to best teach the importance of each issue to undergrads.