Digital Revolution: History of Media III

Semester and Year	SP 2013
Course Number	IDSEM-UG1042
Section	001
Instructor	Stephen Duncombe
Days	Mon,Wed
Time	12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement	SOC

Description

We are in the midst of a revolution. Computers permeate nearly every aspect of our life, yet we understand relatively little about how they work, their historical development, and their impact on our thought and actions. As with previous technological and communications revolutions like the rise of print and the ascendency of the image, computing is transforming our economic and political landscape, bringing with it new possibilities as well as new problems. In this course we explore this ever changing and rapidly expanding terrain, paying special attention to how computers and the Internet are transforming how we experience and understand identity and community, control and liberation, simulation and authenticity, creation and collaboration, and the practice of politics. Authors whose works we read may include: Jean Baudrillard, Jorge Luis Borges, Yochai Benkler, Nicholar Carr, the Critical Art Ensemble, Galileo, Donna Haraway, Lawrence Lessig, Lewis Mumford, Plato, the RAND Corporation, Sherry Turkle, and Ellen Ullman.

Course Type

Interdisciplinary Seminars (IDSEM-UG)