Department of Culture and Communication
E38.2160.001.SP06: Values embodied in information & communication
technologies
Instructor: Helen Nissenbaum
Mondays 4:55-7:05; 25-W4 C-16
Virtually all parts of our lives are touched by computing and
information technology. It mediates much private and public communication,
interaction, and transaction, and forms the infrastructure for critical
social and institutional functions such as commerce, banking and
finance, utilities, national defense, education, entertainment, and more.
Given the ubiquity of these systems and the confidence we have invested in
them, it is important to step back and consider what the wholesale
commitment to this technology means for moral, social, and political
values. Our course undertakes this mission by investigating how computers and
information systems promote and obscure the values to which we,
individually and as societies are committed, values such as freedom, privacy,
justice and autonomy. We call this investigation the study of values
"embodied in" computer and information systems.
The course follows two paths. The first takes us through social
commentary and key works in the philosophy and social study of technology
that seek to understand the rich and sometimes troubling relationship
between development and deployment of technology, on the one hand, and
social and political factors, on the other. We address questions such as:
Does technology make the world better, or worse? Is technology neutral?
Who should be in charge of directing technological development ? What
is the role of scientists and engineers? The second path directs us
through the arena or information and communication technologies as we
consider how the general questions and theories of the first path apply to
ICT and new media.
The course welcomes students with a variety of backgrounds,
including technical computer science and engineering students interested in
learning about social, political, and ethical implications of their field,
as well as students with humanistic, social science, and communications
backgrounds interested in learning about the technology behind
digitally mediated communication and experience.
Readings
1) Available on Blackboard
2) Weston, A, A Rulebook for Arguments. 3rd. edition (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000)
3) Norman, D. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Doubleday, 1989
Blackboard Course Homepage
The course homepage includes the most up-to-date schedule as well as
course requirements, readings, and announcements. In addition, you will
find external links and an online discussion board.
Requirements and Grading Policy
Students are expected to attend all classes, complete assigned
readings before class, and turn in readings responses each week. Grades will
be assessed according to four criteria: participation (in-class,
online, and written responses to readings), a short paper due mid-term, a
collaborative project presentation, and a term paper.
***To pass the class, students must pass each of the four elements.
25% Participation (attendance, in-class and online, responses to
readings)
15% Short paper (3-4 pp)
20% Project presentation
40% Term paper (12-15 pp)
| Schedule | (Bibliographic details are available on Blackboard) |
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|
| Jan 23 | Introduction and Course Overview |
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|
| Jan 30 | The Landscape of Technology and Human Values |
| Readings |
| Ellul, J. The “autonomy” of the technological phenomenon |
| Introna,L.& H. Nissenbaum, Shaping the web: Why the politics of search engines matters |
| Winner, L. Do artifacts have politics |
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|
| Feb 6 | Technology as a force for good or evil |
| Readings |
| Weinberg, A.M. Can technology replace social engineering? |
| Postman, N. Five things we need to know about technological change |
| Dreyfus, H. Heidegger on gaining a free relation to technology |
| Barlow, J.P. Coming into the country |
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|
| Feb 13 | Technological Alternatives |
| Readings |
| Heikkerö, T. Focal things and practices - in the west and in Japan |
| Johnson, D. & D. Post, The new civic virtue of the Internet |
| Mitcham, C. In memoriam: Ivan Illich: critic of professionalized
design |
| Mumford, L. Authoritarian and democratic technics |
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|
| Feb 20 | Values Embodied in Technology |
| Readings |
| Bowker, G. & L. Star, Sorting things out: classification and its
consequences (excerpts) |
| Friedman, B & H. Nissenbaum, Bias in computer systems |
| Latour, B. Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few
mundane artifacts |
| Weber, R. Manufacturing gender in military cockpit design |
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|
| Feb 27 | Social Construction of Technical Systems |
| Readings |
| Cowan, R. S. How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum |
| Hughes, T. Networks of power: electrification in western society, 1880-1930 |
| Joerges, B. Do politics have artefacts? |
| Pfaffenberger, B. Technological dramas |
| Pinch,T & W. Bijker, The social construction of facts and artifacts |
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|
| Mar 6 | Social Constructivism and its Critics |
| Readings |
| Brey, P. Philosophy of technology meets social constructivism |
| MacKenzie D., and J. Wajcman. Introduction: The social shaping of technology |
| Winner, L. Upon opening the black box and finding it empty |
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| Mar 13 | Midterm break (Spyware workshop March 16-17) |
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| Mar 20 | Practices of Embedding Values I |
| Readings |
| Bentham, J. Panopticon; or the inspection house |
| Flanagan, M., D. Howe & H. Nissenbaum. Values in design: theory and practice. |
| Norman, D. The design of everyday things (excerpts) |
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| Mar 27 | Values: What Values? Whose Values? |
| Readings |
| Berlin, I. Two concepts of liberty |
| Constitution of the United States of America: Bill of Rights |
| Mitcham, C. Values and valuing |
| Nagel, T. The fragmentation of value |
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|
| Apr 3 | The Case of the Internet |
| Readings |
| Abbate, J. Inventing the Internet |
| Agre, P. Peer-to-peer and the promise of Internet equality |
| Agre, P. Real-time politics: The Internet and the political process |
| Lessig, L. The law of the horse: what Cyberlaw might teach |
| Shirky, C. Social software and the politics of groups |
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| Apr 10 | Practices of Embedding Values II |
| Readings |
| Friedman, B., P. Kahn, & A. Borning. Value sensitive design and information systems |
| Sengers, P., Boehner, K., David, S. & Kaye, J. Reflective design |
| Perry, J., E. Macken, N. Scott, and J. McKinley, Disability, inability, and cyberspace |
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| Apr 17 | Spillover |
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| Apr 24 | Project presentations |
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| May 1 | Project presentations |
Course Project
Teams of two or three – ideally, with diverse backgrounds -- will
collaborate on course projects investigating connections between ICT
systems and social, political, and/or ethical systems. Depending on
members’ interests, expertise, and skills, teams may pursue projects ranging
over a variety of topics and forms. Some teams might describe and
analyze particular systems, e.g. IM, Facebook, a particular video game,
Wikipedia; or types of systems, e.g. auction sites, peer-production, email;
or system fragments, e.g. specific interface features, access features,
security features. Some teams might choose to include a design
component, or even build a prototype of a particular system, or aspect of a
system, indicating how their projects relate to a particular value or
values.
Each group will assign some sort of assignment for the class, e.g.
an article to read, a system to try out, a website to visit, etc.
Recommended steps:
Select topic and collaborator(s)
Decide on a focus
Construct bibliography and select the assigment for the class
Decide on presentation format
Divide content between (among) collaborators for individual final
papers.
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