People and Power in the Digital Age

"Ready or not, computers are coming to the people. That's good news, maybe the best since psychedelics."

When the counter-cultural activist Stewart Brand wrote these words in 1972, he was aiming to shock and intrigue: most people, if they thought about computers at all, thought of them as mysterious tools hidden from public view, incomprehensible to all but a few experts and liable to be used by powerful agencies to monitor and perhaps control the ordinary public. Within a few years, however, the project to redefine the computer as an agent for social change was well-established, inspiring the "home computer" boom of the 1980s and the explosion of public Internet use in the 1990s.

At the height of this trend, many commentators shared utopian visions of a world remade, by the power of technology to overcome social constraints, into a self-organising libertarian community free of governments, authorities and borders. The vision did not last - and not only because traditional governmental and legal authorities pushed back, often successfully. The techno-utopian vision itself turned out to contain power dynamics of its own, often strongly reinforcing existing inequalities of gender, ethnicity and wealth.

Structured in loosely chronological order, this unit surveys a series of historical case studies in the development, promotion and adoption of particular information and communication technologies to explore the nature of faith in technological solutions and the often complex and awkward outcomes of applying them. The historical coverage leads into an examination of present-day concerns around such issues as online privacy and AI-enabled writing, emphasising the human consequences that are often overlooked in bold new technological visions, and emphasising the need for responsible innovation and use.

The course is equally suitable for computer science students and those who have never studied the field, but are interested in learning more about the origins and role of one of the dominant technologies of our time.

Using a mixture of historical and current case studies, this course will analyse how information technology came to occupy such a crucial role in our lives; how digital data-gathering and automated processing interact with and shape human goals, capabilities and identities; and how people can or should behave responsibly in accepting, adapting or rejecting particular technological possibilities. It will also describe and show the significance of how technologies are represented, looking at the effects of hype and the role of hopes, fears and other visions in informing popular ideas, using examples ranging from employment forecasting to science-fiction dreams.

At a more general level, the course will serve as an introduction to approaches in the field of Science and Technology Studies (chiefly drawing on sociology, anthropology and ethics) and in social and cultural history and the history of technology; and will encourage students to consider their rights and responsibilities regarding the implementation and use of digital technology.

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• outline key developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) over time, and their social consequences;
• explain the success or failure of particular ICTs in different times and places in relation to social, cultural and economic factors;
• apply the lessons of past ICT projects and visions in understanding and dealing with the innovations and challenges of our own time;
• critically assess the likely outcomes, risks and opportunities of implementing particular technologies, or adopting particular approaches for their use, in terms of their effects at the human level in the context of wider societal power dynamics.

The exact course content may vary from year to year, depending on staff availability and recent developments in the field, but will typically include the following:

• Computing before computers? Information processing in the days of paper and card
• Why do robots always rebel? Automation and the loss of human agency in fiction and fact
• "Building a brain"? Alan Turing and the vision of a learning machine
• Does hype cycle? Dreams, expectations and disappointments in the "golden age" of AI and beyond
• "Computers for the people"? Hands-on computing from counterculture to big business
• Are hackers heroes? "Subversive" computing in theory and practice
• The revolution that wasn't? Why the first home computers didn't take home users online (except in France)
• "A civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace"? Techno-utopianism and the early public Internet
• Into the Metaverse (again)? The perpetually delayed promise of a virtual-reality future
• "Algorithms of oppression"? Gender, ethnicity, and the problem of dumb machines
• "Alone, together"? Power and identity in the smartphone age

This unit is built around a core of face-to-face delivery in a physical classroom setting, mixing short lecture-style segments with seminar-style discussion based on pre-circulated readings, videos and short formative exercises. This will be supported by online materials including preserved historical websites, videos, and interactive resources such as system emulators. Online resources will be provided as appropriate. All coursework submission will be online.

Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply the lessons of the course content reflexively to their own learning experience, considering how the nature of digital systems shapes both challenges and opportunities for understanding, dialogue and engagement.

Students should/will be able to:

• outline key developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) over time, and their social consequences

Students should/will be able to:

• explain the success or failure of particular ICTs in different times and places in relation to social, cultural and economic factors
• interpret speculative visions both in fiction and in proposals for real-world technological innovation, showing how these visions respond to the concerns of their time

Student should/will be able to:

• apply the lessons of past ICT projects and visions in understanding and dealing with the innovations and challenges of our own time

Students should/will be able to:

• critically analyse arguments and documents from a range of different sources, with particular reference to the influence of proposals, visions and fantasies on public expectations and understanding
• produce both a traditional academic essay and a written piece aimed at a more general audience, each delivering a focused argument relevant to the course themes
• critically assess the likely outcomes, risks and opportunities of implementing particular technologies, or adopting particular approaches for their use, in terms of their effects at the human level in the context of wider societal power dynamics
• identify a topic for a research project and produce a critical essay or alternative submission (short documentary, online resource, etc) based on primary and secondary source material

Discussion Article: 25%

Academic Essay: 25%

Research Project: 50%

Detailed feedback on assessed coursework is provided online. Teaching staff will be available for one-to-one consultation following return of feedback.

• Cathy O'Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (Penguin, 2017)
• Thomas Mullaney et al, eds, Your Computer Is On Fire (MIT Press, 2021)
• Meredith Broussard, Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand The World (MIT Press, 2018)
• Kate Crawford, Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence (Yale University Press, 2021)
• Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell, The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New has Disrupted the Work that Matters Most (Currency, 2020)
• Zeynep Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest (Yale University Press, 2017)
• Fred Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (University of Chicago Press, 2006)
• danah boyd, It's Complicated: The Social Life of Networked Teens (Yale University Press, 2014)

HSTM units are designed to be accessible to all undergraduate students from all disciplines. They assume no prior experience.

The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) offers a range of 'free choice' units, see The Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Undergraduate teaching . Led by experienced researchers, our teaching explores science as a part of human culture, demonstrating that history is a valuable tool for understanding the present state and possible future of science, technology and medicine.

If you are unsure whether you are able to enrol on HSTM units you should contact your School Programme and Curriculum team. You may wish to contact your programme director if your programme does not currently allow you to take a HSTM unit.

You can also contact the Academic Lead for Undergraduate teaching at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine.

The unit is offered in both 10-credit and 20-credit versions to meet the requirements of different programme structures across the University. Students will be able to choose the version appropriate to their programme.

10 credit - HSTM30332

20 credit - HSTM30342