Computers and Society

Course Overview

This course explores the complex relationships between computing technologies and society. Students will:

• Examine ethical frameworks and moral reasoning in computing
• Analyze how power, politics, and values shape technological systems
• Understand issues of privacy, surveillance, and data governance
• Critically engage with questions of fairness, bias, and inequality in AI
• Explore global, labor, and environmental dimensions of computing

Prerequisites

• No formal prerequisites
• Suitable for students interested in computing and its societal impacts

Textbooks

• Optional readings include:
  • Code 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig
  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
  • Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble

Grading

• Reading Responses: 60%
• Tutorial Participation: 18%
• In-term Assessment: 22%

Schedule

Week	Date	Topic	Materials
1		Introduction and Ethics Foundations of ethics and moral reasoning in computing.
2		Politics of Technology Understanding how technologies embody political values.
3		Data and Society Data collection, classification, and infrastructures.
4		Privacy and Platforms Privacy, surveillance, and platform power.
5		Surveillance and Power Theories of surveillance and information asymmetry.
6		Reading Week No classes.
7		Race, Gender, and Computing Intersectionality and inequality in computing systems.
8		Development and Global Computing Postcolonial perspectives and computing in the Global South.
9		AI and Fairness Bias, discrimination, and accountability in AI systems.
10		Materiality and Labor Extraction, labor, and environmental impacts of computing.
11		AI and Work Algorithmic management and the future of labor.
12		Computing and Sustainability Energy use and environmental impacts of computing.
13		Course Wrap-Up Synthesis and reflections.