|
Digital technologies provide an infrastructure for work, socialising, education, active citizenship, protest and surveillance. What are the dominant imaginaries and expectations surrounding digital infrastructures and what kinds of values inform their development?. Are these technologies neutral? What are the social, political, economic and cultural implications of this? How do experiences in Ireland compare internationally? This module will provide a broad theoretical and conceptual grounding to help students to understand these questions and to critically examine the emergence and ongoing development of digital infrastructures and related institutions, political economies and cultures. Students will be introduced to contemporary social theories of digital societies including surveillance/data/platform capitalism, datafication, and the attention economy. These will be explored through topics including: digital work, identities online, games and play online, digital inequalities, online risks and safety, digital literacy and digital policies. We will also consider the environmental impacts of the digital.
|