SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 353-4

Social Impacts of Information Technology

Prerequisites:

CMNS 253; and CMNS 261 or 362.

Overview:

This course asks students to consider the possible social impacts of information technology – that is, the impacts communication technology may have on national culture and cultural production, social association, politics, economics, and individual and collective agency. We will do this through a consideration of the ways in which technology has been imagined to relate to society at various levels (economics, culture, politics), and through an analysis of what is emerging (in discourse at least) as an “information society”. We will take as a primary case the social practice, organization and delivery of education and current initiatives in the development of educational technologies and their possible social impacts and meanings. We will also give some attention to issues around information technology and possibilities for community development.

The course will be divided into two parts. In the first half of the semester, students will be introduced to various theoretical perspectives around the relation of technology and society, specifically with the goals of filling in some content to the notion of the “information society”. During this first part of the course, students will be divided into groups, with whom they will develop a technology proposal (outlined below).

The second half of the semester will deal specifically with the issue of education as a practical case in the assessment of possible social impacts of information technology. Some brief consideration will be given to the history of higher education as a social, cultural and political practice (as an information technology in its own right), while the brunt of the discussion will be around the various social policy issues emerging from the development of technologically mediated education.

Required Readings:

Custom courseware available from the Harbour Centre bookstore.

Grades and Assignments:

The students will be responsible for two individual and one group assignment. The two individual assignments will make up 55% of the grade (15% and 40% respectively). The group assignment will comprise another 35%, with the remaining 10% for class participation.

Assignments:

1. The first individual assignment will be a short (4-5 page) analysis of an information technology application, preferably a more socially contentious one (e.g. Napster, telelearning, GMOs, etc.) from the viewpoint of one of the theoretical perspectives outlined in the first half of the course. It will be due at mid-term.
2. The group assignment will be an in-class presentation on the technology design the group has chosen. The presentation should outline the general social need the technology is meant to address, and the social problem it is meant to solve, as well as the benefit arising from it. It should also include a history of the social context the technology is meant to exist in and an analysis of who it is aimed at. The presentations will take place in the weeks before mid-term, and should be accompanied by a 10 page written dossier.
3. The final individual assignment is an assessment of the possible social impacts of one of the technologies presented by the groups in the first half of the semester, isolating potential critical objections to them and raising considered, ethical responses. It should be 12-15 pages in length and will be due the last week of classes.

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty” and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations section).