Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2026 - CMNS 453 OL01

Advanced Topics in Technology and Society (4)

Blockchain & Digital Culture

Class Number: 4949

Delivery Method: Online

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Online

  • Prerequisites:

    26 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 60 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Advanced seminar to discuss issues in the interplay between contemporary society and new computer/communication technologies, including generative AI, big data, digital surveillance, the quantified self, and more. The seminar will offer students the chance to engage with theories of technology and society, as well as public policy that concerns digital technology and AI. This course can be repeated twice for credit if the topics are different (up to a maximum of three times).

COURSE DETAILS:

Topic for Spring 2026:  Blockchain & Digital Culture

For the past two decades, we have accepted that a significant part of culture is digital. We live much of our lives online and in public. Our digital technologies have developed into seemingly contradictory platforms that provide opportunities for contestation and distraction, or political mobilization and commercialization. There are a myriad of expanding opportunities and risks in blockchain that are learned from social media and big data and reacting to them. Newer waves of disruptive innovations like blockchain, Bitcoin, and Ethereum are rapidly impacting money, decentralized finance, gaming, governance, art, and music, among many other fields and industries. The next wave of the Internet, Web3, may be upon us whether we are ready for it or not.

We will explore how the Internet is shifting from Web 2.0 platform cultural economies to decentralized ones and read about the various stakeholders who are shaping blockchain sociotechnical spaces and imaginaries. We will learn how scholars are documenting and making sense of how blockchain technologies are impacting our digital culture. We will also explore how people, money, science, technologies, innovation culture, and power are creating social, political, and technological change. Throughout this course we will address the relationship between these concepts and others, including the changing nature of money and cultural anxieties and hopes about technology.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

  • Achieve a command of current research and theory in Communication approaches to the information society and digital culture.
  • Achieve an understanding and command of blockchain concepts, technologies, and controversies.
  • Analyze how power, identity, and politics shape the development of the information society and the role of disruptive technologies and digital culture.
  • Constructively engage with innovators and critics of the development and adoption of blockchain technologies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other projects and platforms.

Grading

  • Writing Responses to Course Materials 90%
  • Final Assignment 10%

NOTES:

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relationship to established university-wide practices. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 with regard to Student Discipline. For further information visit: www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.


Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Readings and other course materials will be made available through Canvas.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.