多伦多大学Sociology of Technology Syllabus

今年第一次上这门科技社会学的课，其实内容主要还是digital technology,所以不妨看作是digital sociology的syllabus，希望对感兴趣的友邻有所帮助。

Course Description

Technology and society are unthinkable without each other — each provides the means and framework in which the other develops. Today, new digital technologies have had a profound influence on everyday life, social relations, government, commerce, the economy and the production and dissemination of knowledge. To explore this dynamic, this course investigates a wide array of questions on the interaction between technology, society, politics, and economics. We will discuss how our interactions with technologies, especially computers and the Internet, Big Data, social media, and other digital technologies, have become central for our understanding of contemporary social life. Students will also learn various theoretical perspectives regarding the technology-society relationship, as well as how the current sociological inquiry of digital technologies is influenced by the unique affordances of digital data and research methods.

The main objectives and learning outcomes associated with this course are as follows:

• To demonstrate knowledge of important concepts related to the research on digital technologies in sociology and other related disciplines
• To critically examine the lived experiences of digitally mediated society and existing theories developed to frame the interactions between technology and society.
• To improve academic writing skills and the ability to synthesize theoretical and empirical evidence to articulate a compelling argument and to motivate future research

Course Reading

The required reading listed for each week will be provided on Quercus for students to read online or print. Readings marked as supplementary are not required and are not testable, although they are a great resource for those interested in reading more deeply about a particular topic and can be used as sources for the assignments.

Evaluation

Assignment

Weight

Due date

Participation

15%

Ongoing

Reading response

15%

Nov. 15

Movie review

20%

Oct 4

Critical question

15%

Oct 25

Term paper

35%

Dec. 13

Movie Review (20)

Topic: Students are asked to write a review of a movie/documentary (1000 words) dealing with digital technology. A list of movies attached with the syllabus is available, and these movies are pre-approved for review. Other movies can be chosen with the permission of the instructor/TA. You aren't expected to reference particular texts at this stage, rather it's about ideas: how to use sociological conceptual tools to examine the chosen movie content. But, if you do mention a particular work (book, article, website etc.), then please do cite it properly according to Sociology department guidelines. This is not simply about your personal opinion of the film! The majority of your paper should be academic (i.e., don’t spend too much space reviewing the performance of actors/actresses).

One Reading Response (15)

Reading responses are designed to guide and sharpen your engagement with course texts. A reading response asks the reader [you] to review the chosen reading and explain and defend your personal reaction to it. You will choose one peer-review article[1] from the course reading list and review it in the format of short essay (750 words). Two components should include in the writing: 1. A careful summary of the work’s central features such as its main puzzle, research question, main thesis, and methodology. 2. A examine, explain and defense of your reaction to the work: you can either evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the chosen articles, or engage a critical conversation between the chosen article’s argument/concept and your own life experience.

Final Project (15+35)

Final projects will explore the nexus of digital technology and human life by completing a term paper. This assignment is split into two main parts:

• Critical Question: The first is a critical question due on Oct 25 in which students outline their intended topic and a tentative research question which will be explored in the final term paper. You should choose a topic and use it to create a critical question for your term paper. The 'question' can be an actual question, a question with sub-questions, a statement to be discussed, a hypothesis to be tested, or any other way you can think of to problematize the subject. (The question can have a subtitle, and up to three sub-questions but no more). The question must be:

1. Critical, that is it must challenge and go beyond the 'common-sense' and the mundane;
2. Of sociological or more broadly social scientific interest;
3. Possible to answer given the constraints of time and resources available to you;
4. Justified with a brief 300-word outline.
5. Supported by 10 indicative references (key examples of the kinds of sources you will use).

(2) Term Paper: The second is a longer, finalized term paper (3000 words) that is due on Dec 15 and involves a detail clarification and exploration of your critical essay question (35%). It is expected that you show familiarity with social theories and empirical research, and approach the subject in a critical manner. More in-depth instructions will be posted on Quercus.

Participation (15)

Participation will be assessed on the basis of in-class engagement and assessments. The instructor will randomly choose 3-5 class days in which you will complete a quiz, short writing assignment, or other activity. These activities are designed to demonstrate that you have done the reading and paid attention in lecture. If you miss more than three class sessions, it is likely to compromise your participation grade.

*All assignments should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. They should include a cover page with a title, your name, student ID number, the course name, and the date. Assignments should be clearly formatted and proofread, with references cited correctly according to ASA guidelines.

Students who miss the test or are late in submitting an assignment for medical reasons, need to email the instructor (not the TA), and declare their absence on the system (ACORN).

(NOTE: Because of Covid-19, students do NOT need to submit the usual documentation, i.e., medical notes or the Verification of Illness forms).Students who miss the test or are late in submitting an assignment for other reasons, such as family or other personal reasons, should request their College Registrar to email the instructor.

Movie List

Her(2013) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

Facebook Dilemma (2018) Part 1 or Part 2

Part1https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9207216/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

Part2https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9209914/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2(Links to an external site.)

The Circle (2017) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4287320/(Links to an external site.)

Snowden (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3774114/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

Citizenfour (2014) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4044364/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

iHuman (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11279794/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

The Social Dilemma (2020) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11464826/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

In the Age of AI (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11240426/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

The Social Network (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1(Links to an external site.)

Nosedive (Black Mirror, 2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5497778/(Links to an external site.)

Screening Surveillance (2019) https://www.sscqueens.org/projects/screening-surveillance(Links to an external site.)

Most movies in this list are offered by UofT Libraries, available for individual streaming when logged in with your UTORID. Individual title records are available in the UofT Libraries Catalogue. Criterion-on-Demand and The Film Platform Collection are the two suggested channels that you can use your UTORid to access more tech-related movie resources

More details in: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/cinema/watch-filmLinks to an external site.

Course Schedule

Every attempt will be made to follow this schedule; however, it is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. Any adjustments to topics or readings will be announced on Quercus.

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Week 1 (September 13): Introduction: Technological society and digitlised sociology

Required Readings:

Selwyn, Neil, 2019, What is Digital Sociology, Chapter 1

Quan-Haase, Anabel, 2020, Technology&Society (3rd Edition), Oxford University Press, pp1-22

Supplementary Readings:

DiMaggio, Paul, Eszter Hargittai, W. Russell Neuman, and John P. Robinson. 2001. “Social Implications of the Internet.” Annual Review of Sociology 27(1):307-336.

Fussey, Pete, and Silke Roth, 2020, “Digitizing Sociology: Continuity and Change in the Internet Era.” Sociology 54, no. 4: 659–74.

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge, pp1-19

Week 2(September 20): Theories and concepts

Required Readings:

Selwyn, Neil, 2019, What is Digital Sociology, Chapter 2

Lupton, Deborah. Digital sociology. Routledge, 2014. pp.20-41

Supplementary Readings:

Klein, Hans K., and Daniel Lee Kleinman. 2002. "The social construction of technology: Structural considerations." Science, Technology, & Human Values 27(1): 28-52.

Chayko, Mary. 2015. “The First Web Theorist? Georg Simmel and the Legacy of ‘The Web of Group-Affiliations’." Information, Communication, & Society 18(12): 1419-1422.

Julien, Chris. 2015. "Bourdieu, social capital and online interaction." Sociology 49(2): 356-373.

Gunderson, Ryan. 2016. "The sociology of technology before the turn to technology." Technology in Society 47: 40-48.

Dafoe, Allan. 2015. “On Technological Determinism: A Typology, Scope Conditions, and a Mechanism.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 40(6): 1047–76.

Week 3(September 27): Digital research methods

Required Readings:

Neil Selwyn, 2019, What is Digital Sociology, Chapter 4

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge, pp.42-65

Supplementary Readings:

Ruppert, Evelyn, John Law, and Mike Savage. 2013. “Reassembling Social Science Methods: The Challenge of Digital Devices.” Theory, Culture & Society 30(4): 22–46.

Edelmann, Achim, Tom Wolff, Danielle Montagne, and Christopher A. Bail. 2020. "Computational social science and sociology." Annual Review of Sociology 46: 61-81.

Murthy, Dhiraj. 2008. "Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research." Sociology 42(5): 837-855.

Kaufmann, Mareile, and Meropi Tzanetakis. 2020. “Doing Internet Research with Hard-to-Reach Communities: Methodological Reflections on Gaining Meaningful Access.” Qualitative Research 20 (6): 927–44.

Murphy, Alexandra K., Colin Jerolmack, and DeAnna Smith. 2021 "Ethnography, Data Transparency, and the Information Age." Annual Review of Sociology 47:41-61.

Week 4(October 4): Tech-driven interaction: social relationship and community

Required Readings:

Quan-Haase, Anabel, 2020, Technology &Society (3rd Edition), Oxford University Press, pp184-234

Supplementary Readings:

Rettie, Ruth. 2009. "Mobile phone communication: Extending Goffman to mediated interaction." Sociology 43(3): 421-438.

Rettie, Ruth. 2009. "SMS: Exploiting the interactional characteristics of near-synchrony." Information, Communication & Society 12(8): 1131-1148.

Murthy, Dhiraj. 2012. "Towards a sociological understanding of social media: Theorizing Twitter." Sociology 46(6): 1059-1073.

Diamant-Cohen, A. and Golan, O. 2017. Downloading culture: community building in a decentralized file-sharing collective. Information, Communication & Society, 20(11), pp.1737-1755.

Week 5 (October 11, Thanksgiving, No class)

Week 6 (October 18): Tech-driven life: Identity, body, and emotions

Required Readings:

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge, Pp.164-187

McStay, Andrew. 2018. Emotional AI: The rise of empathic media. Sage. pp1-28

Supplementary Readings:

Goriunova, Olga. 2019. "The digital subject: People as data as persons." Theory, Culture & Society 36(6): 125-145.

Goode, J., 2010. The digital identity divide: how technology knowledge impacts college students. New media & society, 12(3), pp.497-513.

Sanders, Rachel.2017."Self-tracking in the digital era: Biopower, patriarchy, and the new biometric body projects." Body & Society 23(1): 36-63.

Kennedy, Helen, and Rosemary Lucy Hill. 2018. "The feeling of numbers: Emotions in everyday engagements with data and their visualisation."Sociology52(4): 830-848.

Laura Grindstaff & Gabriella Torres Valencia. 2021. The filtered self: selfies and gendered media production, Information, Communication & Society, 24(5): 733-750

Week 7(October 25): Tech-driven inequality and digital divide

Required Readings:

Quan-Haase, Anabel, 2020, Technology &Society (3rd Edition), Oxford University Press, pp119-139

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge, Pp.117-140

Halford, Susan, and Mike Savage. 2010. "Reconceptualizing digital social inequality." Information, Communication & Society 13(7): 937-955.

Supplementary Readings:

Deursen, Alexander JAM van, and Jan AGM van Dijk. 2019. “The First-Level Digital Divide Shifts from Inequalities in Physical Access to Inequalities in Material Access.” New Media & Society 21(2): 354–75.

White, Patrick, and Neil Selwyn. 2013. "Moving on-line? An analysis of patterns of adult Internet use in the UK, 2002–2010." Information, Communication & Society 16(1): 1-27.

Van Dijk, J.A., 2006. Digital divide research, achievements, and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4-5), pp.221-235.

Hargittai E. 2010. ‘Digital na(t)ives? Variation in Internet skills and uses among members of the

“Net generation..” Sociological Inquiry 80(1): 92–113.

Hargittai E and Dobransky K (2017) Old dogs, new clicks: digital inequality in skills and uses

among older adults. Canadian Journal of Communication 42(2): 195–212.

Cruz, Taylor M. 2020. “Perils of Data-Driven Equity: Safety-Net Care and Big Data’s Elusive Grasp on Health Inequality.” Big Data & Society, (January, online first).

Kvasny, Lynette. 2006. "Cultural (re) production of digital inequality in a US community technology initiative." Information, Communication & Society 9(02): 160-181.

Brayne, S. 2017. “Big Data Surveillance: The Case of Policing.” American Sociological Review 82(5):977–1008.

Week 8(November 1): Digital labor

Required Readings:

Quan-Haase, Anabel, 2020, Technology &Society (3rd Edition), Oxford University Press, pp140-160.

Selwyn, Neil, 2019, What is Digital Sociology, Chapter 1. Pp33-65

Supplementary Readings:

Bucher, Eliane, and Christian Fieseler. 2017. "The flow of digital labor." New media & society 19(11): 1868-1886.

Siciliano, Michael L. 2016."Control from on high: Cloud-computing, skill, and acute frustration among analytics workers in the digital publishing industry." In Research in the Sociology of Work. Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Postigo, Hector. 2016. “The Socio-Technical Architecture of Digital Labor: Converting Play into YouTube Money.” New Media & Society 18(2): 332–49.

Week 9 (November 8, Reading Week)

Week 10(November 15): Platform economy and surveillance capitalism

Required Readings:

Kenney, Martin, and John Zysman. “The Rise of the Platform Economy.” Issues in Science and Technology 32, no. 3 (Spring 2016).

Zuboff, Shoshana, Norma Möllers, David Murakami Wood, and David Lyon. 2019. "Surveillance Capitalism: An Interview with Shoshana Zuboff." Surveillance & Society 17(1/2): 257-266.

Supplementary Readings:

Zuboff, Shoshana. 2015. "Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization." Journal of information technology 30(1): 75-89.

Vallas, Steven, and Juliet B. Schor. 2020. "What do platforms do? Understanding the gig economy." Annual Review of Sociology 46: 273-294.

Schor, Juliet B., and Steven P. Vallas. 2021. "The Sharing Economy: Rhetoric and Reality." Annual Review of Sociology 47: 369-389

Week 11(November 22) Digital participation and tech-driven repression

Required Readings:

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge. pp.141-163

Deibert, Ron. 2015. "Authoritarianism goes global: cyberspace under siege." Journal of Democracy 26(3): 64-78.

Supplementary Readings:

Lei, Ya-Wen. 2021. “Delivering Solidarity: Platform Architecture and Collective Contention in China’s Platform Economy.” American Sociological Review 86(2): 279–309.

MacKinnon, R., 2011. Liberation Technology: China's" Networked Authoritarianism". Journal of Democracy, 22(2), pp.32-46.

Julia Velkova & Anne Kaun (2021) Algorithmic resistance: media practices and the politics of repair, Information, Communication & Society, 24(4): 523-540

Week 12(November 29): Digital culture

Required Readings:

Deuze, Mark. 2006. "Participation, remediation, bricolage: Considering principal components of a digital culture." The information society 22(2): 63-75.

Lyon, David. "Digital citizenship and surveillance| Surveillance culture: engagement, exposure, and ethics in digital modernity." International Journal of Communication 11(19):824-842

Supplementary Readings:

Kecheng Fang (2020) Turning a communist party leader into an internet meme: the political and apolitical aspects of China’s toad worship culture, Information, Communication & Society, 23:1, 38-58

Brian Elliott (2018) Work, culture, and play in the neoliberal condition, Information, Communication & Society, 21(9): 1279-1292

McLean, Paul. 2016. Culture in networks. John Wiley & Sons, 2016: Chapter 1

Week 13 (December 6): New directions and future challenges

Required Readings:

Lupton, Deborah. 2014. Digital Sociology. Routledge. Chapter 5

Jenna Burrell and Marion Fourcade. 2021. The Society of Algorithms. Annual Review of Sociology 47:213-237

Supplementary Readings:

Joyce, Kelly, Laurel Smith-Doerr, Sharla Alegria, Susan Bell, Taylor Cruz, Steve G. Hoffman, Safiya Umoja Noble, and Benjamin Shestakofsky. 2021. “Toward a Sociology of Artificial Intelligence: A Call for Research on Inequalities and Structural Change.” Socius, online first

Ruppert, Evelyn, Engin Isin, and Didier Bigo. 2017. "Data politics." Big data & society 4(2): 1-7

Week 14 (Pre-recorded lecture will be available as the make-up for Thanksgiving Monday): Digital societies during the Pandemic

Required Readings:

Vallee, Mickey.2020. “Doing Nothing Does Something: Embodiment and Data in the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Big Data & Society, Online first.

Wamsley D, Chin-Yee B. 2020. COVID-19, Digital health technology and the politics of the unprecedented. Big Data & Society. Online first

Liu, Chuncheng, and Ross Graham. 2020. “Making Sense of Algorithms: Relational Perception of Contact Tracing and Risk Assessment during COVID-19.” Big Data & Society. Online first.