All the readings for the weeks ahead will be available on Canvas, unless they are available online without access restrictions or as an ebook from the library. In that case, you can access them via a link on the schedule.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| jan 22 | jan 23 | jan 24 SEM 1: Introduction First day of classes |
jan 25 | jan 26 |
| jan 29 SEM 2: Disciplinary approaches: ethics and political philosophy: moral perspectives Preparation: Mulgan, How should utilitarians think about the future? Preparation: Aylsworth and Castro, On the duty to be an attention ecologist |
jan 30 Assigned: Lab #1 (Critical Code Analysis: Content Moderation) |
jan 31 SEM 3: Disciplinary approaches: ethics and political philosophy: political perspectives Preparation: Alcázar et al., Do Automated Vehicles Face Moral Dilemmas? A Plea for a Political Approach |
feb 1 | feb 2 |
| feb 5 SEM 4: Disciplinary approaches: critical approaches Preparation: Hull, Infrastructure, Modulation, Portal: Thinking with Foucault about how Internet Architecture Shapes Subjects Preparation: Sheehey, Ethics Beyond Transparency: Resisting the Racial Injustice of Predictive Policing Lab section group A (6-7pm) |
feb 6 Lab section group B (6-7pm) |
feb 7 SEM 5: Disciplinary approaches: critical approaches Preparation: Coeckelbergh and Reijers, Cryptocurrencies as Narrative Technologies Lab section group C (7-8pm) |
feb 8 Lab section group D (6:30-7:30pm) |
feb 9 |
| feb 12 SEM 6: Data: privacy Preparation: Eubanks,The digital Poorhouse Preparation: Véliz, Privacy is Power, chapters 3 & 4 (chapters 1 & 2 recommended) |
feb 13 | feb 14 SEM 7: Data: privacy Preparation: Rouvroy and Poullet, The Right to Informational Self-Determination and the Value of Self-Development: Reassessing the Importance of Privacy for Democracy Preparation: Rosen, The Right to be Forgotten Preparation: De Baets, A historian's view on the right to be forgotten |
feb 15 | feb 16 DUE: Sun, February 18: Lab 1 (Critical Analysis: Content Moderation) |
| feb 19 Assigned: Lab 2 (Specification: Smart Thermostat) Long Weekend |
feb 20 | feb 21 SEM 8: Data: transparency Preparation: Pasquale, The Black Box Society, pp. 59-80, pp. 140-165 Preparation: Nguyen, Transparency is Surveillance Lab section group C (7-8pm) |
feb 22 Lab section group D (6:30-7:30pm) |
feb 23 |
| feb 26 SEM 9: Data and AI: fairness and justice Preparation: Kent and Hoberman, Data & Reality, pp. 21-59 (Preface to 1st edition, chapters 1 & 2) Preparation: Lemov, Big Data is People Preparation: Anderson, The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete Lab section group A (6-7pm) |
feb 27 Lab section group B (6-7pm) |
feb 28 SEM 10: Data and AI: fairness and justice Preparation: Kleinberg et al., Inherent Trade-Offs in the Fair Determination of Risk Scores Preparation: Green, Escaping the Impossibility of Fairness |
feb 29 | mar 1 DUE: Sun, March 3: Lab 2 (Specification: Smart Thermostat): |
| mar 4 SEM 11: Individuals: autonomy and consent Preparation: Simmons, Tacit Consent and Political Obligation Preparation: Solove, Privacy Self-Management and the Consent Dilemma Assigned: Lab 3 (Implementation: HireSense) Assigned: Final Project Lab section group A (6-7pm) |
mar 5 Lab section group B (6-7pm) |
mar 6 SEM 12: Individuals: autonomy and consent Preparation: Schmidt and Engelen, The ethics of nudging: and overview Preparation: Ienca and Vayena, Digital Nudging: Exploring the Ethical Boundaries Preparation: Bartmann, The Ethics of AI-Powered Climate Nudging—How Much AI Should We Use to Save the Planet? Lab section group C (7-8pm) |
mar 7 Lab section group D (6:30-7:30pm) |
mar 8 |
| mar 11 SEM 13: Individuals: flourishing and the attention economy Preparation: Carr, The World Wide Cage Preparation: Lyngs et al., “So, Tell Me What Users Want, What They Really, Really Want!” Preparation: Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction, chapter 10 mentor TA meetings |
mar 12 mentor TA meetings |
mar 13 SEM 14: Individuals: flourishing and the attention economy Preparation: Williams, Stand Out of Our Light, (short) chapters 3, 4, 7, 8 mentor TA meetings |
mar 14 mentor TA meetings |
mar 15 DUE: Sun March, 17: Lab 3 (Implementation: HireSense) |
| mar 18 SEM 15: project research workshops Preparation: Farmer et al., Collaborators in Creation Assigned: Lab 4 (UI: User Centered Design) Lab section group A (6-7pm) |
mar 19 Lab section group B (6-7pm) |
mar 20 SEM 16: project research workshops Lab section group C (7-8pm) |
mar 21 Lab section group D (6:30-7:30pm) |
mar 22 DUE: Final project proposal |
| mar 25 Spring Break |
mar 26 Spring Break |
mar 27 Spring Break |
mar 28 Spring Break |
mar 29 Spring Break |
| apr 1 SEM 17: The public sphere: democratic engagement and public discourse Preparation: Cohen, Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy Preparation: Christiano, Algorithms, Manipulation, and Democracy |
apr 2 | apr 3 SEM 18: The public sphere: democratic engagement and public discourse Preparation: Gillespie, Content moderation, AI, and the question of scale Preparation: Sunstein and Vermeule, Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures |
apr 4 | apr 5 DUE: Sun, April 7: Lab 4 (UI: User Centered Design) |
| apr 8 SEM 19: The public sphere: regulation Preparation: Pasquale, The Black Box Society, chapter 6 Preparation: Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights Preparation: Petropoulos, A European Union Approach to Regulating Big Tech mentor TA meetings |
apr 9 mentor TA meetings |
apr 10 SEM 20: The public sphere: regulation Preparation: Zetter, Of Course Congress Is Clueless About Tech Preparation: Chomanski, The Missing Ingredient in the Case for Regulating Big Tech Preparation: Balkin, How to Regulate (and Not Regulate) Social Media mentor TA meetings |
apr 11 mentor TA meetings |
apr 12 |
| apr 15 SEM 21: Simulation: social and political engagement |
apr 16 | apr 17 SEM 22: Simulation: social and political engagement |
apr 18 | apr 19 |
| apr 22 SEM 23: project presentations |
apr 23 | apr 24 SEM 24: project presentations |
apr 25 | apr 26 |
| apr 29 | apr 30 | may 1 | may 2 | may 3 DUE: Sun, May 5: Final project |
| may 6 | may 7 Last day of classes |
may 8 Exam period |
may 9 Exam period |
may 10 Exam period |
| may 13 Exam period |
may 14 Exam period |
may 15 Exam period |
may 16 Exam period |
may 17 Exam period |