Graduate students who are interested in the Technology and Society Ph.D. emphasis are invited to sign up for the Technology and Society Gateway Seminar offered this quarter.
Technology and Society Gateway Seminar: Infrastructures of the Information Age
Tuesdays, 1 to 3 p.m.
Social Sciences and Media Studies Building 1310
Course Numbers: POLS594N, COMPSCI595N, SOC591, ENGL593, FMST 595TS
The Technology and Society gateway seminar is designed to introduce graduate students who are interested in the Technology and Society Ph.D. emphasis to an interdisciplinary area of research. The gateway is also required for all Technology and Society Ph.D. emphasis students. Students who have already taken the gateway course but are interested in this topic are encouraged to take the course again. CITS affiliated faculty members are also invited to participate in the seminar. The course is graded P/NP with attendance, participation, and a class presentation during the quarter as the only requirements.
The winter 2013 gateway seminar will focus on infrastructures of the information age, the physical objects, sites, and systems through which data is distributed on local, national, or global scales. The course will provide opportunities for students to engage with interdisciplinary research on Internet, mobile telephone, transoceanic cable, satellite, and/or broadcasting systems. Each week, seminar participants will develop a presentation and facilitate a discussion about an infrastructure-related research project in his or her area of interest. Students can either choose from a bibliography provided by the instructor or select another topic. The course will provide opportunities to explore information infrastructures in relation to such issues as: mapping; history; economics; globalization; citizenship; digital divides/ICTD; policy and regulation; network design; environmental concerns; security; labor; art; visualization; and cultures of everyday life. Students will be asked to share relevant websites, maps, and media as part of our collective investigation of information infrastructures. We will also do an infrastructure site visit together.
Direct questions to Lisa Parks, Director of CITS and Professor of Film and Media Studies, at parks@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu.