STS 2921

Inventing an Information Society

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2019-2020.

Explores the history of information technology from the 1830s to the present by considering the technical and social history of telecommunications (telegraph and the telephone), radio, television, computers, and the Internet. Emphasis is on the changing relationship between science and technology, the economic aspects of innovation, gender and technology, and other social relations of this technology.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (HA-AS)

• Knowledge of ethical issues regarding patent disputes, proprietary knowledge, privacy, and access of information technology.
• Ability to write essays that make sound arguments about major themes in the history of information technology. Ability to discuss these themes orally with the professor and other students.
• Understanding of the complex, mutual relationship between technological changes introduced by engineers and large social changes (e.g. TV, the rise of suburbanization, computerization of society, and the advent of the Information Age). Understanding why and how social groups invent technology and how the use of technology changes society.
• Awareness of such current issues as the regulation of telecommunications and the Internet.

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