קולוקיום מחשבה ביקורתית וטכנולוגיות עכשוויות

קולוקיום מחשבה ביקורתית וטכנולוגיות עכשוויות

פרופ׳ לירן רזינסקי | התכנית ללימודי פרשנות ותרבות
ד״ר דניסה קרה רשף | התכנית למדע טכנולוגיה וחברה
| Critical Studies of Emerging Technologies colloquium  

מספר הקורס: 271265-01
 

סוג הקורס: שיעור
היקף נ"ז: 4 נ״ז
שנת לימודים: 2024-2025
סמסטר: שנתי
יום ושעה ג׳ 14:00-16:00
שעת קבלה: לפי קביעה
מייל מרצה: פרופ׳ לירן רזינסקי liranr@biu.ac.il
ד״ר דניסה קרה רשף denisa.kera@gmail.com

 

תיאור הקורס ומטרות למידה 

 

תקציר הקורס 

The colloquium is the place where students of the specialization (of both programs) will meet regularly. It will provide an interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners, and students to engage critically with emerging technologies. The primary aim is to explore the intersection of emergent technology and critical theory with focus on implications of technological advancements on culture, ethics, politics, and human behavior. Weekly sessions throughout the academic year will be dedicated to a specific theme such as AI and ethics, data privacy, surveillance technologies, and the socio-political dimensions of technology. It will feature keynote presentations by scholars, students, or industry experts, followed by discussions and feedback from the participants. The format will encourage active discussion, enabling participants to critique and build upon each other's work, thereby enhancing the quality and depth of research. To ensure a rich and diverse discourse, the colloquium will invite contributions from various disciplines including STS, philosophy, sociology, law, and computer science. Each session will explore a key concept and provide students with the tools to analyze how particular technology influences and is influenced by cultural, social, and political dynamics. It will cover a range of contemporary technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, surveillance systems, and digital media, examining their ethical, cultural, and regulatory implications.

 

מטרות/תוצרי הלמידה

The expected outcomes include the development of a collaborative network of researchers focused on critical technology studies, presentations at conferences and publication opportunities in special issues of relevant academic journals, and the establishment of a dynamic forum for ongoing dialogue on emerging technologies. The colloquium will also aim to influence policy discussions by highlighting the ethical and societal implications of technological developments.

 

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the theoretical frameworks and key concepts used in the critical study of emerging technologies.
• Gain practical insights into research methodologies in critical studies of emergent technologies by directly observing and engaging with researchers in the field.
• Analyze the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of contemporary technological innovations.
• Develop skills to critically assess the impact of technologies on culture, ethics, politics. 
• Engage with interdisciplinary perspectives and debates surrounding the development and use of technology.

 

By the end of the course, students will have a nuanced understanding of how contemporary technologies operate within and against societal norms and values or define visions for the future. They will be equipped with critical tools to interrogate and engage with technological developments. This colloquium will serve as a stepping stone for further specialized study in critical theories of technology, in philosophical, cultural or social question surrounding emerging technologies, or in practical engagement with technology policy and design.

 

למידה פעילה - תכנון מהלך השיעורים: 

 

Introduction: Overview of the field, defining key terms and concepts.

 

Critical Studies Methodologies: Introduction to research methods for studying technology critically.

 

Philosophical Perspectives on Emerging Technologies: Insights from philosophy on human-technology relationships.

 

Ethical Dimensions of Emerging Technology: Discussion of privacy, surveillance, consent, and the ethical use of technology.

 

Legal and Regulatory Dimensions of Emerging Technology: Examination of global and local regulatory frameworks governing technology deployment and use.

 

Cultural Practices and Emerging Technology: How technology shapes and is shaped by cultural norms and practices.

 

Art and Emerging Technology: Emerging artistic practices and technologies as medium and object of art. 

 

Environmental Impact: Analyzing the ecological footprints of emerging technologies.

 

The Role of Emerging Technologies in Modern Warfare: use in defense and the ethical implications of automated weaponry.

 

Health: Impact of technological innovations in healthcare on patient care and medical ethics.

 

Digital Divide and Access: Issues of equity, access, and the implications of technological exclusion.

 

Social Media, Public Discourse, and Democracy: How social media platforms influence public opinion, political polarization, and democratic processes.

 

Emerging Technologies and Speculative Ethics: Discussing potential future technologies (neural interfaces, enhanced humans) and their ethical considerations.

 

Case Studies in Emerging Technologies: In-depth analysis of specific technologies such as AI, quantum computing, IoTs, and blockchain.

 

Future Directions in Critical Studies of Emerging Technologies: Summarizing key learnings and exploring future research directions in the field.

 

ציון סופי

 

Assessment:

Evaluation will be based on participation in discussions, two class presentations, and a final written assignment (a 8 pages long) focusing on one of emergent technologies topics explored in the course. By the end of the colloquium, students should be able to independently assess and employ research methods appropriate to their own academic and professional interests.

 

 

דרישות הקורס

 

• מטלות – כתיבת ״יומן מחקר״ (ר למטה), שני רפרטים בכיתה, מטלת סיום.
• נוכחות - חובה

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דרישות קדם

אין

 

שיטות למידה

The course will utilize a combination of lectures, discussion sessions and guest seminars, and practical workshops. Students will engage with a variety of learning materials including scholarly articles, case studies, and media analyses. Students will maintain a research diary documenting their observations, reflections, and learning progress throughout the course. This portfolio will serve as a personal and professional development tool, showcasing their ability to engage with and understand complex research activities. Students will attend live research sessions where they can observe researchers during various stages of their work, from hypothesis formulation to data analysis and interpretation. This firsthand observation will provide insight into the iterative nature of research and the decision-making processes involved.

 ביבליוגרפיה

תפורט בהמשך. מספר דוגמאות מהפריטים שיכללו:

 

Algorithmic biases:

 

Reading: Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen, “Excavating AI: The Politics of Training Sets for Machine Learning (September 19, 2019) excavating.ai 

De Vries, P., & Schinkel, W. (2019). Algorithmic anxiety: Masks and camouflage in artistic imaginaries of facial recognition algorithms. Big Data & Society, 6(1), 2053951719851532. doi.org/10.1177/2053951719851532
Yang, K., Qinami, K., Fei-Fei, L., Deng, J., & Russakovsky, O. (2020). Towards Fairer Datasets: Filtering and Balancing the Distribution of the People Subtree in the ImageNet Hierarchy. Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 547–558. doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3375709 

Algorithmic Governmentality:

Ziewitz, M. (2016). Special Issue Introduction: Governing Algorithms: Myth, Mess, and Methods. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 41(1), 3–16. https://www.jstor.org/stable/ 43671280

Rouvroy, A. (2020). Algorithmic Governmentality and the Death of Politics. Green European Journal. https://www.academia.edu/44097966/ Algorithmic_Governmentality_and_the_Death_of_Politics

Dangers of Algorithmic Governances

Antoinette, R., & Bernard, S. (2016). The Digital Regime of Truth: From the Algorithmic 

Alex Rosenblat et als.: Algorithmic Accountability

John Danaher: The Threat of Algocracy: Reality, Resistance and Accommodation Kim, E. S. (2020). Deep learning and principal–agent problems of algorithmic governance:The new materialism perspective. Technology in Society, 63. 

Data

Loukissas, Yanni A. All Data Are Local: Thinking Critically in a Data-Driven Society. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2019. 

Lundberg, I., Narayanan, A., Levy, K., & Salganik, M. J. (2019). Privacy, Ethics, and Data Access: A Case Study of the Fragile Families Challenge. Socius, 5. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/2378023118813023 

 

The Humans in the Loop

Paulsen, Kris. “Shitty Automation”: Art, Artificial Intelligence, Humans in the Loop. Media-n 16.1 (2020): 4-23.
Kotliar, Dan M. The return of the social: Algorithmic identity in an age of symbolic demise. New Media & Society 2020, Vol. 22(7) 1152–1167 

Algorithmic Ethics

Amoore, Louise. Cloud Ethics. Algorithms and the Attributes of Ourselves and Others. Duke UP, 2020.