52718 The Social Life of Technology
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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks
Description
In this subject, students explore the relationship between technology and social change through a series of case studies on topics including media, transport and domestic technologies. Students reflect on the ways that technologies have shaped life in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries and how new technologies in the form of AI and automation are predicted to change our ways of life in the future. Covering a range of technologies – from communication platforms and health aids, to devices using artificial intelligence – students explore social resistance to technologies and theories for understanding why some technologies are adopted (or not adopted) because of social rather than technological reasons. Students develop a clear understanding of the social and ethical implications of technology.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| a. | Explain important concepts, terms and debates in Science and Technology Studies |
|---|---|
| b. | Collate and analyse evidence in relation to concepts introduced in the subject. |
| c. | Communicate complex ideas professionally. |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:
- Apply theoretically informed understandings of communication industries to independent and collaborative projects across a range of media (1.2)
- Employ appropriate research and inquiry skills to independently gather, organise and analyse information across diverse platforms (2.1)
- Exemplify effective and appropriate communication in different communication industry contexts (6.1)
Teaching and learning strategies
This subject includes both synchronous tutorials and asynchronous (self-directed) activities. Student learning and investigation follow a structured set of activities to facilitate knowledge consolidation and research skill development each week. Students engage in independent reading and activities, supported by online and open education resources. Tutorials incorporate a range of teaching and learning strategies including short presentations, videos, small group discussion of readings and case studies. Before tutorials students are required to read subject material, listen/watch recorded lectures/podcasts and complete weekly tasks.
Tutorials and assignments provide opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge through critical analysis, self-directed inquiry and digital research, and through peer and tutor feedback. Tutorials and self-directed learning enhance students’ capacity to apply their knowledge, and develop professional skills in communication, project management and report writing. The case study is an authentic assessment providing the opportunity to develop skills for the professional workplace, and to communicate in public debates and global civil society. The quiz in the first weeks provides formative feedback on students’ understanding of key concepts and terminology.
Content (topics)
Students develop literacy with concepts and methods deployed in Science and Technology Studies (STS) (e.g. technological determinism and issue mapping). They then learn how to develop a case study of a technology and its social implications by applying concepts that they have learned.
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Key concepts in technology and society quiz
| Intent: | Students complete a quiz designed to assess their comprehension of the key concepts, ideas and debates in technology and society that have been introduced in lectures, set subject material and discussed in tutorials. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | a | ||||||||
| Type: | Quiz/test | ||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||
| Weight: | 40% | ||||||||
| Length: | TBD | ||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Assessment task 2: Case study
| Intent: | Students write up and present a case study and answer questions during a short oral exam. | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Objective(s): | a, b and c | ||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Case study | ||||||||||||||||
| Groupwork: | Individual | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 60% | ||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 2000 words + 7 minute presentation during a 15-20 minute oral exam | ||||||||||||||||
| Criteria linkages: |
SLOs: subject learning objectives CILOs: course intended learning outcomes |
Minimum requirements
Attendance at classes is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involves essential work-shopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor. A roll will be taken at each class. Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused final assessment (see Rule 3.8).
Students must complete all assessments in order to pass the subject.
Required texts
There are no required texts for this subject. Recommended readings will be available via UTS Library and through the subject site.
References
Bruns, A., Harrington, S., & Hurcombe, E. (2020). ‘Corona? 5G? or both?’: the dynamics of COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories on Facebook. Media International Australia, 177(1), 12–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20946113
Baym, N. K. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age. John Wiley & Sons, pp 51-52.
Crawford, K. (2021). The Atlas of AI. Yale University Press.
Ford, H., & Wajcman, J. (2017). ‘Anyone can edit’, not everyone does: Wikipedia’s infrastructure and the gender gap. Social studies of science, 47(4), 511-527.
Hughes, T. P., Bijker, W. E., Pinch, T. (2012). The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. United Kingdom: MIT Press.
Duguay, S., Burgess, J., & Suzor, N. (2020). Queer women’s experiences of patchwork platform governance on Tinder, Instagram, and Vine. Convergence, 26(2), 237–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856518781530
Livingstone, S., & Lievrouw, L. A. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of New Media: Social shaping and social consequences of ICTs (Student Edition). Sage. https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9781446204146
MacKenzie, D., & Wajcman, J. (1999). The social shaping of technology (D. MacKenzie & J. Wajcman, Eds.). Open University Press. http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/
McCosker, A., & Johns, A. (2014). Contested publics: Racist rants, bystander action and social media acts of citizenship. Media International Australia, 151(1), 66-72.
Salter, L. A. (2021). #IamMetiria: A qualitative case study of agonistic welfare policy debates on Twitter. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821989690
Williams, R., & Edge, D. (1996). The social shaping of technology. Research Policy, 25(6), 865–899. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(96)00885-2
Wajcman, J. (1991). Feminism confronts technology. Penn State Press.