University of the Arts London Creative Computing Institute (UAL CCI) has launched a progressive new postgraduate course – MA Internet Equalities. The course will begin in October 2020.
MA Internet Equalities explores how power relations are organised, embedded and perpetuated in internet technologies and how they can be reorganised or challenged through critical, creative and activist practice. The course will equip students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds with the skills to understand and implement applied equality in technology development. Internet equalities is defined as socio-technical systems which explicitly oppose discrimination on the grounds of race, class, gender, gender identity, sexuality, age, belief and ability.
More and more internet-based products, services, platform owners, communities and governments recognise the importance equality plays in developing technologies that can confront social problems such as racism, gender oppression and economic exclusion. Technology professionals who have critical and creative skills around human rights, inclusion and ethical design are in high demand as the industry shifts the narrative from what it could make to what it should make.
The course has been developed by Dr Charlotte Webb Co-founder of Feminist Internet, a non-profit organisation on a mission to make the internet more equal by combining art and design, technology development and feminism.
In the coming weeks, CCI will be hosting a series of live webinars about the course. Details will be shared on CCI’s twitter and YouTube channels. The dates and speakers, subject to change, for the webinars are:
- Course Introduction with Dr Charlotte Webb, Tuesday 19 May 2 – 3pm (Register)
- Methods for Equitable Tech Development with Caroline Sinders, Tuesday 26 May 2 – 3pm (Register)
- Human Rights and Computation with Azmina Dhrodia, Tuesday 2 June 2 - 3pm (Register)
- Computational Inequalities with Dr Irene Fubara, Friday 5 June 2 – 3pm (Register)
- Platform Potentials - Hera Hussain, Tuesday 9 June 2 - 3pm (Register)
Opened in 2019, CCI offers innovative new courses, research opportunities and a public platform to explore computer science and creative practice. The Institute has a declared social mission that is committed to supporting diversity in technology through its core activities of teaching and research.
Dr Charlotte Webb said:
“MA Internet Equalities is vital, because the tech sector and society need to shift from thinking about what could be done to what should be done to promote a more equal society. Students from this course will have the practical, creative and intellectual skills to make that paradigm shift a reality.”
Further details about the course, and information on applying, are available on UAL’s website.