Course units
Term 1 Units:
Intersectional Internets (20 Credits)
In this unit you will explore how power relations are organised, embedded and perpetuated in internet technologies, and how this can be resisted. You will examine structures of oppression including hetero-patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy and the ways they intersect with each other. You will learn how scholars and creative practitioners have used frameworks such as digital intersectionality and post-colonial science and technology studies to push back against these power relations. You will address an internet equality by reviewing and critiquing current discourses and completing a practical intervention.
Feminist Coding Practices (20 credits)
In this unit you will be introduced to free and open source culture and software, considering how feminist approaches can frame the practice of coding (such as generative code and feminist chatbot). This unit has the explicit aim of acquiring basic coding skills within a community of practitioners and ensuring you develop a foundation to tackle the rest of the course and orient your coding skills towards ethical technology development
Term 2 Units:
Computational Inequalities (20 Credits)
Building on the feminist computational practices unit, this practical unit explores computational bias in the context of surveillance capitalism, big data and artificial intelligence. Through supervised studio/lab practice, technical workshops, seminars and independent study, you will learn critical and computational approaches to address forms of exploitation, discrimination and bias that are reinforced by machine learning systems and the data they are trained on. You will explore alternative, crowdsourced and open forms of data and their potential in creative ethical technology development. You will develop a technical prototype and provide accompanying reflective documentation.
Designing for Responsible Innovation (20 Credits)
This unit incorporates workshops and industry visits to explore the moral and business cases for responsible business and innovation. You will hear from leading experts and practitioners about the history and current landscape of workplace equality. You will critically analyse the role of responsible innovation in building a more equal society, considering its place and scope within small start-ups and global corporations. You will present a proposal for a business, policy or other intervention that foregrounds responsible innovation or workplace equality.
Term 3 Units:
Platform Potentials (20 Credits)
In this unit you will explore the role of internet platforms, cultures and communities in bringing about social change. The topic will be introduced through theoretical readings and discussions, as well as practical case studies. You will hear from artists, activists and initiators of online movements and examine current practices of online community empowerment, collective resistance, subversion and activism. You will explore tactics and goals of internet activism, and consider their value and effectiveness at intervening in dominant political orders.
Methods for Equitable Technology Development (20 credits)
Supported by seminars, workshops and exploratory practice, this unit will distil a methodological framework for engaging and experimenting with internet equalities and ethical technology development. Methods covered will include Social and Participatory Design, Feminist, Post-colonial and Anarchist Human Computer Interaction, Critical Art/Design/Technical Practice, Iterative/Experimental Design and Digital Ethnography. You will test methods in class and through independent creative practice and present a written critique of the methods learned throughout the unit.
Term 4 Units:
Final Major Project (60 Credits)
Your final major project will take the form of a dissertation, business proposal, speculative design, critical art and design or technical prototype that advances internet equality.