Course description
In recent decades, most societies around the world have experienced an explosion in the production, circulation, and consumption of data. This ongoing revolution, often associated with the explosion of digital technologies and the term big data, is having unprecedented social and cultural consequences. This course explores some of these consequences by looking at interactions with digital data in different areas. Subjects to be examined include: technological tools and social groups that interact with data, including algorithms, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robots, social media, and digital influencers; labor markets; political policies; social relations; and cultural values. Guest speakers currently working in big data participate and discuss their professional experiences. Students leave the course with a better understanding of the current relationship between society and technology and, especially, of the social implications surrounding use of big data.
