Algorithms have become central actors in today’s digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, operation, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.

In this course students learn about the background and current landscape of information governance and information ethics. In doing so we will examine the role of information and technology in shaping today’s society from various social, societal, and ethical perspectives, and will analyse relevant factors in technology, politics, and policy. Upon completion of the course, students will have both a broad and deep understanding of the need for and development of information governance and information ethics and will be able to discuss how these requirements are met by information institutions and research.