Summer 2021 Course - Humanistic Approaches to Media and Data

This course is designed to introduce students to various approaches and methods for thinking critically about our screen- and data-saturated environments. Starting with the premise that the study of these environments can comprise both reading about and working with media and technology, the course consists of weekly seminars for reading/video/podcast-aided discussion, and a weekly “collaboratory” where students will engage in hands-on activities to learn the basics of working with data through web scraping and the programming language Python. By the end of the course, students will have learned to analyze mass-circulated images and text; examine the historical and social context of technoscientific innovation; and experiment with data sets and data visualizations. As we explore these approaches to the study of media, culture, and technology, we will consider the stakes of such inquiry from the standpoint of justice and equity.