ANTHROPOLOGY OF GLOBALISATION
Syllabus
EN
IT
This class explores the social, legal, cultural, and ethical implications of technology – social
networks, apps, connected devices, algorithms, artificial intelligence and other new and
evolving technologies have a profound impact on human culture and interactions.
Contrasting perspectives are offered in the readings and explored through lectures, student
presentations, and discussion. Special attention is given to issues of privacy and security,
as the management of our online persona becomes more challenging and complex.
Living in a networked world generates significant, tangible benefits to the economy and to
society as a whole, but at the same time it raises various social and ethical concerns which,
while not always tangible or easy to measure, should be taken into consideration. In this
course, we will study the privacy and security implications of various technologies, how to
address them – both via further technological advances and regulation – as well as other
ethical issues associated with them. We will discuss (potentially) privacy-intrusive and
privacy-enhancing technologies, and what their respective properties and capabilities are;
issues of commercial and government surveillance; recent developments in regulation; pros
and cons of artificial intelligence-enabled product, service personalization, and algorithmic
decision making. This course will give you a holistic view of privacy and security issues in
the world of “big data.”
Learning outcomes
Through this course, students will be able to:
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
- Acquire and demonstrate mastery of general concepts related to ethics of technology;
- Understand the implications of the presence and implementation of existing and emerging
technologies;
- Identify key theories and concepts for the ethical use and implementation of technologies.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
- Evaluate personal and work contingencies, considering critical success factors, to
formulate strategies to improve the personal (current and/or future) work situation;
- Make relevant judgments on the appropriateness of certain strategic technological
decisions;
COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
- Analyse and prepare written reports on case studies;
- Present concepts and make logical connections quickly;
LEARNING SKILLS:
- Apply theories relating to the individual and organisational context to concrete work
situations;
- Contextualise theories relating to privacy and security.
Power and Prediction, by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb
Book of Anonymity, by Anon Collective
Privacy is Hard and Seven Other Myths, by Jaap-Henk Hoepman
The Voice Catchers, by Joseph Turow
Living in Data, by Jer Thorp
Atlas of AI, by Kate Cawford
The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots, by
K. Darling
The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr
New Laws of Robotics, by Frank Pasquale
The Black Box Society, by Frank Pasquale
The Smarter Screen, by Shlomo Benartzi
Machine, Platform, Crowd, by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
Click Here to Kill Everybody, by Bruce Schneier
Irresistible, By Adam Alter
The Sharing Economy, By Arun Sundararajan
Uberland, by Alex Rosenblat
Automating Inequality, by Virginia Eubanks
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, by Shoshana Zuboff
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden
Everything is Obvious, by Duncan Watts
Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom
Dark Data: Why What You Don’t Know Matters, by David J. Hand
The Ethical Algorithm, by Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth
Artificial Unintelligence, by Meredith Broussard
Algorithms of Oppression, by Safiya Umoja Noble
Weapons of Math Destruction, by Cathy O’Neil
Learning Objectives
This class explores the social, legal, cultural, and ethical implications of technology – social
networks, apps, connected devices, algorithms, artificial intelligence and other new and
evolving technologies have a profound impact on human culture and interactions.
Contrasting perspectives are offered in the readings and explored through lectures, student
presentations, and discussion. Special attention is given to issues of privacy and security,
as the management of our online persona becomes more challenging and complex.
Living in a networked world generates significant, tangible benefits to the economy and to
society as a whole, but at the same time it raises various social and ethical concerns which,
while not always tangible or easy to measure, should be taken into consideration. In this
course, we will study the privacy and security implications of various technologies, how to
address them – both via further technological advances and regulation – as well as other
ethical issues associated with them. We will discuss (potentially) privacy-intrusive and
privacy-enhancing technologies, and what their respective properties and capabilities are;
issues of commercial and government surveillance; recent developments in regulation; pros
and cons of artificial intelligence-enabled product, service personalization, and algorithmic
decision making. This course will give you a holistic view of privacy and security issues in
the world of “big data.”
Learning outcomes
Through this course, students will be able to:
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
- Acquire and demonstrate mastery of general concepts related to ethics of technology;
- Understand the implications of the presence and implementation of existing and emerging
technologies;
- Identify key theories and concepts for the ethical use and implementation of technologies.
MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
- Evaluate personal and work contingencies, considering critical success factors, to
formulate strategies to improve the personal (current and/or future) work situation;
- Make relevant judgments on the appropriateness of certain strategic technological
decisions;
COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
- Analyse and prepare written reports on case studies;
- Present concepts and make logical connections quickly;
LEARNING SKILLS:
- Apply theories relating to the individual and organisational context to concrete work
situations;
- Contextualise theories relating to privacy and security.
Prerequisites
No formal pre-requisites
Program
The course programme covers several inter-related topics:
Topic 1 Privacy, Security, Anonymity
Topic 2 Privacy Intrusive Technologies
Topic 3 The Internet of Things
Topic 4 Privacy Enhancing Technologies
Topic 5 Non-Government Surveillance, Targeted Advertising
Topic 6 Government Surveillance
Topic 7 Hacktivism
Topic 8 Research Ethics
Topic 9 Personalization and the Filter Bubble
Topic 10 Ethics of Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence
Topic 11 Ethics of Information Dissemination
Topic 12 Net Neutrality
Topic 13 Privacy Regulation
Topic 14 Privacy and Online Social Networks
The course is spread over the duration of the semester. Each lecture lasts two academic hours. During each lecture, the instructor presents the planned content with the aid of power point presentations and video aids, and invites students to critical reflection, dialogue, and active participation through presentations and discussions.
Topic 1 Privacy, Security, Anonymity
Topic 2 Privacy Intrusive Technologies
Topic 3 The Internet of Things
Topic 4 Privacy Enhancing Technologies
Topic 5 Non-Government Surveillance, Targeted Advertising
Topic 6 Government Surveillance
Topic 7 Hacktivism
Topic 8 Research Ethics
Topic 9 Personalization and the Filter Bubble
Topic 10 Ethics of Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence
Topic 11 Ethics of Information Dissemination
Topic 12 Net Neutrality
Topic 13 Privacy Regulation
Topic 14 Privacy and Online Social Networks
The course is spread over the duration of the semester. Each lecture lasts two academic hours. During each lecture, the instructor presents the planned content with the aid of power point presentations and video aids, and invites students to critical reflection, dialogue, and active participation through presentations and discussions.
Books
1. Slides of the course.
2. Reading material distributed by the instructor.
3. One of the books indicated in the Reference section.
2. Reading material distributed by the instructor.
3. One of the books indicated in the Reference section.
Bibliography
Power and Prediction, by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb
Book of Anonymity, by Anon Collective
Privacy is Hard and Seven Other Myths, by Jaap-Henk Hoepman
The Voice Catchers, by Joseph Turow
Living in Data, by Jer Thorp
Atlas of AI, by Kate Cawford
The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots, by
K. Darling
The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr
New Laws of Robotics, by Frank Pasquale
The Black Box Society, by Frank Pasquale
The Smarter Screen, by Shlomo Benartzi
Machine, Platform, Crowd, by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
Click Here to Kill Everybody, by Bruce Schneier
Irresistible, By Adam Alter
The Sharing Economy, By Arun Sundararajan
Uberland, by Alex Rosenblat
Automating Inequality, by Virginia Eubanks
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, by Shoshana Zuboff
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden
Everything is Obvious, by Duncan Watts
Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom
Dark Data: Why What You Don’t Know Matters, by David J. Hand
The Ethical Algorithm, by Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth
Artificial Unintelligence, by Meredith Broussard
Algorithms of Oppression, by Safiya Umoja Noble
Weapons of Math Destruction, by Cathy O’Neil
Teaching methods
The course combines lectures and student presentations. The lectures will provide the students with the necessary information and reading guidelines on the phenomena under study. Students are expected to attend each class, to come prepared and participate in discussions.
Students will agree the topic of their presentations with the lecturers and give assessed Power-point presentations in which they will critically evaluate the content and argument of an article and introduce related questions for the class discussion.
Students will agree the topic of their presentations with the lecturers and give assessed Power-point presentations in which they will critically evaluate the content and argument of an article and introduce related questions for the class discussion.
Exam Rules
Course assessment
For attending students:
Presentations: Each week, one or two groups of students, either assigned or
volunteering, will work on a presentation (not exceeding 10 minutes) based on one of the recommended readings.
Assignment: There will be one assignment in the form of a lengthy essay. It's an
Information Diary which encourages students to reflect on how their daily life leaves a constant trail of digital data.
Written exam: During the regular exam session, there will be 3 short essay questions.
Final project: The final project is a creative group endeavor based on a book chosen among a list recommended by the instructor. Final projects can take the form of research papers, stories, poems, cartoons, comics, videos, movies, paintings, board games, online games, websites, apps, hacking tools... The final project will be presented during class time at the end of the semester and needs to be accompanied by a final paper.
Attendance: As in other Global Governance courses, 80% attendance is
required. Active participation is required by all in discussions during class meetings.
Weekly quizzes: For each topic, there will be a few multiple-choice questions about the mandatory readings.
For non-attending students:
Written exam: During the regular exam session, there will be 5 short essay questions.
Final project: The final project is a creative individual endeavor based on a book chosen among a list recommended by the instructor. Final projects can take the form of research papers, stories, poems, cartoons, comics, videos, movies, paintings, board games, online games, websites, apps, hacking tools... The final project needs to be accompanied by a final paper to be submitted the day of the exam.
For assessment purposes, the following scheme will be used:
Unsuitable: major deficiencies and/or inaccuracies in the knowledge and understanding of
the topics; limited capacity for analysis and synthesis, frequent generalisations and limited
critical and judgmental skills, the topics are set out inconsistently and with inappropriate
language;
18-20: barely sufficient knowledge and understanding of the topics with possible
generalisations and imperfections; sufficient capacity for analysis synthesis and autonomy
of judgement, the topics are frequently exposed in an incoherent way and with
inappropriate/technical language;
21-23: Routine knowledge and understanding of topics; ability to analyse and synthesise
correctly with sufficiently coherent logical argumentation and appropriate/technical
language
24-26: Fair knowledge and understanding of the topics; Good analytical and synthetic skills
with arguments expressed in a rigorous manner but with language that is not always
appropriate/technical.
27-29: Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the topics; considerable capacity
for analysis and synthesis. Good autonomy of judgement. Arguments presented in a
rigorous manner and with appropriate/technical language
30-30L: Excellent level of knowledge and thorough understanding of topics. Excellent
analytical and synthetic skills and independent judgement. Arguments expressed in an
original manner and with appropriate technical language.
For attending students:
Presentations: Each week, one or two groups of students, either assigned or
volunteering, will work on a presentation (not exceeding 10 minutes) based on one of the recommended readings.
Assignment: There will be one assignment in the form of a lengthy essay. It's an
Information Diary which encourages students to reflect on how their daily life leaves a constant trail of digital data.
Written exam: During the regular exam session, there will be 3 short essay questions.
Final project: The final project is a creative group endeavor based on a book chosen among a list recommended by the instructor. Final projects can take the form of research papers, stories, poems, cartoons, comics, videos, movies, paintings, board games, online games, websites, apps, hacking tools... The final project will be presented during class time at the end of the semester and needs to be accompanied by a final paper.
Attendance: As in other Global Governance courses, 80% attendance is
required. Active participation is required by all in discussions during class meetings.
Weekly quizzes: For each topic, there will be a few multiple-choice questions about the mandatory readings.
For non-attending students:
Written exam: During the regular exam session, there will be 5 short essay questions.
Final project: The final project is a creative individual endeavor based on a book chosen among a list recommended by the instructor. Final projects can take the form of research papers, stories, poems, cartoons, comics, videos, movies, paintings, board games, online games, websites, apps, hacking tools... The final project needs to be accompanied by a final paper to be submitted the day of the exam.
For assessment purposes, the following scheme will be used:
Unsuitable: major deficiencies and/or inaccuracies in the knowledge and understanding of
the topics; limited capacity for analysis and synthesis, frequent generalisations and limited
critical and judgmental skills, the topics are set out inconsistently and with inappropriate
language;
18-20: barely sufficient knowledge and understanding of the topics with possible
generalisations and imperfections; sufficient capacity for analysis synthesis and autonomy
of judgement, the topics are frequently exposed in an incoherent way and with
inappropriate/technical language;
21-23: Routine knowledge and understanding of topics; ability to analyse and synthesise
correctly with sufficiently coherent logical argumentation and appropriate/technical
language
24-26: Fair knowledge and understanding of the topics; Good analytical and synthetic skills
with arguments expressed in a rigorous manner but with language that is not always
appropriate/technical.
27-29: Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the topics; considerable capacity
for analysis and synthesis. Good autonomy of judgement. Arguments presented in a
rigorous manner and with appropriate/technical language
30-30L: Excellent level of knowledge and thorough understanding of topics. Excellent
analytical and synthetic skills and independent judgement. Arguments expressed in an
original manner and with appropriate technical language.