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SOCI 460: The Sociology of Information Technology (Rev. 5) Report a Broken Link

This three-credit, senior-level university course is designed to encourage critical thinking vis-à-vis information technology. This course is designed to increase your understanding of technology, information technology, and the impact technology has on your life and our world.

Unit 1: Introduction

Burton, J. (2023, November 2). AI: The real threat may be the way that governments choose to use it. The Conversation. 
Horgan, M., & Rotz, S. (2019, April 8). Forget smart cities (for a minute), we need to talk about smart farms. The Conversation. 
Maras, M.-H., & Miranda, M. D. (2023). Augmented body surveillance: Human microchip implantations and the omnipresent threat of function creep. Technology in Society, 74, 102295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102295
Nathwani, J. (2019, January 29). Empowering the powerless: Let’s end energy poverty. The Conversation. 
Orasch, A. K. (2019, April 4). Seeing the smart city: Mapping technologies in Canada. The Conversation. 
Sosteric, M. (2017, October 4). World war three is being waged in cyberspace. The Conversation. 
World Health Organization. (2018, October 16). Household air pollution. 

Unit 2: Theories of Information Technology

Hirst, M. (2012). One tweet does not a revolution make: Technological determinism, media, and social change. Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 6(2), 1–11. 
Tatnall, A., & Gilding, A. (1999). Actor-network theory and information systems research. Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Wellington, New Zealand. 
Klein, H. K., & Kleinman, D. L. (2002). The social construction of technology: Structural considerations. Science, Technology, & Human Values 27(1), 28–52. 

Unit 2 Assignment

AI Now Institute. (2023). Executive summary. https://ainowinstitute.org/about

Unit 3: Information Technology and Work

Lightning Path. (2017, March 1). Money moksha: what is money—inequality—capitalism [Video file].
Sweatshop. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatshop.
DISPATCH. (2025, March 13). The digital sweatshop: Who are Meta’s hidden content moderators? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf-empP0pq0
Cooper, R. (2013, January 25). Inside Apple’s Chinese “sweatshop” factory where workers are paid just £1.12 per hour to produce iPhones and iPads for the West. The Guardian.
Kelly, A. (2013, April 3). Modern-day slavery: An explainer. The Guardian.
Mage, D. (2009, May 1). I was a high-tech sweatshop worker for the Obama campaign. Reason.
Mezzadri, A. (2014, January 8). Cambodian sweatshop protests reveal blood on our clothes. The Conversation.
Limer, E. (2014, October 28). My brief and curious life as a mechanical turk. Gizmodo.
Shadpour, D. (2018, January 18). The gig economy: Pioneering the future. Forbes.
Cushing, E. (2014). Amazon Mechanical Turk: The digital sweatshop. Utne Reader.
Potts, M. (2014). Foreclosed and financially stranded at the Ramada Inn. Utne Reader.
Sosteric, M. (2018, March 27). Are bullies alpha males or sick puppies? The Conversation.
Sosteric, M. (2018, May 21). How money is destroying the world. The Conversation. 
Sosteric, M. (2018, April 3). Why we should all cut the Facebook cord. Or should we? The Conversation.
Woodcock, J. (2019, June 1). The violence, gambling techniques and worker exploitation behind the world’s favourite video games. The Independent. 
Primack, D., & Kokalitcheva, K. (2019, April 27). Deep dive — The new gig: America’s hidden economy. Axios.
Rabouin, D. (2019, April 18). The gig economy is distorting U.S. economic data. Axios. 

Unit 3 Assignment

mrsnoo86. (2016, November 18). The Who—Won’t get fooled again (Live at Kilburn 1977) [Video]. YouTube. 
"Won't Get Fooled Again - Lyrics" 
Monty Python peasant sketch

Unit 4: Surveillance, Social Media, and Political Influence

Merrill, J. B. (2019, January 28). Facebook moves to block ad transparency—including ours. ProPUBLICA. 
Gutting, G. (2013, May 22). Michel Foucault. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2014 ed.). 

Please read section 4.4, "Discipline and Punish."
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1975).

Please read Chatper 3: Panopticism (pp. 195–228), which you can find by navigating to page 214 of the PDF. 
Channel 4 News. (2018, March 19). Cambridge Analytica uncovered: Secret filming reveals election tricks [Video]. YouTube. 
Auchard, E., & Ingram, D. (2018, March 20). Cambridge Analytica CEO claims influence on U.S. election, Facebook questioned. Reuters. 
Smith, D. (2018, March 30). Manipulating democracy: Cambridge Analytica, the Mercer family, and charter schools. Plunderbund [WebArchive]. 
Harbath, K., & Fernekes, C. (2023, March 16). History of the Cambridge Analytica controversy. Bipartisan Policy Center. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/cambridge-analytica-controversy/
Westby, J. (2019, July 24). ‘The Great Hack’: Cambridge Analytica is just the tip of the iceberg. Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/07/the-great-hack-facebook-cambridge-analytica/
Sosteric, M. (2018, April 3). Why we should all cut the Facebook cord. Or should we? The Conversation.
Anthamatten, E. (2015, March 23). Visibility is a trap: Body cameras and the panopticon of police power. The Mantle.
McMullan, T. (2015, July 23). What does the panopticon mean in the age of digital surveillance? The Guardian.
Fascism. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism.
Anyon, J. (1980). Social class and the hidden curriculum of work.
Edwards, L. (2010, December 22). Brain is not fully mature until 30s and 40s. Medical Xpress.

Unit 5: The Deepening Divide

van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34(4), 221–235. 
Heeks, R. (2022). Digital inequality beyond the digital divide: Conceptualizing adverse digital incorporation in the Global South. Information Technology for Development, 28(4), 688–704. 
Walsh, S. (Director). (2022). The gig is up [Film]. Gravitas Ventures.
Susarla, A. (2019). The dew digital divide ds between people who opt out of algorithms and people who don’t. The Conversation. 
Ritchie, H., Spooner, F., & Roser, M. (2019). Clean water. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/water-access
Make4Prosperity. (2018, October 8). Digital divide [Video]. YouTube. 
Freethink. (2020, July 11). The digital divide, explained [Video]. YouTube.
WION. (2021, December 25). Gravitas Plus: The Great Indian Brain Drain [Video]. YouTube. 

Unit 6: The Religion of Technology

Noble, D. F. (1997). The religion of technology. Penguin.
Beham, I. (2018, April 5). Killer robots in South Korea, dystopia or real life? ValueWalk.

Unit 7: Conclusion

No online readings