Starting this September, I will be teaching a course that I co-designed with my friend and colleague, Desen Ozkan, at Tufts University through the Computer Science department called Data and Power: Deconstructing Surveillance. The course is an examination of surveillance technology designed to teach students critical thought and ethical skills -- one that's very different than a typical Computer Science course:
- We read social thinkers' critiques of surveillance technology
- We learn about theoretical frameworks like racialization, capitalism, and more, to build a critical theory vocabulary we can use to describe why technologies may be good or bad
- And we examine real and present examples of surveillance technology in the news like ICE & border surveillance, workplace surveillance at Amazon warehouses, systems used in the Occupied Territories in Palestine, and more
Desen and I offered this course last Fall, 2022, and there was a lot of interest from friends and colleagues to be able to engage with the content even if they could not take the course. Thus, the idea of Friends of Data and Power was born!
Throughout the semester, I will be writing up and sending weekly emails describing what we're going to learn in the class, as a way for outside friends to engage with the thinking we're doing in the classroom. Also, it will be a list I will use to let people know about special events going on in the class -- last year we hosted a panel of local organizers to talk about change-making, and had a final project gala where students demonstrated what they learned through incredibly thoughtful interactive exhibits on surveillance technologies.
Interested? Fill out this form with your email address, and you will be added to the list!
