3.0

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This course explores the context, experience, and consequences of data proliferation in the contemporary moment. Both experts and laypeople generate and study data at unprecedented rates to make decisions, communicate with each other, and process their environments. How do data advance or constrain our social, political, and economic relationships at large? How is knowledge transformed when it is mediated by large volumes of data? What are the consequences of trusting sociopolitical decisions to data-processing algorithms? What happens when everyday users generate data about themselves and volunteer their data to for-profit entities? The course consists of different modules zeroing in on topics ranging from the economy, to public health, climate change, media, and the law. Each module consists of lectures and seminar-type discussions, as well as interactions with invited speakers. Students will be expected to actively participate in all discussions and develop one independent project. The course content and activities tie into the 2019-2021 Sawyer Seminar on “Precision and Uncertainty in a World of Data” led by the Departments of Anthropology and the History of Medicine.