| Course Name | Technology Literacy and Information Ethics |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NMC 320 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||
| Course Level | First Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | Online | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | Group WorkLecture / Presentation | |||||
| Course Coordinator | ||||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | This course aims to provide students with the conceptual tools to understand the emergence of new technologies in their social context and to reflectively evaluate the ethical issues that arise as we use these technologies in our everyday lives. It thereby aims to provide a practical understanding of technology at the intersection of scientific and social practices. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | This course is an introduction to technology studies that approaches technology as a social practice and that emphasizes the ethical problems generated by the production and consumption of new technologies. The course proceeds through critical reading of relevant material and group discussions about the relevant problems. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals |        |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | ||
| Supportive Courses | X | |
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction: Course Structure, Content, and Expectations | |
| 2 | Defining the Terms: Technology, Literacy, Information, Information Ethics (I). The students are introduced to concepts which are pivotal in contextualizing and understanding the main principles around the course content with a case study that exemplifies the role of data collection, analytics, and interface design (full stack elements) in digital media. | |
| 3 | Defining the Terms: Technology, Literacy, Information, Information Ethics. The students are introduced to the terms, peripheral ideas, and concepts that constitute the title of this course The idea is to help the students to gain a quick general introduction that sets up the kind of frames around which many of the big issues we're going to talk about on the course. | |
| 4 | What is the Internet (Part 1)? The internet is the Digital Media. This week the students will explore the shift from ‘print’ to ‘digital’ media, and the ways of knowing, practice and production that have emerged from this shift in ascademic disciplines. | Key Reading: Hayles, Katherine (2012) CHAPTER: ‘How We Read: Close, Hyper, Machine’ How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis, Chicago: Chicago University |
| 5 | What it the Internet (Part 2): History and the now of internet Students will learn what is the Internet, along with the main concepts and technologies related to the Internet with all the complications since it emerged to the global scene around 1994. The students will become familiar with the disciplines that are concerned with internet, structure, and history, see the changing landscape through old media vs new (digital media). | Key Reading: Greenhard, S (2020) Chapter 1: The Internet of Things Changes Everything, The internet of Things pp.1-26. Lyon, D. (2017). Digital citizenship and surveillance culture: Engagement, exposure, and ethics in digital modernity. International Journal of Communication, 11, 19. |
| 6 | The data intensive Society (Part I): The students will learn about the key thinkers, key theorists that are kind of foundation of innovation in technology literacy and information ethics. | Key Reading: Lovink, G. 2019, Chapter 1 Introduction: Society of the Social, Sad by Design on Platform Nihilism, pp 1-12. “Why we need better ethics for emerging technologies” Information Technology and Moral Philosophy (CSPP), pp. 26-40 |
| 7 | The data intensive Society (Part II): Digital media formats are fundamentally changing the way the ways we act, interact, and think. The students will learn about ideas and developments of technology as an interactive, sharable culture and a social practice, and interrogate new critical questions regarding (digital) curation, knowledge production and editorial practice that emerged in social sciences and communication studies. | Key Viewing: Ian Cheng Interview: A Portal to Infinity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6Luilc4Bo&t=4s Key Reading: Connolly, R. (2020) Why Computing Belongs Within the Social Sciences, Communications of the ACM, August 2020, Vol. 63 No. 8, pp. 54-59. Vannevar Bush, ‘As We May Think’, Atlantic Monthly 176.1 (July 1945): 101-108. |
| 8 | Digital Divides in the Age of Innovation and Change (Part I). 5-Minute Individual Summary Presentation on take-home exams. The students will learn about the global diffusion of digital technology and discuss its uneven distribution across, and unequal effects on societies worldwide. | Key Readings: Park, Y. J. (2013). Digital literacy and privacy behavior online. Communication Research, 40(2), 215-236. |
| 9 | Digital Divides in the Age of Technological Innovation and Change (Part II). The students will learn about the global diffusion of digital technology and discuss its uneven distribution across, and unequal effects on societies worldwide. | Key Reading: Beyond Data Literacy: Reinventing Community Engagement and Empowerment in the Age of Data, Datapop Alliance White Paper Series, September 2015. |
| 10 | Interactive Design In this session, the students will be introduced to the principles of interactive design and user experience. | Key Viewing: Nielsen, B. F. (2012) Participate! A critical investigation into the relationship between participation and empowerment in design for development: 1-8. |
| 11 | Group Presentations | |
| 12 | New Ways to Produce Scholarly Knowledge The lecture will cover issues related to digital learning, production, and dissemination of knowledge through new media forms and methodologies. | Key Readings: Manoley J., Sullivan A & Slee R (2018) The datafication of discipline: ClassDojo, surveillance and a performative classroom culture. Learning, Media and Technology Volume 44, 2019- Issue 1: the Datafication of Education Ryan, M (2015) Transmedia Storytelling: Industry Buzzword or New Narrative Experience? in Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies |
| 13 | Digital Ethics and the Future of Technology The students will delve into the evolving landscape of digital ethics, confronting the complex challenges and opportunities that arise at the intersection of technology, society, and future innovations. They will analyse how technology shapes human experience and societal structures and question the role of ethics in the creation and use of digital tools. | Key Reading: Shelton, T (2020) A post-truth pandemic? Sage Journals Key Viewing Citizenfour which is 2014 documentary film concerning Edward Snowden and United States National Security Agency spying scandal accessible here |
| 14 | Overview of the Semester This week, students will review the semester's curriculum, synthesizing the key concepts, theories, and methodologies explored throughout the course. Emphasis will be placed on integrating the practical and theoretical aspects of digital media, technology literacy, and information ethics to form a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Reflection on the full stack elements—from data collection and analytics to interface design—will enable students to appreciate the interconnectedness of the digital media ecosystem. Students will engage in discussions that challenge them to apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios, ensuring a deepened understanding of digital media's role in society. | Key Reading: King, A. (2015), Subverting surveillance, Nature (London), 2015-08-26, Vol.524 (7566), p.413-413. Key Viewing: Watch Surveillance in an Era of Pandemic and Protest here. |
| 15 | Overview of the Semester | |
| 16 | Final Exam |
| Course Notes/Textbooks |
|
| Suggested Readings/Materials |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 1 | 20 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 20 |
| Presentation / Jury | ||
| Project | 1 | 20 |
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | ||
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 3 | 60 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 40 |
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 14 | 2 | 28 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | 1 | 4 | |
| Presentation / Jury | |||
| Project | 1 | 20 | |
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | |||
| Final Exams | 1 | 20 | |
| Total | 120 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication. | |||||
| 2 | To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication. | X | ||||
| 3 | To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes. | |||||
| 4 | To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution. | |||||
| 5 | To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice. | |||||
| 6 | To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication. | |||||
| 7 | To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public. | |||||
| 8 | To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies. | X | ||||
| 9 | To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process. | |||||
| 10 | To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication. | X | ||||
| 11 | To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1). | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
