STS 330

Fall 2024

Learning Objectives: STS 330 examined the intersection of information technology and globalization, covering generative AI, data tracking, and social media's impact on work, education, politics, and conflict. Assignments included weekly Yellowdig discussions, analytical briefs requiring application of course frameworks to current technology-related news, and comprehension checks involving meta-cognitive engagement with AI tools.

As a computer science student, this course provided ethical and social analytical frameworks that complement my technical training. The course required moving beyond algorithmic optimization to consider the broader implications of technology: who is being tracked, what data is collected, and what labor market disruptions result from automation.

This course connects to Security in ways I didn't fully appreciate until I was in it. We studied how AI and data-tracking are becoming part of everyday life, and the privacy and surveillance questions that come with that. Corporations and political groups use algorithms to decide what you see online, and most users have no idea. That's a security problem. We also discussed how AI could reshape the global labor market at a scale comparable to the Industrial Revolution, which is a different kind of security: economic security.

What I got from this course feeds into everything else I've done in GCSP. The frameworks for analyzing technology's social impact work alongside the PESTLE approach from FSE150 and the AI safety focus of my FURI research. STS 330 taught me that building technology responsibly means understanding what happens when that technology meets the real world, not just what happens in the lab.

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Below is one of my analytical briefs from STS 330, in which I analyzed a current technology news article through the course's frameworks for understanding IT and globalization.

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