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<p>Dear SIGCIS<br>
</p>
<p>Happy New Year, and best wishes for more than usually unsettled
times. <br>
</p>
<p>I'm writing with a request for suggested sources which arises
from my annual attempt to update my introductory survey course for
undergrads, The Information Age – a task that always leaves me
hugely envious of the local early-modern and medieval historians,
who can usually get by with rolling the course content forward
from one year to the next without any seismic geopolitical events
leaving their priorities and interpretations wildly outdated. The
Spring 2016 version, for what it's worth, is in the Syllabus
Repository at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sigcis.org/files/2015-2016%20HSTM%2020282%20Information%20Age%20course%20booklet_0.pdf">http://www.sigcis.org/files/2015-2016%20HSTM%2020282%20Information%20Age%20course%20booklet_0.pdf</a></p>
<p>I'm looking both for straightforward, accessible material that
can be used directly by a mixed group of STEM (mostly computer
science) and humanities (mostly history) students, a few of whom
will have little background in any branch of the field, and for
more complex literature I could digest for lecture content. <br>
</p>
<p>Like others – see in particular Lee Vinsel's howl of frustration
at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/STS_News/status/807580040116445184">https://twitter.com/STS_News/status/807580040116445184</a> – I'm
wondering how best to use the recent rise of public concern about
online information and the social cultures formed around it, given
that the analytical discourse over the past 25 years has been
strongly shaped by optimistic, sometimes utopian
techno-determinist accounts, and that the more nuanced and
seemingly level-headed accounts that have so far opposed this
trend are now starting to look overly optimistic themselves,
giving too little agency to the nature of the platforms that
dominate info consumption. <br>
</p>
<p>On a related note, I'm also keen to give more specific coverage
to the workings and influence of digital formalisations and
automated processing in everyday information culture, particularly
bearing in mind the mixture of disciplinary backgrounds of these
students. One of my concerns is obviously to wean CS students away
from the common IT-solutionist mindset that presents technical
answers to social problems and expects them to work in defiance of
every single lesson of recorded history – but I see a
corresponding problem on the humanities side, in that many
students don't have a working familiarity with algorithmic
processing, and will routinely size up blind and bulk processes in
terms of intentions and individualisations that may not be there.
I usually open these areas up for group discussion with questions
like the classic "What do you do if your identity doesn't match
any of the boxes on the form?", or why supermarkets (at least in
the UK) occasionally display posters for special offers that are
obviously poorer value than the regular price. <br>
</p>
<p>I notice that Tarleton Gillespie and Nick Seaver have put
together a very detailed reading list of "Critical algorithm
studies":<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://socialmediacollective.org/reading-lists/critical-algorithm-studies/">https://socialmediacollective.org/reading-lists/critical-algorithm-studies/</a></p>
<p>and also that there's a new collection titled <i>Algorithmic
Cultures</i> edited by Robert Seyfert and Jonathan Roberge, so
there are plenty of promising leads in the academic literature –
but I'm also looking for good journalism. All recommendations
gratefully received! <br>
</p>
<p>Best<br>
James<br>
</p>
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