90431 - Technology Studies of Communication (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to introduce students to technology studies, with a specific focus on communication technologies and data infrastructures. It provides students with knowledge about the debate between communication theory and Science and Technology Studies, with analytical tools drawn from infrastructure and data studies, and with policy methodologies from the governance of technological innovation.

Course contents

The course will first introduce Science and Technology Studies (STS). STS is a long-standing field of research and teaching which has developed perspectives to address scientific and technological development by using epistemologies, heuristic tools and methods from ethnography, sociology, history, philosophy and semiotics. The course will present in more details the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory approaches, also by means of hands-on exercises and empirical case studies (weeks 1 and 2).

In the third week we will focus on information infrastructures and the materiality of communication by reading, presenting and commenting cutting-edge studies. Week four will address the stimulating intersection between communication and technology studies, as well as the emerging field of critical data studies. We will read, present and discuss world leading contributions in the field.

Finally, the burgeoning field of governance of and by data infrastructures will be investigated through contributions by the course lecturer and well as other international scholars.

Throughout the course, four interactive lectures will be devoted to developing empirical research skills, ranging from research question design to qualitative methodologies, from conducting interviews in the field of STS and communication research to final research reporting. Such research design lectures are finalized to the final empirical research to be submitted at the end of the course.

Week 1: An introduction to STS, The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)

Week 2 – Actor-Network Theory, or the sociology of translation

Week 3 – Information infrastructures, The materiality of communication, Research design /1

Week 4 – STS and communication studies, Research design /2, Critical data studies

Week 5 – Research design /3

Week 6 - Governance of data infrastructures, Governance by digital infrastructures, Research design /4

Readings/Bibliography

The reader is made of journal articles and book chapters. They are all available on IoL or through the UniBO digital library (AlmaRE). Please see "Teaching material" for details.

Teaching methods

The teaching style favours interactivity. Classes include lectures by the teacher, presentations by students (both individual and in group), and class discussions. The aim of presentations is twofold: 1) to support and develop students’ understanding of the literature; 2) to support and develop students’ analytical and research skills before the formal evaluation. This means that the draft reports that are to be submitted for the final evaluation will be preliminary and collectively assessed in class (see below).

Assessment methods

The learning process will be assessed against two written texts. The first (interim) will require a comparative analysis of a given case study using SCOT and ANT as analytical approaches. The second text (at the end of the course) will report about the design, conduction and results of a limited empirical research on data infrastructures conducted in small groups. Both texts will be preliminarily and collectively discussed in class.

Teaching tools

When possible (due to copyright), the teaching material presented in class is made available to students in electronic format through the teaching platform of the University of Bologna. In any case, texts are available at the FILCOM library or online. In class, computer with beamer, videos, objects and texts for class exercises.

Office hours

See the website of Annalisa Pelizza