Social Technologies

This subject is not offered in 2016.

170 hours

None.

None.

Knowledge gained in the completion of 75 points of first year studies in any area.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Social Technologies are those that we use to establish and maintain our relations with others, and that we use to know others. The subject approaches a study of social technologies through a wide variety of examples and case studies - some of very old technologies, others of new technologies. Social technologies include technologies for living together (domestic architecture and urban planning), technologies of surveillance (CAT scans and GPS systems), communications technologies (love letters and SMS), reproductive technologies (IVF and sheep-gut), technologies that mediate personal identity (the data-body and flesh-fashion), and that mediate social and community relations (swarms and social networks). The unifying themes that run through these examples approach social technologies in terms of their propensity to shape, abstract, attenuate, individuate and discipline our relations, and students are invited to critically assess this argument. In so doing, students will gain a fresh and critical understanding of the ways in which technologies and our lives are intertwined.

A student who has successfully completed this subject will

• understand and critically interpret the major theoretical and philosophical approaches that inform our knowledge of sociotechnical relations.
• demonstrate a critical appreciation of the implications of particular sociotechnologies for self, and for human relations.
• identify, interpret and recount sociotechnical case studies relevant to social relations.

• A 2500-word essay due at the end of semester (50%)
• A 1000-word essay due in week 4 (30%)
• A 500-word seminar presentation due during the semester (20%)

Hurdle requirement:

• Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject.
• All pieces of written work must be submitted in order to pass this subject.

Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. After five working days late assessment will not be marked. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.
Regular participation in tutorials is required.

Subject readings will be available online.

Bauman, Zygmunt (2003), Liquid love: on the frailty of human bonds, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

A student who has successfully completed this subject will:

• form defensible judgements based on a critical evaluation of conflicting arguments.
• develop skills in written and oral communication.
• make appropriate use of primary and secondary sources in mounting an argument.
• conduct independent research.