Beyond the Spin:Technoscientific Failure

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

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

There is much to be learned from failure, and the application of science and technology has in recent years provided no shortage of examples - the Ford Pinto, Bhopal, Challenger, thalidomide, Cane Toads, Chernobyl, the M16 rifle, Three-Mile Island, the Zeebrugge Ferry. Through a series of case studies, from the perspective of various stakeholders and publics, and from a variety of theoretical perspectives, students will appreciate the educative value of failure; will critically examine the dimensions of failure; the contested accounts of causes and explanations of failure; and will assess the political, institutional, and public-sphere responses to failure. Students who successfully complete this subject will be able to convincingly interpret and respond to cases of technoscientific failure through an understanding of: the contexts in which judgments of failure are made; the range of empirical factors and causes that may be implicated in failure; the theoretical grounds upon which causal claims are made and are contested; and critical ASSESSs of common responses to technoscientific failure. Students will also conduct a case study of their own.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• have developed research skills;

• have developed critical thinking and analysis;

• be able to think in theoretical terms;

• be able to understand social, ethical and cultural contexts;

• be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically;

• have developed written communication skills;

• have developed public speaking skills;

• have developed good time management and planning;

• be able to work as a team.