Computer Science 546, Political Science 337S
Instructors: Joshua Cohen, Larry Diamond, and Terry Winograd
1 unit. Credit-no credit. Thursday 4:30-6:00pm, 160-124.
| The Peter Wallenberg Learning Theater (Room 124) at Wallenberg Hall (Bldg 160).
This one-unit seminar will explore how various forms of information technology are being used to defend human rights, improve governance, deepen democracy, empower the poor, promote economic development, protect the environment, enhance public health, and pursue a variety of other social goods. It will also examine technical, legal, political, and social obstacles to the wider and more effective use of these technologies, and how these obstacles can be overcome. The seminar, open to all Stanford undergraduate and graduate students, will feature a mix of presentations and discussions. We will hear from projects that are seeking to use information technologies and their applications--including mobile phones, text messaging (SMS), the Internet, blogging, GPS, and other forms of digital technology--to empower citizens, and we will engage the social and organizational entrepreneurs who are developing and deploying these technologies. We will hear and discuss presentations of academic research (both from within Stanford and outside) seeking to evaluate the impact of these technologies. We will engage experts on the Internet and society in broader discussions of the issues surrounding the development and regulation of this burgeoning arena of communication and social action. And we will facilitate discussion and collaboration among Stanford students from diverse disciplines who wish to study or aid development of these technologies. Students in the seminar will also be encouraged to present their ongoing research, and to use the seminar to develop new research and design projects (individual and collaborative). Students wishing to do significant research and reading in the context of the seminar may, in consultation with one of the instructors, sign up for independent study.