CS 150-02 Surveillance

What does it mean to do data science in a society filled with competing economic, social, and political interests? In this course, we will draw from historical perspectives on present-day issues in computer science to develop a social and political understanding of what the problem is, how it came to be, and what we can do about it. Our topic of focus will be surveillance, a problem that intersects economics through capitalism, race through histories of the policing of Black and Brown people, and power through systems of control. Throughout the three arcs comprising the class – (1) defining surveillance and learning its history, (2) developing an ethical inquiry and critique of surveillance technology, and (3) applying this practice to present day related problems – we will build “muscles” of analysis and practice that will build a foundation for budding data scientists to navigate a social and political world.