The Information Age

What does it mean to say we live in an “information age”? How did computers become personal and platforms ubiquitous? This lecture-discussion course approaches these and other questions through the entangled histories of computing and communication in the United States. Behind the eccentric innovators and ‘laws’ of manufacturing, we find a social history driven by friction between interest groups—corporations, designers, lawmakers, users—as well as contestation over values like privacy and access. Students will explore methods for analyzing computational artifacts and communications infrastructure alongside more traditional sources, and for reframing conversations about our present using history. Beginning in the age of railroads and telegraphs, we consider the changing role of the state in technological development and regulation, the social and legal construction of the Internet, and the emerging political economy of artificial intelligence—all while keeping people front and center.