HIST3705

This course is about one of the most important of all the far-reaching social transformations of the 20th century: the transition from analog media to digital media. We begin the semester by exploring the mediated worlds of the late 19th and early 20th century. Here we will delve into the social effects of the then-unprecedented technologies of telegraph, film, and radio. These were the analog technologies that, together with the explosion of printed material, created in cities all over the world complex cultures of mass communications. We will explore the impact that mass communications had on traditional institutions, particularly on the family and on political life. We will then turn to the rise of digital technologies in the decades after 1945. Our goal is to make sense of the transformative effects of these new technologies, as they were taken up and applied to so many parts of contemporary life. We will examine how and why they transformed the landscapes of politics, entertainment, and identity. We will end the semester in the present by examining efforts that try to manage and circumscribe the power of social media, including court cases that attempt to construct legal limits around social media, as well as some of the latest developments in the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence. Students will leave the course with both a historical understanding of the technologies of analog and digital media, and construct for themselves a deeper understanding of their own relationship to digital media and especially social media.

AFV - A-F or Audit

01819

No

Periodic Fall & Spring