PREREQUISITES:
MAS students: Completion of the MAS Core courses, plus permission of the instructor.
MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.
GOAL: In a social space for collaborative learning through making, learners gain confidence through self-directing mastery of an information technology, lead and participate in technology workshops, and critically examine the cultural contexts of information technologies through their full life-cycle.
OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Rely on experience and theory to ground your critique of technologies to be used in specific, real-world information settings.
- Question power and inequality throughout an information technology’s life-cycle (e.g. material creation, design, use, decay, repair, disposal, etc.) and in cultures of making.
- Structure and implement a self-learning plan to gain and demonstrate confidence, knowledge, and skills for a specific information technology.
- Design a collaborative learning space for others and with others to acquire technology skills while balancing active learning and social critique.
CONTENT:
- Self-directed learning
- Design & making as a way of knowing/learning
- Making & makerspaces
- Information technology key concepts
- Designing technology workshops
- Social critique of technology
- Information technology life cycle:
- Raw materials and design
- Production, assembly, and distribution
- Adoption, use, and disposal
- Repair culture & planned obsolescence