Altissia Chair: The Digital Turn in Culture & Ethics

Teacher(s)

Tanasescu Chris;

Language

French

Main themes

The digital affects fundamentally our life and culture and, consequently, the subjects which are at the heart of our disciplinary fields in FIAL while raising social challenges, both ethical and democratic. Contrary to what the term ‘digital native’ might suggest, it is not enough to be born in the age of computers and tablets to develop a critical eye and reach a deeper understanding of digital issues in society and more specifically in our fields of study in FIAL. This is the rationale behind this course.
The questions we will discuss in this class are:

• What is digital culture and its ethical implications?
  
• What is digital? And the post-digital?
  
• Is there a digital ethics different from traditional ethics?
  

In addressing these issues, we will consider the following topics:

• the culture and ethics of data and algorithms;
  
• software culture, society of control;
  
• social media & ethics, polymediation, singularity;
  
• digital ecology. 
  

Recent approaches and topics also in our focus: digital ownership issues, cultural theft, virtual exploitation, digital rights, endangered data, and the digital divide.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	The purpose of this course is to dialogically encourage the students to "think" digital. At the end of this course, they will be able to identify, understand, and critically examine the changes induced by the digital while assessing the attendant cultural or ethical issues.

Content

The course will cover the concepts necessary for a critical discussion on the digital.

Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Lectures given online alternating with in-class hands-on workshops. In case of worsening of the health situation, the workshops will also be switched to online teaching.

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Short documentation (one page) on the ethical and/or cultural implications of one or more digital tools or digital projects experimented with during the workshops.

Other information

English-friendly course: course taught in French but offering facilities in English.

Faculty or entity

FIAL