CS 340D

Data is not neutral, and neither are the systems built from it. This course is focused on the critical study of how algorithms and datafication shape social life. It will provide students with insight into the ways data-driven systems sort, score, and surveil people, and into how technologies framed as neutral come to carry social and political values. Particular attention will be paid to how automated decisions distribute opportunity and risk, and why their harms fall unevenly. Topics will include algorithmic bias, surveillance, classification, automated decision-making, predictive policing, welfare and credit scoring, and data justice.