BSc Biology with Industrial/Professional Experience / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

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Course unit details:
Information visions: past, present and future

Course unit fact file
Unit code	HSTM20282
Credit rating	10
Unit level	Level 2
Teaching period(s)	Semester 2
Offered by	Centre for History of Science, Technology & Medicine (L5)
Available as a free choice unit?	Yes

Overview

The lockdowns and physical distancing policies imposed around the world following the Covid-19 outbreak focused attention sharply on humankind’s relationship with information and communication technology.

For many people, online gatherings became the only gatherings, and streaming media the main source of entertainment. Universities and businesses which would once have simply closed down instead shifted to “online delivery” as best they could.

This strange world seemed very new – but the technologies it was built on were well-established, and the ideas that lay behind them were often very old indeed. The “picture telephone” was as much a feature of early science fiction as time travel and alien invasions; robot servants and “electronic brains” that could take on traditional human tasks were widely discussed before 1950. To some authors, these ideas were hopeful, suggesting a future of mass leisure and a rich social culture; to others, they spelt a nightmare of dehumanisation and mechanised enslavement.

In this unit, we explore visions of remote communication, online life, and information-based society, from serious practical proposals to wild speculations and fantasies – and also how they shaped reality, as scientists and policymakers tried to achieve or avoid the various imagined outcomes, with varying degrees of success. We will ask: who are the winners and losers in a data-driven world of mass electronic communication? Why do some visions succeed in some countries or cultures, but not others? And how can we use the lessons of the past to prepare for an uncertain online future?

The unit is accessible to students who have no background in information or communication technology, but is also designed to help students who have experience in these fields understand how they interact with the wider world.

Pre/co-requisites

Aims

This unit studies how information and communication technologies have developed, and have sometimes been questioned or challenged, to provide analytical tools for engaging with technological change now and in the future. It focuses particularly on the influence of predictions, ideals and fantasies, from engineering prototypes to science-fiction dreams and nightmares, looking at how these shape not only public hopes and fears but also the reality of the technologies and the systems surrounding them. It explores why some innovations succeed and others fail in particular situations, and introduces the wider theme of the relationship between technology and human culture in general.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, you will be able to:

Outline the key developments in the history of information technology and its impact on society
Describe, compare and assess the different motivations of various players – both innovators and users - in the history of information technology
Analyse and discuss the different factors - social, technical, economic, sometimes accidental - that shape and have shaped the history of computing
Engage in informed group debates and present your own arguments effectively

In addition, for 20 credits:

Identify a topic and write an in-depth, critical essay or report based on primary and secondary source material

Syllabus

Lectures and seminars typically cover the following themes:

Information then: nineteenth-century industry and the Babbage engines
Information now: identity, privacy and power in the smartphone age
Robots in reality and fiction
Garbage in, garbage out? Software, infrastructure and algorithmic culture
Alan Turing and the power of legends
Computers for the people! Home micros and techno-evangelists
Hacker histories
Women and men, identities and skills
Information-age fears
Boffins, wizards, hackers and nerds: images of ‘computer people’

Teaching and learning methods

10 Credits

12 x Combined Lecture/Seminar

20 Credits

12 x Combined Lecture/Seminar

3 x Individual project supervision meetings

Knowledge and understanding

Outline the key developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) over time

Intellectual skills

Explain the success or failure of particular ICTs in different times and places in relation to social, cultural and economic factors
Interpret speculative visions both in fiction and in proposals for real-world technological innovation, showing how these visions respond to the concerns of their time

Practical skills

Apply the lessons of past ICT projects and visions in understanding and dealing with the innovations and challenges of our own time

Transferable skills and personal qualities

Critically analyse arguments and documents from a range of different sources, with particular reference to the influence of proposals, visions and fantasies on public expectations and understanding
Produce an essay delivering a focused argument relevant to the course themes

Employability skills

Analytical skills: All work on this course involves the critical examination of source materials (who wrote this, when and why? What was the intended audience? Did it have the intended effect?...)
Oral communication: Discussion skills: Throughout the course, students are expected to give their own interpretations of the ideas and narratives presented, through in-class discussion and in their written work. Half the classroom time in most weeks is devoted to seminar discussion based on a reading or research task. All students will be involved in oral discussion.
Research: The lecture content is designed to provide a gateway to engaging with a wide range of literature, and all assessed work requires some independent source research.
Written communication: All students write a 1500-word essay in standard humanities form, and receive individual written feedback. Essay skills training is provided.

Assessment methods

Method	Weight
Written assignment (inc essay)	100%

Feedback methods

Detailed feedback on coursework essays and projects is provided via Turnitin. Comments on exam scripts may be viewed on request.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures	12
Seminars	12

Independent study hours
Independent study	74

Teaching staff

Staff member	Role
James Sumner	Unit coordinator

Additional notes

This unit is delivered by the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM).

For more information, see www.manchester.ac.uk/chstm

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