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Utopian claims
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Information technologies based on electronic computation possess intrinsically democratizing properties (the Internet and/or worldwide web is an autonomous formation with ‘in-built’ democratic properties or dispositions).
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Information technologies are intrinsically neutral, but inevitably lend themselves todemocratizing global forces of information creation, transfer and dissemination.
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Cyber-politics is essentially a pragmatic or instrumental task of maximizing public access to the hardware and software thought to exhaustively define the technology in question.
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Dystopian claims
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Information technologies possess intrinsically de-democratizing properties (the Internet and/or worldwide web is an autonomous formation with ‘in-built’ anti-democratic properties or dispositions).
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Information technologies are intrinsically neutral, but inevitably lend themselves to control by de-democratizing forces (hardware and software ‘ownership’ equals anti-democratic control).
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Cyber-politics is essentially one of resisting and perverting the anti- democratic effects of the technology in question.
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Social Media Dystopia – Tom Scott – TEDxSheffield 2010
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Hand, M. and B. Sandywell. 2002. E-topia as cosmopolis or citadel: On the democratizing and de-democratizing logics of the internet, or, toward a critique of the new technological fetishism. Theory, Culture & Society 19, no. 1-2: 197-225. (p.205-6)
In week 1, we will start to explore some utopian and dystopian accounts of digital culture and e-learning, and we’ll look back at some early examples of writing on e-learning and consider how these ways of thinking have affected online education today. We’ll draw on the concept of “technological determinism” as a way of understanding the thinking behind these accounts and examples.
Then, in week 2, we move to exploring utopian and dystopian visions of the future, and examine the use of metaphors in expressing and shaping our understanding of what might happen to education and learning in light of the rise of MOOCs, in particular.
In addition to the content, look out for the following activities:
At the end of week 1, we’ll be broadcasting a live Google Hangout, in which the course leaders will discuss examples of work being done in the MOOC that week. The Hangout will be available to view live on our Coursera announcements page, our Google Plus page, and YouTube. It will also be available afterwards as a recording on our YouTube channel. To watch the hangout live, go to the announcements page in Coursera at the following time:
Friday 1st February at 17:00 GMTDuring week 2, students from the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh will be joining us in the forums and other spaces of the course. These students are currently participating in the longer, Masters-level course that has inspired this MOOC: E-Learning and Digital Cultures. They will each be producing a response to the week’s discussion activity, and sharing this with you.
Week 1:Robots
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Teaching and Learning Online 