History of Digital Cultures

Course manual 2017/2018

Course content

History of Digital Cultures is a hands on reconnaissance tour through the history of the information society, from computers and software to the internet, and the present ubiquity of digital cultures.

The computer may be considered an information machine, an automatic calculator or control technology. Three traditions build up the background for the advent of the stored program computer around 1950: dataprocessing, proces control and scientific computation. The advent of the modern computer is treated here in its cultural context. An historical view on software is a major topic in this course.

Through history, speculations on societal impact of computing have accompanied this technology. History of Digital Cultures addresses computing in society, and on a more abstract level theories of “the information society” and of “digital culture”.

History is concrete and local. The projects, building up the course, will be concerted efforts to explore local or national developments, possibly concerning The Netherlands, like Dutch computer- and software pioneers, contributions to software engineering, and more recent specialities like the Dutch role in the internet, DDS (de digitale stad), web design, gaming, and digital art.

The course is an intensive, engaging and fully absorbing four week project in teamwork. Teams of 4 to 6 students choose their topic, but for the present year, DDS is the default subject.

Study materials

Literature

• Martin Campbell-Kelly, William Aspray, Nathan Ensmenger, and Jeffrey Yost, 'Computer: A History of the Information Machine', Westview Press, 2013 (3rd edition).

Practical training material

• Digital archives of DDS are available as study material under strict confidentiality

Other

• Reader to be announced in Blackboard.

Objectives

• You will acquire a firm historical knowledge of computing in its cultural context. You  will learn to recognize the various strands in theories of “the information society” and of “digital culture”, and are aware of the strenghts and limitations of such theories.
• You gain experience in teamwork in a project.
• Through the experience of thinking along the lines of a different discipline (i.c. history), you get the habit of making your own discipline the subject of reflection in a systematic way.
• With Webarchaeology of the Amsterdam Digital City, DDS, as the default subject, you will be able to use your skill in sorting out, reconstructing and visualising vintage software.

Teaching methods

• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• Lecture
• Seminar
• Presentation/symposium

The course is an ongoing 4 weeks project with introductory lectures to start the week and project meetings the following days. This is a fulltime activity. Teams are built around specific topics during the first sessions and carry a shared responsibility for the results.

Learning activities

Assessment

Assignments

Each week closes, Friday afternoon, with a plenary presentation of the results of each team.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.uva.nl/plagiarism

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

- The course in History of Digital Cultures is open for students of the Master in New Media

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. G. Alberts

Tjarda de Haan

Robert  Jansma

Troy Astarte