Cyberculture

Content summary

The arrival of the “digital” age has fundamentally changed the way humans make meaning of society. In addition to its myriad implications in the world of commerce and statecraft—it has also fundamentally challenged very basic ideas about the human condition. We are living in an era where we have to constantly re-negotiate and re-invent our understanding of identity, gender, sexuality, privacy, surveillance & the State—as well as new business models oriented around human networks, startups, social media, sharing & curating economies. This course will seek to establish a grounding in the anthropology of such cybercultural issues and themes through ethnographic, analytical and observational exercises. We will learn to curate, collate and design cybercultures.

Course Objectives

• Explore the basic themes and issues of cybercultures scholarship
• To investigate themes of the self on cyberspace realities covering issues of gender, sexuality, privacy etc.
• To investigate structures of commerce and hegemony in social networks, startup culture, sharing and curating economies
• To understand the changing nature of state & the citizen relations in the era of mass surveillance, digital resistances and hacktivism
• Understand some of the common themes and motifs that make up a cyberpunk aesthetic

Expected Learning Outcomes

On completing this Course, a learner is expected to be able to:

• Understand and decode cybercultural narratives
• Present critical analysis and commentary on discourses of the individual or the collective on cybercultural issues
• Identify and explore digital commerce trends
• Explore aesthetics of cyberpunk cultural mores and digital activism possibilities

Social Media

Youtube

note 2

eCommerce

Notes and Observations